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According to Marcello Gandini (the designer), the Montreal was never considered with anything but a front engine.
The prototype engine was a straight four from a Giulia TI. Busso proposed the 33 Stradale engine for the Montreal, since the 33 Stradale project was effectively dead at that time, and the reason the the 105.33 project in the first place was to make a GT that could compete sales-wise in the Fiat Dino and the 246GT-class of cars. It should also be mentioned that in Luigi Giuliani's book "Alfa Romeo Montreal", it's briefly mentioned that Autodelta built a couple of experimental GTAs with V8s in '66/'67. Busso no doubt knew about it.
The bigger V8 is the reason for the production Montreal being so different from the prototype.
Noone really knows when the V8 decision was taken, but when the prototypes were sent to Montreal, they already had dual exhaust pipes!
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'99 166 3.0 (La Divina) // '72 Montreal (La Tempesta)
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