Inspired by the Alfasud Sprint 6V concept in 1983, the Giocattolo (Italian for 'plaything') Group B was designed by Paul Halstead (whose "Toy Shop" emporium exported 351 Clevelands to Italy and assembled De Tomaso Panteras for the Australian market) to be a relatively affordable and uniquely Australian supercar.
Alfa's concept never took to fruition because of financial woes, and the Giocattolo faced a similar fate with only 15 examples (including 3 prototypes) built before the company was liquidated in 1989.
The original prototype was a Alfa Romeo Sprint liftback with Alfa's 2.5L V6, mounted midships with an entirely new rear subframe and reinforced body with Kevlar and carbon-fibre utilised in the construction and body panels, still relatively super-exotic materials at the time.
Things quickly went awry; the 2.5L V6 was in very limited supply from the factory and Alfa's bigger 3.0L V6 was too expensive to bring in. Salvation was found quite quickly from an unexpectedly eager Holden which allowed use of the 5.0L V8 fettled by Walkinshaw which was to be used in the limited edition VL Group A Commodore. While the V8 in that car was rated at 180kW (~240hp), in the Group B it produced 220kW and 500Nm of torque.
The cost of the car was $90,000, similar to a BMW M535i at the time, but it had performance to rival that of a contemporary 911 Turbo and the Lamborghini Countach thanks to a low kerb weight despite a relatively generously featured and well-trimmed interior.
The Group B was also infamously tricky to drive; 13 of the 15 examples remain with one M.I.A and the other (fitted with twin turbos) being totalled in a
fatal crash at Eastern Creek Raceway.
Bonus fact: in typical Queensland humour, the toolkit contained a bottle of Bundy rum and two shot glasses.
