Which 1967 Alfa Romeo introduced the first six-speed manual transmission?

The 1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale introduced the first six-speed manual transmission in a production road car. Its six-speed Colotti manual transaxle was an extraordinary feature when most passenger cars still used three-, four-, or five-speed gearboxes.

The Stradale was the road-going version of Alfa Romeo’s Tipo 33 racing sports prototype. Designed by Franco Scaglione and built by Carrozzeria Marazzi, it combined a lightweight mid-engine layout with a 2.0-liter V8, dry-sump lubrication, SPICA fuel injection, and racing-derived suspension. Production ran from 1967 to 1969, with only about 18 examples built.

The claim is sometimes confused with later, more widely produced six-speed cars. Six-speed manuals became common in high-performance vehicles much later, including the 1990 BMW 850i and 1992 Ferrari 456. The 33 Stradale’s rarity also explains why some histories describe it as the first street-going car rather than the first mass-market car with six forward gears.

Its six-speed gearbox was not an automatic or a modern automated manual: the driver selected every gear through a conventional manual arrangement. The car’s butterfly doors, 260 km/h claimed top speed, and race-bred V8 made its transmission only one part of an unusually advanced package.