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Topic starter
27/11/2022 2:53 pm
I took/borrowed/stole John M's theme but here we go. The Alfa Romeo Pininfarina P33 was a concept car from 1968 that Corgi Toys (UK) decided to do for some strange reason. It seemed very different from he rest of their cars at the time and it had Whizzwheels so I did not bother to buy it as a kid. I was disturbed that they discontinued the Take-Off Wheels in favor of the Hot Wheel inspired fast wheels! I also thought the rear wing was made-up and 'fakey' - it turns out the designer at Pinin Farina used the current wedge shape design philosophy and added that orange/brown wing to it. Corgi got it pretty right actually when they introduced this car in 1970 (except they colored the wing gold).
Now, 52 years later, Matrix has made it again in 1/43 scale in resin! Same funny wing on the back, of course.
I did not bother to measure either model as the original dimensions are not online as far as I can tell. But for a 50 year old toy, they are remarkably close!
Either Alfa or Pinin Farina were not happy with this design and tore the body off to make the Cuneo concept car next. Matrix made this one as well - Corgi did not. Stay tuned.
source: https://oldconceptcars.com/1930-2004/alfa-romeo-p33-roadster-1968/
27/11/2022 3:00 pm
Cool looking models, I've never seen either one before.
John Merritt
South Lyon, Michigan - USA
John Kuvakas reacted
27/11/2022 3:43 pm
I never took to that 1970 Corgi, mainly because of those horrible wheels that were such a let down after the Golden Jacks. I believe it was silly for everyone to jump on the HotWheels speed bandwagon.
Looking back now, I’m impressed with how well Corgi replicated that Alfa. Thanks for this comparison Karl.
John Kuvakas reacted
02/12/2022 6:41 pm
Great comparo, Karl. I don't think I've ever heard of this car before.
@jkuvakas John, my knowledge of vehicles is based on reading toy car catalogues from the 1960's produced by Matchbox, Corgi Toys, Dinky Toys and Spot-On.
Robin Hood County
Nottinghamshire England UK
Topic starter
02/12/2022 9:18 pm
@chris-sweetman Me too Chris.
The older P33 body was replaced a couple years later by Pinin Farina and called the Cuneo (a city in N Italy). A much more pronounced wedge! No contemporary diecasts were made, as far as I know, but Matrix did produce this one in resin in 2022 as well. Until I read online reviews about it, I did not notice the slight bumps for the two front tires - now I can't NOT notice them! 
It also has a very discrete curve to the 2 raised outside edges. A lot of detail packed into a 'simple' wedge.
This post was modified 6 months ago by Karl Schnelle