With Prices Up, Alfa Romeo Montreal Heads to Auction

The Alfa Romeo Montreal is over 50 years old at this point. But despite a fairly generous production run for what was a halo car, the V8-engined Montreal never quite made it to the US or Canada, with only a handful of examples having been brought across the Atlantic in recent years.

It's safe to say the collector car market has slept on the Montreal until just a few years ago when their values suddenly skyrocketed, prompting restorations along the way.

In a few weeks Artcurial Auctions will offer at its Retromobile sale a 1974 Montreal, a car without many kilometers on the clock and painted a somewhat uncommon exterior color.

The auction should gauge collector interest in this stylish coupe, one that still seems like a prop from a period sci-fi film.

The spacious Alfa Romeo grand tourer certainly debuted as a concept in the historic Canadian city at Expo 67, but few collectors now remember the car wasn't initially named Montreal. Rather, it appeared as an unnamed design study, and after a positive reception it became known as the Montreal concept, leading Alfa Romeo to adopt that nameplate.

If this GT reminds you of another Italian car or two of the period, there's a good reason for that: Marcello Gandini at Bertone is credited with designing the Lamborghini Miura, Maserati Ghibli and the Montreal, which as a concept featured even more dramatic bodywork, with the Ghibli perhaps being the closest in proportions and shape.

The Montreal entered production just a few short years after its appearance as a concept, with Alfa Romeo building the first example in 1970 after an appearance at the Geneva motor show that year.

Powered by a 2.6-liter DOHC V8 derived from Alfa's race cars of the time, paired with a five-speed manual transmission, the Montreal borrowed major components from the rest of the automaker's passenger car range, including the Alfa Romeo GTV, giving the model a fairly short wheelbase and generous overhangs.

The model's signature design elements—the louvered headlight covers—made the transition into production, as did the six horizontal strips at the B-pillar.

Production ran from 1970 until 1977, but it's safe to say the Montreal was effectively handmade, with just 3,900 units built in that time.

The example that Artcurial will offer at its Retromobile sale in March is a 1974 car finished in Grigio over cloth upholstery in the same color. The car was sold new in France, changing hands a couple of times there, and by 1992 had accumulated 60,738 kilometers.

The car joined the consignor's collection in 2014, around the time that Montreal values began to rise, and was given an engine rebuild the same year. The auction house notes the car has covered only 3000 kilometers since that rebuild, but does not say whether the body was also restored at that point in time, or whether the car has ever been repainted.

"With sound, well-aligned bodywork and lovely upholstery that appears to be original, this car has clearly led a peaceful life contributing to its exceptionally well-preserved condition," the auction house reports.

The car now shows 67,220 kilometers (41,768 miles), and is estimated to bring between 60,000 and 80,000 euros, which roughly translates to a range between $68,000 and $91,000. The Montreal will be offered at no reserve.

Quite a few Montreals were optioned in red or orange colors, but this fact doesn't appear to have negatively impacted the estimate range here, as a number of Montreals offered in the past two years in more crowd-pleasing colors were appraised pretty much identically to this car.

Values of the best-kept examples have hovered just below the $100,000 mark, but there are still relatively few examples that have been restored to a concours standard, as for a long time these were valued quite low—around the $25,000 mark a decade ago for very tidy but far from concours examples.

By 2016 this had changed dramatically, with an orange 1974 model bringing $115,500 at Bonhams Quail Lodge sale that year. Since then Montreal values have generally sat above $75,000 for condition 1 and 2 cars, with most still residing in Europe.

It's safe to say inexpensive Montreals are gone for good, but it's also clear there isn't a rush of concours restorations just yet, so this is still a time to find unrestored examples that have been lying low for years—just not for pocket change, like a decade ago.

Visit the auction website to view the full list of lots from the upcoming Retromobile auction.