10/10/2025
A wedge from the South.
The Alfa Romeo Caimano is a concept car designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Italdesign and based on the Alfasud platform. It was never intended as a production car, but rather as a purely creative exercise, a way to show how advanced an Alfa could look, especially in contrast to the utilitarian econo-boxes emerging at the start of the 1970s.
Despite its humble Alfasud underpinnings, with a 1.2-litre flat-four engine producing 62 hp and paired to a four-speed gearbox, the Caimano’s sub-four-metre body (with a wheelbase shortened by 20 cm) fully embraced the wedge aesthetic prefigured by another Alfa concept - the Carabo - which would go on to define the supercar genre.
Sharp edges, a low nose, and a spaceship-like profile perfectly captured the spirit of the decade, but the real party trick of the Alfasud Caimano was its glass dome canopy, covering the entire cabin, including the roof, doors, and wraparound windshield. There was no A-pillar; instead, the B- and C-pillars merged into a trapezoidal roll bar behind the cockpit. The rear portion of the roof doubled as an adjustable spoiler, controllable from inside and movable through four stages for different effects.
Instead of conventional hinged doors, the entire canopy lifted, with side cutouts for easier access. For in-flight ventilation - or for that most Italian of rituals, paying the Autostrada toll - two small sliding windows were integrated into the canopy’s rim. The seats were extremely low and reclined, while the instrumentation was equally unconventional: two large dials where the scales rotated instead of the pointers.
Barely taller than one metre when closed, the Caimano must have been quite the sight at the 1971 Turin Motor Show, scoring on Alfa’s intentions - to prove once again that the Biscione’s sporty spirit could come in small doses, but with big impact.
As seen by during the temporary “Grigio” display at - and still looking like it came from the future…
www.alfattitude.com
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