19/9/2013
The 8C Disco Volant is going to be one of the rarest Alfa Romeo's you will ever find, even to attempt to get one you have to first have an 8C. Once you have an 8C you have to then give it to Touring and they then remove all of that stunning bodywork and replace it with handcrafted carbon fibre panels, can you imagine the cost?
I am not sure that I want to rip apart what in my eyes is the most beautiful car in the world, the 8C, to make the Disco Volante but what a car but all the same, the attention to detail is stunning. The original Disco Volante was based on the Alfa 1900 and came after Alfa Romeo pulled out of F1 in 1951. It was designed to be a gentleman's racing car and with a power output of 158 bhp it was fast enough to be competitive against the likes of the Lancia Auralia.
The new Disco Volante is altogether much more of a monster compared with its predecessor, it is huge (more battle star Galactica than flying saucer), but with 450 bhp it isn't going to be a slouch and as with the 8C it sounds fantastic, I would say that it might even sound a bit better than the 8C. As for space-age features check out the illumination around the front Alfa Romeo badge and the Disco Volante logo in the head restraint's, inside there is that lovely smell of fine Italian leather and the seats feel as if you could sit in them forever the leather is so soft and supple. By any stretch of the imagination, this would have been exactly what the designers of the original Disco Volante 60 years ago would be expecting us to be driving in the space age. If you look carefully at the sills on both sides there is a cover, under the covers, there are wings, honest!