1966 Alfa Romeo Scarabeo Osi
Project Scarabeo came about in the mid-1960s, when
Alfa Romeo was developing a racing prototype with a view to returning to major
competition, following its withdrawal in 1953. The company had the means to continue from where the development of the
stillborn Tipo 160 Grand Prix prototype of 1954 had left off.
The racing prototype sat on an H-shaped chassis, three
of which were sent – along with a Giulia GTA engine – to OSI of Turin, which
was a subsidiary of Ghia. Each chassis was given different bodywork and a
slightly different seating position; one of the principles that the Scarabeo
explored was to have the driver seated as far back in the car as possible. The
idea had been suggested in the fifties by works driver Consalvo Sanesi, and was
intended to give the driver a better position from which to assess the
behaviour of – and thus to control – the car.
The Scarabeo with seats furthest back was the silver
coupé that debuted at the 1966 Paris Motor Show – also note the different
bodywork from the yellow car. A third, spider version was built as a test mule
(thought to have used the exact chassis of the racing prototype) and its
bodywork was never completed. Unlike its siblings, the silver coupé was built
with right-hand drive, necessitated by the positioning of the rear-mounted
engine’s carburettors. They were located just behind the headrest of the seat on
the left-hand side of the car, with the occupant only protected from deafness
by a thin sheet of Perspex.
The H-shaped structure was fabricated from large-diameter
tubes, which also incorporated the fuel tanks to spread the liquid’s weight
evenly across the car. This concept was used later in the Tipo 33, as was the
Scarabeo’s employment of exotic materials such as magnesium. Other interesting
features included a clutch and gearbox that were incorporated into the engine
block; drive to the differential was also an integral unit, while the rear disc
brakes were located centrally and each corner was sprung independently.
Although the Scarabeo concept’s mechanical elements
were advanced enough to be used in the prestigious Tipo 33, it seemed there was
not a good enough business case to conclude its development with a small
production run, as was originally intended. Of the three Scarabeos built, two
remain in Alfa’s collezione storica, while the silver coupé escaped and is
thought to be in a private collection in Canada.
