This year's edition of Rétromobile once again drew a stunning line-up of rare and evocative Italian machines to the halls of the Porte de Versailles Expo in Paris; with Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini all very well represented, lining up alongside some of the rarer forgotten historic brands such as Cisitalia, Autobianchi, Siata and Abarth.

One of the highlights of the classic car show was a display put on by the Alfa Romeo Club of France. The club presented “The year of the Eight Cylinders”, bringing together three evocative 8-cylinder sports cars from Alfa Romeo's history: the 8C 2300 Mille Miglia, 33 Stradale Coupé and the Montreal; the former two cars having arrived on loan from the official Alfa Romeo Museum.

Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Mille Miglia (1932)

Just 188 of these extraordinary chassis were built between 1931 and 1934. This car, a shining red Alfa Romeo museum-owned example, was on display at Rétromobile, was equipped with a very modern at the time design straight 8-cylinder engine, producing 175 bhp. With its two alloy engine blocks and its two overhead camshafts, the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 could reach speeds of 170 km/h or 215 km/h, depending on the model.

Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale Coupé (1967)

The Alfa 33 Stradale Coupé was designed by Franco Scaglione and is was built on the chassis of the Alfa Romeo T33 two-litre racers.
 

The Stradale was built as a race car for the road with a tubular alloy trellis chassis and a 1995 cc V8 engine; it could reach the speed of 260 km/h and weighed 700 kg. At the time it went on sale in 1968 it was the most expensive road car available on the market, priced at US$17,000. It featured a six-speed transaxle gearbox arrangement and was unusual in that it had butterfly doors with glass sections that seamlessly wrapped onto the roof.

Alfa Romeo Montreal Coupé (1970)

Completing the line-up of cars on the Alfa Romeo Club France stand at Rétromobile was a pristine example of the evocative and muscular Montreal coupé. The prototype was presented in 1967 at the Montreal World Expo on the occasion of the centenary of the Canadian Federation. A total of 3,925 of these cars were built, and the Montreal was equipped with a 2593 cc V8 engine with four overhead camshafts. This alloy engine produced 200 bhp and allowed the Montreal to reach 220 km/h.