The Internet may have bought about the death of obscurity. Information on anything is just a Google search away. That’s one theory. Right about now we’re not altogether convinced as Alfistas the world over are busy bickering – who styled it? Why was it made? Was there one car or two? The sheer quantum knowledge in evidence here is astonishing, as is the swiftness in which the keepers of the flame leap upon any minor slip up like a pack of particularly miffed raptors. Thing is, nobody actually knows much about this unique machine. Not really. It’s all speculation and half-truths. That’ll teach us to post questions on a web forum.
Having said all that, there’s no earthly reason why anyone should remember Pininfarina’s 2600PF Coupé Speciale. It’s not as though anyone paid (itals) that (end itals) much attention to it first time around. See past its jaw-slackening gorgeousness – and its beauty really is of the singularly dazzling kind – and what you’ll find is a prototype and nothing more; one that made only a couple of public appearances in period. Like all concept cars, it was built to forecast future styling trends and trot along the automotive catwalk for a few motor shows before heading off into retirement within a factory museum. Either that or the more customary trip to a nackers’ yard.
As here, even if the location of dumping ground serves only to raise even more questions. Found in upper state New York by its current keeper (a prominent Belgian collector) in 1987, nobody is sure how, precisely, the Alfa got there. Or indeed when. See a theme developing here?
What is clear is that it was variously shown as two different cars. Echoing styling themes explored on all manner of other Pininfarina creations, most obviously the ’61 Alfa Romeo Spider Speciale Aerodynamica and the Ferrari 400 Superamerica, it debuted at the ’62 Turin Auto Salon – as the Cabriolet Speciale.
Based on an unmodified Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider platform (chassis no 16601), there was little mention of ‘prototipo 621’ in the Turin firm’s press bumf, other than a line about its ‘mother-of-pearl paintwork with synthetic leather trim.’ Legendary Road & Track correspondent Henry N. Manney III wasn’t completely whelmed, his show report stating: “Pininfarina always puts on a good show and this time there was no exception… certain members of the production line-up being joined by a hastily finished (judging by the paint) metalescent maroon Alfa 2600 Spider which followed the same general format as those seen at shows since Geneva, ’59.”
Quattroroute was more effusive, gushing over its, “balanced mass, harmonious curves with design by the hand of the master.” The first ever edition of Style Auto also featured a glittery - if baffling - photo spread, complete with the odd juxtaposition of a woman dressed to the nines with a mink stole, a bunch of tinkers and a little girl in a bucket set against the romantic backdrop of Pininfarina’s Grugliasco factory.
After further appearances and what passed for an ‘interim’ restyle, the car remerged a year on for the ’63 Brussels Motor Show; it appeared suitably different, largely due to the addition of a roof and a change of hue. Somehow you suspect this was a last-minute rush job, a stand filler that - depending on your point of view - rendered the newly-reminted Coupé Speciale even more striking than its original open-top incarnation.
Style Auto patently thought so, returning to Turin to wax not entirely coherently: “There exist problems of style, the way the shape is put together which must be harmoniously resolved. All these points Pininfarina has concluded with exceptional mastery. The roof, which starts with the double curvature windscreen, presents a particularly aerodynamic profile – you can define it as a ‘light profile’. Seen from the side, the new coupé seems even better than the cabriolet. The top confers greater slenderness on the car and the character of the long and low look is even more accentuated… Everything is positive. It represents a clear stylistic evolution of the original cabriolet version.”
This being Pininfarina, where the company name always comes first, no one individual was ever credited with the styling. And nobody has since come forward to claim recognition, either. Similar, if only in part, to the masterful Chevy Corvette-based Rondine and Fiat 2300-derived Lausanne penned by then employee Tom Tjaarda, the American-born design divinity nevertheless had nothing to with the Alfa. Having lit a recollective fuse, he ponders: “I did not design the car but it was built while I was working at Pininfarina. What you have to remember is that we were all so busy; there was so much going on that we didn’t really take the time to look at what the next person was doing. This car sort of appeared and then was gone.
'I really do not know who authored it, or who could in fact be called its designer. Strange as it may seem, the design of this car just kind of emerged from a synthesis of many styling themes that were going on at Pininfarina at the time. It may have a few overtones of the Rondine, but it also has lines and surfaces from many other vehicles. There is no definite styling theme or concept evident on this car. It’s just a nice, well-proportioned and competent show car that has an Alfa Romeo image about it. For sure, people who see this car like it very much.'
When the Alfa was discovered Stateside, the vendor apparently had no idea that it was a former salon star, believing instead that it was a production model. Peter Kunz of Red Willow Racing in The Netherlands oversaw much of its restoration: 'When the car arrived, it was painted in primer and was on its wheels but all the other parts were in boxes. It was almost complete; only a few mechanical parts were missing.
We were very lucky in that all the special bits were still present. We started work on it in 2002 and to be honest it wasn’t all that difficult a job: Carrozzeria Granturismo Milano did the bodywork, chroming and trimming while we did the rest. There was some discussion about restoring the car as a two-seater roadster as it was originally, and I can tell you there was some very strange welding where the roof was attached later on.'
By: Richard Heseletine / Photos: Mark Dixon September 2009
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