Alfa Romeo 2000 Sole

Alfa Romeo 2000 Sole was built by Bertone in 1959 and designed by Franco Scaglione. The car explored a highly glazed passenger compartment at a time when the softer ponton form had reshaped post-war bodywork. Its name, Sole, is the Italian word for sun and suited the design’s emphasis on light within the cabin.

Bertone reshaped the roof around a central crest and set it lower than the surrounding glass areas. The treatment created a distinctive greenhouse profile, with glass extending prominently around the passenger compartment. The Sole also carried side whiskers in the manner of the NSU Sport. These details gave the body a clear separation between its low main volume, the roof crest and the glazed upper structure.

The project addressed the contrast between increasingly enveloping body forms and the limited light admitted by the glass areas then available. Bertone used the glass frames as load-bearing elements in the Sole’s structure. This construction formed a greenhouse cockpit and placed the glazing at the centre of the design rather than treating it as a conventional opening within the roof and body sides.

Scaglione’s design combined that glass treatment with a lowered profile and a carefully defined roofline. The crest ran above the cabin, while the surrounding glazed areas emphasized the light-filled interior. The side whiskers added a separate graphic element to the flanks. Together, the roof, glazing and side treatment distinguished the Sole from more conventional Alfa Romeo 2000 bodies of the period.

The Alfa Romeo 2000 Sole was shown at the 1959 Torino show and at 1959 Geneva. Bertone also proposed the Alfa Romeo 2000 Granluce Bertone as a related variant. The Sole did not enter full-scale production.

Bertone’s proposal placed structural glass frames and a greenhouse-style cabin at the core of its bodywork. Franco Scaglione’s roof crest, the lowered profile and the NSU Sport-style side whiskers remained the principal visible features of the 1959 design. The Granluce proposal extended Bertone’s exploration of a more extensively glazed Alfa Romeo 2000 body.

The Sole remained a limited-production design rather than a full-scale production model. Its 1959 appearances at Torino and Geneva placed the car before the public during the same year in which Bertone presented the concept. The Alfa Romeo 2000 Granluce Bertone provided a parallel Bertone proposal built around the Granluce theme of increased glazing.

The 1959 car combined a reworked roofline, a central crest, extensive glass and a lower overall profile. Bertone treated the glass frames as structural members, creating the greenhouse cockpit that defined the Alfa Romeo 2000 Sole. The project remained outside full-scale production, while the Granluce variant showed another application of the same concern with light and glass area.