The Alfasud Caimano was presented to the public together with the Berlina during the 53rd Turin Motor Show in 1971. It was designed by Giugaro. The public was impressed how changeable the chassis of the Alfasud was. Under the enormous windscreen which looks like a dome one finds a two-seater coupé with an extraordinary cockpit.
Having entered the passengers compartment by opening the windscreen-door unit one notices the unsual five gauges. Instead of the common instruments Alfa Romeo uses in each of their cars, Guigaro designed rectangular gauges which inform about speed, revolutions, water temperature, oil pressure and the fuel reservoir. Below the gauges there is a row of control lamps. The steering wheel only has two spokes and looks like one of those Ford Escort steering wheels out of the early 1980s. Driver and passenger sit in deck-chair-like seats. As long as the sun does not shine this is surely a very comfortable place to be. Having no air condition, Caimano becomes a rolling glass house with extremely high temperatures when the sun shines. Under the opened bonnet there is the serial 63 bhp Boxer engine. The bonnet design was a problem for Giugaro. Actually he wanted to design a side line without any crease. But the Boxer engine did not allow that. So there had to be a crease in the bonnet. If you switch on the lights, the front "sleeping eyes" lights fold out of the bonnet. Below the opened  rear window which is built as a hatch, there is even a kind of boot. Caimano is 3920 mm long, 1650 mm wide and 1090 mm high.
If you want to have a closer look at Caimano, you have to visit the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo near Milan.

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Last Update: May, 28th 2004       Created: November, 17th 2003

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