Alfa Romeo 2600

Alfa Romeo 2600 Tyres

The classic Alfa Romeo 2600 fitted a 165x400 tyre.

The Classic Alfa Romeo 2600 was Alfa Romeo's six-cylinder flagship produced from 1961 to 1968. It was the successor to the Classic Alfa Romeo 2000. It has become historically significant as the last Alfa Romeo to have been fitted with an inline six-cylinder engine having twin overhead camshafts. That had been the traditional Alfa Romeo engine configuration since the 1920's, but gave way to four-cylinder engines as the factory oriented its production towards more economical mass-produced car models after the Second World War.

The 2600 was introduced in the 1962 Geneva Motor show, as a saloon with a factory-built body , a two-plus-two seater convertible with body by Carrozzeria Touring , and a Coupe with a bodywork by Bertone . A convertible based on the Alfa Romeo Sprint coupe was shown by Bertone in 1963. It was also named Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint, but did not enter production. The 2600 SZ with fastback coupe bodywork by Zagato, and the limited-edition 2600 De luxe with six-window saloon bodywork by Officine Stampaggi Industriale were introduced three years later in 1965 at the Frankfurt motor show.

Alfa Romeo's Berlina styling was not happy and that was reflected in especially poor sales for that model; while most Alfa Romeo berlinas in the marque's history outsold the more specialised sporting models in the same range, the Classic Alfa Romeo 2600 Berlina did not outsell the 2600 Sprint and Spider. The Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider had styling which was seen to be derivative of that of its smaller stablemate, the Giulietta Spider: certainly handsome, but lacking the smaller car's grace and balance. The larger car's handling also suffered perhaps unfair comparison to that of the Giulietta Spider, and this is an important factor in a car with a sporting orientation. One sales point in its favour was that it was a four-seater convertible, though the two rear seats were fairly tight and small.

The classic 2600 Sprint made more of an impression. It was a large grand touring coupe which could seat four adults in comfort over long journeys at high speeds! As such, it did not suffer unfair comparisons to other models in the classic Alfa Romeo range, none of which could directly compare to it. In that mode of operation, oriented more towards fast touring than sporty driving as you do in a classic Alfa Romeo, the agility and handling balance of the smaller Alfa Romeos mattered less, while the stability and smoother ride of the larger car, and the wide power and torque band of the six-cylinder engine, came into their own. Added to the greater space and comfort, those virtues made a convincing case for the classic Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint. The car also inherited the sharp, modern styling of its predecessor, the 2000 Sprint, and that certainly contributed to its being the top seller in the 2600 range. That shape had been the result of Giorgetto Giugiaro's first major project as head designer for Carrozeria Bertone, and is arguably one of the most influential designs in the history of classic Alfa Romeo styling.

A certain number of Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint were purchased by the Italian government and specially equipped and modified to be used as police cars, respectively nicknamed "Pantera" and "Gazzella,from the emblems of their rapid intervention teams. The cars were very suitable for high-speed chases to counter the increase in armed robberies by motorized gangs in 1960s Italy, and appeared in quite a few genre movies of the time.

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