When Alfa Romeo Turned a Luxury Sedan Into a Fire Truck and a Race Car

The Alfa Romeo 164 was supposed to be a refined executive sedan, the last car the Italian marque engineered on its own before Fiat took over. But inside the Museo Alfa Romeo, two versions tell a very different story. One is a pickup built for firefighters. The other is a mid-engined V10 race car that never got to race.

Together, they reveal just how far the 164 platform could stretch beyond its original brief.

The pickup started at Alfa’s Balocco proving ground, where high-speed testing demanded quick-response fire crews. The company’s skunkworks division, Reparto Esperienze, had already turned several sedans into fire trucks, the 1750 Berlina, Alfetta, Alfa 6, and Giulietta. For the 164, they took the all-wheel-drive Quadrifoglio 4 variant with its 229-horsepower V6, chopped off the rear roof, and turned it into a pickup.

The bed held hoses and water pumps under a soft aerodynamic cover. Emergency lights and white decals on red paint finished the job. When it retired, the one-off went straight to the museum.

Then there’s the ProCar. Built in 1988 for a proposed Formula S championship that never launched, this 164 kept the sedan’s silhouette but little else. 5-liter V10 originally meant for the Ligier F1 team, and a total weight of just 750 kilograms. With 620 horsepower on tap, it made a single public appearance at the 1988 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

The 164 also spawned two concepts: the 1991 Proteo, a coupe-convertible with four-wheel steering, and the 1997 Scighera, a mid-engined supercar with a twin-turbo V6. Not bad for a sedan that started life alongside the Saab 9000 and Lancia Thema.