The story of this stunning one-off sports car start back in 1972, Marciano was a 23-year old mecanic who dreamt about cars like the Ferrari 206 SP Dino and Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale.

 

He learned of a car design contest and in the meantime he got hold of a crashed Alfa Romeo Montreal. At the time, Vincenzo had several jobs in Ponsacco (Toscane) within the car industry. He did not know the history of the crashed Montreal and only the drivetrain could be saved, the chassis was destroyed beyond repair.

 

With no experience in designing or building a car, he started to draw a tubular frame to attach the engine and suspension of the car. He drawed the chassis himself, which was heavily influenced by the lines of the 33 Stradale, 250 GTO and the like. He learned the process of designing and building the chassis himself. He used various parts from other cars.Suspension build by Marciano himself,differenctial is from Jaguar and the wheelbase was extended. The windshield is from a Ferrari 250 LM while the wheels are original 33 Stradale wheels.Unlike the 33 Stradale, he placed the engine in the front. The vents in the hood and side are functional. It also explains the proportions of the car with the long hood and the seats almost placed on the rear axle.

 

The name of the car relates to 2.6, displacement in cc of the engine, 8 for 8-cylinder and Anteriore for front-engined. The engine has been upgraded with Webers. If you open the hood, you see eight huge ram pipes. With a minimum of interior isolation and no silencers, awakening the engine is a deafening experience. Marciano did not make it to finish the car before the designcontest. The project was abandoned but not forgotten. Project was not finished in the 70's or 80's. It was only late 90's that the car was finally finished. Untill that time, it has been hardly shown in public. It first open outage to an event was Alfa Romeo's Centennial Celebration, where it was praised for its level of build quality and appearance.

 

Unlike many 70's Italian products, the car is finished in a superb build quality which certainly levels it above any other selfbuild project.

 

Engine: V8, 2 valves per cilinder, dry sump system, four double Weber 40 DCNF carburettors

Displacement: 2594 cm3

Power: 240 HP / 6.500 tpm

Gearbox: ZF 5 Marce

Wheels: 13 x 7,5 – 13 x 9,5

Length: 4100 mm

Width: 1750 mm

Weight: 750 kg

Top speed: +240 km/h

Acceleration 0-100 km/h: 6''

 

I like to thank Vincenzo Marciano,it's great pleasure to have this special car in my site.