1971 Alfa Romeo Montreal - Jay Leno’s Garage 

This car was displayed in Montreal in 1967 at Expo 67, the Montreal World's Fair. I saw it there. I was 11. I fell in love!

This isn't a Supercar, it a piece of pure Art. It's beautiful, utterly beautiful.

I had an Alfa in 1971.I was 9years old and my birthday cake was in the shape of a Montreal! British Racing Green icing. At that time my family owned three Alfa's so I grew up loving those beautiful little rust buckets.

I know Jay has the ultimate collection, but this is the one I'm truly envious of.

That front end is astonishing and that sound is just awesome. Alfa Romeo has made many magical cars and this is one of them.

Love it when it's just Jay by himself in the car.

As an Alfista, i'm always excited to see a Montreal, even better in that colour. PS I'm italian and that front plate is such a marvellous detail

im in Vancouver, but hearing a man as prolific as Jay Leno, compliment Canada by saying "most beautiful city in North America" it makes one proud to be an Italian Canadian!

Easily one of the nicest sounding V8s ever constructed. Alfa Romeo knocked it out of the park with the Montreal.

Hello Jay! I'm Italian, born from Italian parents in Italy, grew up in Italy, full stock.. that mechanic was completely right about the climate! I never understood why people say that FIAT stands for "Fix It Again Tony" my family had several FIATs and they never needed that much service as the Americans and British claim.. particularly my father drove a 2gen FIAT 127 (a 900/L to be precise) for 30+ years and the only time I recall it "breaking down" was when it overheated cause my dad forgot to switch the air filter from "winter" to "summer", so he let it cool down a bit, switched the filter and off we got like it was no big deal. My brother has been to SoCal and told me that your climate is even hotter than where we live (Lecce, Salento, south-east Italy) so I'd say your Italian cars should probably drive just fine most of their time :) It probably is a good thing you let them warm up since you have a cool wide storage, my father did use to let the 127 warm up a little bit in the winter. Thank you for taking care of this forgotten/underrated classics and bringing knowledge of them to the world! I feel absolutely stoked everytime I see you uploaded a video about a rare Italian car.

Great vid Jay. These are special cars. I had one for 15 years in Australia and cherished it, then stupidly sold it late 90's. I paid not much in early 80's, and my mechanic tony (not kidding) ended up buyng it from me. I also had a GTV 2.5 Grand Prix with the greatest motor i've ever owned...the Busso V6, and together with the Montreal i felt like i was the king of my local Alfa club for awhile. I soooo wish i still had it. Gorgeous thing and one of those cars that everyone wants to check over and ask about. The front end is pure muscle car and the quad cam V8 is heavenly. We look back and truly regret some of the decisions we make, but we go forward. So damn difficult to get a good one.

What I like about JL is that he knows his stuff but he does not sound pretentious at all, and is so nice speaking and explaining, what a cool car guy.

A Sunday evening Jay Leno video release is about the only thing you can count during these crazy times!

This car looks like a gentlemans musclecar.. woww

. Not only was Montreal celebrating Expo 67 which was in a World Exposition, but we were also celebrating Canada’s 100 years of Confederation, so Expo was a dual celebration which was why I was there with my family. Canadians were bombarded with ads to “see your country in1967”, so my brother, sister, and I drove from Calgary Alberta to Montreal Quebec with our parents that summer. Upon first sight of the Alfa Romeo Montreal it was love at first sight for me, and when it finally came out in 1971, I was totally bummed that it wasn’t offered for sale in Canada, or the United States. When I found out it was more expensive then a 911 Porsche, I conveniently lost interest until today. Alfa Romeo may have had a reputation for not being all that reliable back then, but it sure is beautiful to look at. Thanks Jay for confirming that it was also fairly reliable and not merely a beautiful face.

This car was presented for the first time in Montreal as part of Expo 67, considered to be the most successful and interesting World's Fair of the 20th century. For Alfa Romeo, the objective was to create and exhibit: "La massima aspirazione dell'uomo in fatto di automobili" - The highest ambition of man in terms of cars. Bravo Marcello Gandini. Your creation deserves a mention of excellence.

I like the attitude: "we made a car. You like it or you don't.."

“You have to have your own Tony mechanic..” What a glorious line!

I spent my whole life working on and driving V8 cars and this is the most beautiful sounding V8 I have ever heard this engine is the epitomy of why Italian cars need no radio. It's a damn shame we never got this car in America even with the cost of one being what it was I know a lot of Alfa fans who would have payed any price to get one of these in there garage .

One of the best sounding cars ever named after a city of my province! Proud to be Canadian! 🇨🇦

1:19 - "big, wide, and heavy".... after 3 weeks of quarantine, I find this relatable.... 😆😆

Since I know a bit about the Montreal, having been lucky enough to drive one for a while, I'll correct a few minor things that Mr. Leno said in this video and add a few bits of info. As usual: great content, it's a pleasure to listen to him talk, he is very knowledgeable but one can't expect anyone to know every detail of every car he gets to talk about and drive! So here goes. The engine is not a 3.0L, it's a 2.6L (Jay said it correctly in the video, but the video description is wrong), producing around 200hp, a little less than what was claimed. It is a bespoke engine, derived from the 2.0L V8 in the 33 (check out the 33 Stradale, arguably one of the most beautiful cars ever made, extremely rare as only about 17 were ever produced) with higher capacity, lower compression and crossplane instead of flatplane crankshaft, amongst other things. Although it does rev relatively high (not as high as the 33 one), it's a very elastic and quite torque-y engine (not american V8 muscle big displacement torque, of course). The wheel are not original, although the design of these ones is somewhat reminiscent of the original "Millerighe" ( = thousand lines) they are very different and, I suspect, a little smaller in radius. The car appears to sit a bit lower than a stock one, it does look mean and purposeful! Probably something was done to the suspension set-up, making it less wallowy than a stock version. The front splitter shouldn't have that cutout in the middle, the lower lip should be straight. Of course, many/most of the things Mr. Leno talked about are correct. Concerning the SPICA (pronounced "speeka") fuel injection, Jay is absolutely spot on: they work fantastically when properly tuned, but few people back then, and even fewer people today, knew how to properly work on them. The NACA duct is fake, as he mentioned, but there is an additional reason other than the stylistic one for it to be there. The prototype presented in 1967 at the Montréal Expo had the classic DOHC I4 (I think 1600cc), in fact it was a 105 series Giulia GT chassis/suspension/drivetrain with the Gandini designed Bertone "dress" on top. The prototype was slimmer, especially in the hood area, and it garnered a lot of attention. Alfa Romeo was the only car maker at the Expo: they were explicitly and exclusively invited by the organizers to present the most desirable product (concept) by man in terms of cars. Following the public success, it was decided to be put into production, and the execs opted for a larger, more powerful engine to make it more supercar-like. This required the design to be modified to allow the much more voluminous V8 to fit under the hood (Gandini and Bertone were NOT happy about this), and that fake NACA duct sits on top of a bulge of the hood, making a little extra headroom for the intake. With this big engine on the chassis from lighter and less powerful cars, it's not quite balanced correctly (a bit front heavy and light in the rear, don't give it too much gas on low traction surfaces while turning or you are never getting that thing back under control with that huge wheel until you hit a tree) and the brakes are a bit under-performing, but not insanely so given it's an early-70s car, and brakes+suspensions could be upgraded by the enthusiast. I am fascinated by the apparently original period-correct Italian licence plate from the Treviso (near Venice) province, I didn't know it is allowed to leave them on in the USA. Radio was an optional, most of the Montreals I saw had radioes. The dog-leg ZF gearbox is glorious, in my opinion. It's true that many cars back then had four gears, but many Italian cars, even affordable sporty units like the GT1300 Junior, Lancia Fulvia 1.3S, Fiat 124, etc. had 5 gears in them. Alfa Romeo chose the ZF gearbox because the in-house gearboxes they produced for their other cars couldn't quite handle this engine's power and torque, and rather than engineering a new box they got it from the renown German company. The side-panel turning signals on this car are much bulkier than the stock ones: the original ones are small and round, I think these do a disservice to the sleek design but I suspect they were required upon import. Warming the engine is of course of paramount importance, but the ideal way is to let gearbox oil warm as well before setting off, so the arguably most correct procedure is to turn the engine on, give it maybe 30 seconds to a minute and then set off with calm and grace. Once it's up to temp (engine oil takes a bit longer to get the gauge moving, but it's there to be checked) you can start stretching its legs. Sorry for the wall of text, got excited to see the Montreal on this channel! Thank you for the great video!

My mom works in DC. One time she was out on lunch break, and saw what appeared to be a Model T parked in the bike lane. The street seller on the corner saw her bemused expression, and just said, "Yeah, that's Jay Leno's car." Sums up Jay's personality perfectly.

Love the italian front plate and american rear plate👌🏻 Only someone with Jay Leno culture can appreciate a piece of history like that , a car it'n not only about speed and horsepower

An underappreciated and often forgotten gem. You're going to drive up the prices!

i'm from Milan...whenever we see an old Alfa our hearts start pumpin' 😍😍 Btw when you visit Milan we have 2 Alfa museums ! One is near their ex-factory just on the outskirts and another one by a dealer 22 km north. Incredible cars!

Jay, it's the quad V eight which won major races in the Alfa 33 including Le Mans as a 2OOO cc, blown out to 2.6 for the Montreal. Magnifica !!

Beautiful car, gorgeous understated interior and that exhaust note

Honestly, I prefer when Jay is alone than with someone else asking 100 questions.

The engine of the Montreal was derived from the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, a truly astonishing supercar produced at the end of the 60's... probably my favourite supercar ever! The car in the video was registered in Treviso(TV), in the very wealthy region of Veneto. North East of Italy(700miles from Sicily). This is proper Alfa nobility. Nice one Jay. Ciao Alberto

1:55 ... " some sort of expo " it was Expo 67 Canadas 100 year anniversary

I've always loved the Montreal, well Alfa's in general, but I'd never heard one before seeing this video. I love the noise small tuned V8's make, and this one especially sounds fantastic.

Right Jay - 1967 Montreal Universal Exposition "Montreal Expo" - I was there with my parents - I was 5 years old...

Finally Alfa Romeo! Greetings to all Alfa Romeo owners from Russia!

to fully appreciate this car, you should see it in person. i always thought this was an ok car but when i saw it in alfa romeo museum in real life i was mesmerized by it. it's the most beautiful car really.

Absolutely one of the best exhaust sounds I've ever heard. Man, does this thing look fun.

With those hooded eyes set in that aggressive grill, it looks like the love child of a Challenger and a Ferrari Daytona.

I fell in love with the Montreal while watching this video. My favorite comment from Jay: "You don't have to be the fastest guy on the block,...but you can be the happiest guy on the block". :)

Probably stated already, but yeah, a world's expo was held in Montreal in '67. That is where the Montreal Expos baseball team got its name.

I was driving a hire car in Italy in the early nineties and heard this sublime v8 Rumble, looked in my mirror and saw a Montreal coming past me. A stunning car, one of the best soundtrack ever heard.

Yes Jay, "alfista" is the correct term to identify an Alfa Romeo enthusiast! Cheers from Italy!

The Gandini design is immediately recognizable. This is the Miura’s 5’2” brother who works out and has a surprisingly high bench press number.

I’m a car guy and had never heard of this model Alfa Romeo. I love this car! Thank you Jay.

As a Alfisti myself i find it so hard that the brand is in such bad weather. I hope it doesn’t end up like Lancia

Hi, Jay. this episode takes me back. In my days as a uni student in the mid-1970s I worked in the valet car park at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia. One of our regular customers at the time was Chelsea Brown, who you will probably remember from Laugh In. She married an Australian and had a successful TV career here for a long time, too. She drove an orange Montreal, right hand drive as they were sold here and I often parked it for her. A lovely, memorable car. So was Chelsea, she was always so nice to everyone who worked there. Sadly missed.

That's the most badass Alfa Romeo I've ever seen!!

As a Canadian, I can confirm that 1967 Expo was in Montreal. 55 million people visited. 1967 was also Canadian centennial, 100 years old.

I was born in the same year Jay´s Montreal left the factory, and I even owned one on that decade... a toy model car of course, but it made me a very proud owner anyway. Have been in love with the design ever since, even though getting behind the wheel of a real one remains probably just a dream forever!

Jay please stay healthy and safe! We love you bud. 👍

She looks like a great horned owl, cruising, feeling the airflow on her wings; suddenly sees a prey and gets 8,000 rpm angry until she catches her prey, a nice deep smile and gets back to that crushing growl.

My dad had exactly the same when I was a kid back in the 70s in the south of France. Same orange, it was a 1971 that he bought almost new in 1972. The stock wheels were a bit different. He kept the car until 1981. It was an amazing machine with the Alfa 33 competition small V8 engine. Extremely capricious. It spent a lot of time with the mechanic. He had a good friend who was an Alfa race mechanic and who owned the same in a weird light green metallic colour. He came over on weekends and fixed his car and my dad’s in my dad’s garage. If you own one, make sure you get the mechanic with it. This is what prevented me from buying one as a classic. But it was unique for its days with air conditioning, nice stereo, tinted glass, 5 speed gearbox and a sweet V8 noise. My dad pushed it all the way to 240 km/h from time to time on the highway. I can only imagine the maintenance needed after that. It was just before 1973 when there were no speed limits yet! Thanks for bringing all those found memories back Jay!

Absolutely one of the rarest and most beautiful cars I've had the pleasure to work on. You're right about them being unbelievable in multiple ways.

The sound of that engine...wow.

"Montréal, the most beautiful city in North America." That made me smile! I love our city and its surrounding areas. On behalf of Montréalers, thank you for the compliment 🙂

Jay seems super mellowed out in this video... Like he's really enjoying himself and speaking 100% naturally & super casually. He's open and chill in his other vids too, but much more so in this one imo. Early COVID edible experiment?? Ha. Killer car I didn't know existed and one of the greatest exhaust notes I've ever heard! Jay's sound mixer crushed it on the drive by clip with the blending of onboard/bystander exhaust audio @ 15:13. My favorite JLG video so far.

Design is so original & exceptional. That front is one of the best ever. So many original touches to it. That headlight canopy is so original as some kind of blinds. So unique & stylish. All in all serious classic car.

I love that Jay's father is Italian, yet he doesn't speak a word and constantly does the stereotypical accent 😂

The Montreal is in my top 10 of all-time favorite cars.

When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I had the poster of this fabulous Alfa-Romeo in my bedroom. For me, the most beautiful car ever. Not the most powerful, but the nicest, most desirable car. And the years have no hold on this beauty, admirably served by this fabulous V8.

Twice in this video the orange Montreal was seen together with an orange and gray city bus! TOO COOL!!!!!!!

A few years ago the international owners club had a meeting here in Sweden, and I was fortunate enough to get to see perhaps 30 or so of these fantastic machines gathered at a small castle where they stayed over night. I also went there the morning after to see them drive off to their next destination. The sound of all these engines starting up was really something special, an experience I'll never forget.

“TV”: Treviso city licence plate, MY TOWN!! ❤️🇮🇹

There is so much love when Jay talks about the Montreal that listening to him as much as fun as seeing him driving it

This is/was my dream car when I grew up, love it still today. They had one problem which every Alfa had, you bought them in two colours......the colour you choose and rusty! The best Alfa ever!

Three years ago I played a gig (music) for the Alfa Romeo Owner's Club event in July in Montreal. There was an Alfa Montreal at that event along with an 8C and a bunch of others, of course. Beautiful machines. Thanks for my hometown shout out, Jay.

"Some sort of expo..." says Jay. Expo 67 was a huge event, a World's Fair to mark Canada's centennial and while nothing much is left from it today the grounds where it was located is where the Canadian Grand Prix is held now. I remember when the Alfa Romeo Montreal was introduced and how gorgeous I thought it was. Although it is probably not an issue for someone like Jay, this car truly needs a specialist to work on it and what would scare me away is the unavailability of parts. Sounds wonderful, though!

Clem at the Shell Station! 😂. Clem knew more than most today! I love the way she sounds!

It was the Junior Zagato on the inside back page of Road&Track that got me. I owned 3 Alfas at one time, Graduate, Quadrifoglio, GTV, & the joke among the Bimmer crowd was I had to have 3 for parts! SCCA racing the GTV is one of my lifes great events. Thank you for featuring this magnificent Alfa.

"Montreal. The most beautiful city in North America. If you've never been there, it's just incredible." True words, Jay.

I was gonna go to sleep, but that can wait 25 minutes

The greatest and most swinging expo of the 20th century! Montréal Expo of 1967.

This sport coupe car was prepared for the World Fair called Expo 67 to take place in Montreal, Canada (which was celebrating 100 years of the Canadian Federation in 1967). This was the time when Canada became a strong economic place and Montreal was its center as the metropolis. This is the only city after which Alfa named a car specifically.

Man, that car looks amazing....you have to admit the Italians built some of the most beautiful cars in 60s and 70s.....peace,

As a European Alfa nut ' Walked into the Alfa workshop in London teenager in the early seventies ' Captivated me to the brand .. Just passion . America has been robbed of great vehicles that are not understood ...

Montreal is one of my favorite Alfas, a stunning Gandini body design with a V8 under the hood ❤️🍀

When jay dies no one will say he’s in a better place, he’s lived a wonderful life. God bless jay you’re a really cool guy.

In the early 1980s when I was a kid, my father had as our family car an Alfa Romeo Alfetta. It was an electrical, fluid leaking, cockpit-ergonomic nightmare. I still miss her.

That Bertone body is absolutely beautiful.

I was one of those 13 year olds who saw the Montreal on R & T and wanted on right away! It still excites. Thanks for answering my question about engine cooling. You can’t drive a modern GT 40 in any kind of traffic, as Jay Leno proved. Great car, now have to find the roads around DC.

Very nice job, as usual! Everyone here seeing this video can just fall in love with the classic Alfa style and sound. Thank you veru much Jay Leno

I'm a simple Italian man...I see an Alfa, I click.

I HAD ONE OF THESE MONTREALS IN THE UK AND DROVE IT ACROSS FRANCE WITH TWO SMALL KIDS IN THE BACK. VERY EXCITING CAR, LOVED IT.

My dream car when I was young... and it still is now. Lovely presentation, thank you.

I never really like the Montreal until I saw this video. Never thought about the color being a factor but , you’re totally right Jay ! Love Alfa’s & yours is lovely!

I'm Italian and I love Alfa Romeo of course. And well, the Montreal is my favorite 🇮🇹❤️

Probably the most beautiful Alfa Romeo they ever made.

I drive an Alfa Romeo giulia and I’m absolutely in love with the car and the brand! Beautiful, quick, timeless. So much character more than any other brand I’ve owned and I’ve owned a lot of brands!

I had a 1971 Alfa GTV for a couple years in the early 1980s. Racing Green with a tan interior. I loved driving that car so much I couldn’t get in it and just go to the grocery store; I had to go tool around somewhere every time I got in. Their four- cylinders are little jewels also! A sweet sound you feel in the seat. He’s right about the Italian mechanic too. I bought mine used, from an enthusiast and it came with a recommended mechanic that worked out of a shop next to his home. He was a retired head-mechanic on the Alfa racing team. I was in my late twenties and it gave me a feeling I’ll always remember. Cheers

It's almost as if in Amx javelin and a Pantera had a baby. I like it.

The engine was a larger detuned version of the 33 stradale engine, with the cross plain crank instead of straight plain crank. Both engines came from the tipo 33 but got chain driven cams rather than cog driven. Hope that all makes sense.

Hello Mr Leno, Great video as always. Thanks for the kind words about the city of Montreal.

A magnificent machine! Thank you Jay for keeping those design masterpieces running and sharing your experiences with us. I love cars from that era.

Evey time Jay does a video about an older Italian car, like clockwork we get that story about the old Italian mechanic and the narrow oil passages.

The Alfa DNA is in the “lesser” models as well. My USA 69 GTV had four wheel disc brakes with dual vacuum boosters and a brake balance device between the front and rear., Five speed fully synchromesh transmission, independent front suspension, a live rear axle located by trailing arms and an aluminum trunnion.The engine was 1779 cc aluminum block with cast iron liners, hemispherical combustion chambers, Spica mechanical fuel injection, dual overhead cams, and a beautiful aluminum valve cover. It produced 132 horsepower and had a virtually flat torque curve from about 2500 to 5800 rpm if memory serves. The Bertone body in Giallo Ochre was gorgeous and arguably as iconic as Porsche’s 911’s of the era. Steering by worm and roller was light ( at speed) and communicative. The car was a delight to drive, to look at, and to work on. Alfa’s are underrated IMHO. They have character, beauty, charm, a jewel like engine and a delicate feel. I owned it nearly forty years. When I had to sell it I literally cried.

My first car was a 1984 black Spider Veloce Alfa, even though the electrical on the car was not optimal, it gave me a love for cars just because it was a thrill to drive! The sound of this Montreal is just superb! The head light covers are the icing on the cake for me :)

Long live you great man. You have all the best toys ever made in the world. This is a real jewel....that sound is magic.

What a gorgeous ca. America missed out on Alfa Romeos.

I love the sound of that V8. Alfas always have great soundtracks.

A friend has a Montreal in white and it's stunning. Parts are rare beyond words

Whenever I watch one of Jay's videos one of the things that really impresses me is that if he's not completely sure about something he says so, and he's open to comments from someone who may know more about it. Never any BS. Unfortunately some YT videos have become more about spreading misinformation than facts.