From top: cover star of
Quattroruote, December
1966; Dinky toy box claims
160bhp and 144mph;
newly arrived discovery
at Strada e Corsa‘It never ceases to amaze
me how famous cars keep
turning up, and the story
of the Scarabeo’s journey
is a fascinating saga’
A
DayGlo red Dinky, number
271, has fascinated me since
I was a lad. The toy was
inspired by the dramatic
Alfa Romeo Scarabeo, the
1966 show car created by
Giuseppe Busso with wild
body by OSI of Borgaro Torinese. The colour of
the toy always frustrated me because I’d seen
a photo in my dad’s copy of Autocar that showed
the Paris Salon sensation finished in silver with a
Barbarella-style model in a matching spacesuit.
The Scarabeo was modelled many times – by
Entex, Politoy, Alezan and as various slot-racers
- but the fate of the car remained a mystery.
I’d hoped to finally see the show car on my
first visit to the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo, but
the two Scarabeos on display – a dumpier second
chassis and an austere barchetta mule in the base-
ment – didn’t compare to the OSI original.
Over the years I learnt more about its bold
design and fascinating specification. The proto-
type was born out of Busso’s frustration that
the Tipo 33’s development had been diverted to
Autodelta; to compensate, he talked Alfa bosses
into developing a new rear-engined sports
model. Rather than the T33’s exotic V8, Busso
proposed using the GTA’s 115bhp twin-cam
‘four’. In a dramatic turnaround, the classic
105-series ‘four’ was mounted transversely,
in-unit with the clutch and gearbox. The chassis
featured two massive longitudinal tubular
members, much like the racing T33, with one
containing a fuel tank. Novel details included a
huge, front-hinged cockpit cover, one-off cross-
spoke alloy wheels and inboard rear brakes,
while the front featured various Renault suspen-
sion components – at the time Alfa had links to
the Gallic giant. Sergio Sartorelli directed OSI’s
new Styling Centre, but who penned the Scara-
beo’s bold glassfibre shape isn’t recorded.
I’d heard rumours that the first prototype had
survived in America, but recently came the excit-
ing news from Lennart Schouwenburg that the
surviving show car had arrived at the Strada e
Corsa workshops. I immediately booked a flight
to Amsterdam to visit the Italian-car specialist,
best known for its Fiat 8V and Siata rebuilds.
It never ceases to amaze me how famous cars
keep turning up, and the story of the Scarabeo’s
journey to The Netherlands is a fascinating saga.
Like me, Schouwenburg’s interest was sparked
by that Dinky toy, and later during visits to the
Alfa museum with his father he’d also been frus-
trated that the car was missing. Then, 10 years
September 2019 Classic & Sports Car 57ago, he was by chance introduced to California-
based Alfa collector Said Marouf in the Laguna
Seca paddock. When the conversation turned to
Tipo 33s, Marouf mentioned that he had the
Scarabeo chassis 001. “I was awestruck, and
wanted to know more about its history,” recalls
Schouwenburg. “Said related that German
enthusiast Helmut Limmer had bought the
Scarabeo from OSI and taken it to New York,
where someone had tried to cut the rear chassis
in an attempt to fit a Miura engine. The project
was then sold to Ernie Paniccioli, the legendary
hip-hop photographer. Said had discovered the
Scarabeo in 1988 but hadn’t touched it.”
Marouf and the Schouwenburg brothers kept
in touch about the Dutch specialist taking on the
rebuild, but Marouf decided he was too old to
see the project through and Lennart acquired it.
“We’d love to hear from anyone with informa-
tion about the car,” he says. “We recently found
an advert in an Italian magazine that says it was
a runner. The body and chassis are complete,
and at some point the cockpit was converted to
right-hand drive after the Webers caused prob-
lems with the seating. It’s a fascinating car that
fits between the TZ2 and T33. We’d love some-
one to buy it and commission us to restore it.”
Just imagine the thrill when it’s unveiled at
Villa d’Este or Pebble Beach. That post-rebuild
debut wouldn’t be complete without remaking
the amazing spacesuit for an accompanying
model to recreate the 1966 Paris reveal.FROM THE COCKPIT
Mick
WA L S H