Back to back: Montreal or Bora?

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During the Avignon Motor Festival this weekend, ‘Maison de ventes’ Leclere will sell over a hundred classic cars and a few motor bikes. Plenty of locally built vehicles are available. Simcas (Aronde to Ariane), Peugeots (403 to 205 GTI), Citroens (Ami 6 to Chapron DS Majesty) and Renaults (4CV to Alpine A110) to name just a few.

But we decided to focus on two Italians here, if only it was for the fact that they make such a nice comparison. To start with the Alfa-Romeo: it’s a 1974 Montreal with 103,000 kms on the clock. As you will probably know the Montreal was a rather special project, built around a Gandini-designed concept car and a race-bred Alfa V8 engine. The dry-sump 2.593 cc eight cylinder placed in the front of the car is in this guise good for some 200 bhp on the rear wheels and a top of 220 km/h. Perhaps not for the faint-hearted but these mechanicals are certainly interesting. The car offered for sale with Leclere was fully restored in Bordeaux two years ago. Since that time hardly more than a thousand kilometres were added on the road. They say the car needs nothing else then a driver. It’s estimated to sell somewhere between 43- and 58,000 euros, which seems fair to us given the car’s seemingly excellent condition. Full description here.

The Maserati Bora is valued significantly higher at 150- to -180,000 euros but then Maserati is perhaps a more prestigious marque? It’s quite a lot rarer also. This model comes with its V8 behind the seats and the engine has an interesting history, too. Originally race-bred for the good old 450S, this version comes with 4,930 cc capacity and was of course used in Citroëns, too, since they owned Maserati at the time. Remarkably, it uses Citroën’s hydraupneumatics. Together with the 310 bhp V8-engine this is another unusual mix of mechanicals. This particular car is a late one, built in 1978, with believed to have just been driven 49,610 kms since. Like the Alfa, it was recently restored, too, with the engine kept ‘dans son jus’- or ‘as it is’ in good English. “an excellent opportunity for a further full restoration”, the seller adds. See and read more about the car here.

So there we go. Both are interesting cars, with perhaps a different take on a similar concept. We found ghost views of the two and put them together for you here. Which of the two is the most interesting one, you would say? And does that also make it the most wanted one?

(Words editor, pictures courtesy Leclere)

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