That not one of the six one-off concept cars built on the underpinnings of Alfa Romeo’s Tipo 33 Stradale has aged half as well as the outrageously alluring original is certainly telling of Franco Scaglione’s genius. But while few would argue that the Italian wunderkind’s pièce de résistance is not among automotive history’s most beautiful pieces of design, by no means do the aforementioned prototypes, constructed by the likes of Pininfarina, Italdesign and Bertone, deserve to be glossed over. The transformations of the motorsport derived Tipo 33 chassis were in line with the emerging aesthetic trends of the time, the most prominent of which was the transition from round, voluptuous curves to space-age sharp edges and flat panels. And we reckon the most ‘out there’ of the bunch is the last: the Alfa Romeo Navajo by Bertone. Introduced in 1976, by which time the Tipo 33 Stradale was all but obsolete, the Navajo looks like it came straight from Buck Rogers’ 25th century world. If the concepts of the wedge era were beginning to look derivative by this point, Nuccio Bertone unsurprisingly pushed the envelope once again with the Navajo.

Alex Easthope
Deputy Editor