The 1987 Bathurst 1000 was an extravaganza due to its inclusion as a round of the World Touring Car Championship, but there was one manufacturer that failed to make the trip.
Ford and BMW entered its crack works teams, Maserati also made the trip in its poor Biturbo, but Alfa Romeo did not.
Six of its 75s were entered for the event, though all failed to make the trip leaving Colin Bond’s Caltex example co-driven by Lucio Cesario as one of two Alfa Romeo representatives.
The other was a privateer 33 entered for the small capacity class against the might of Toyota’s Corolla, which dominated both in factory and private hands.
Alfa Romeo’s proposed line-up for Bathurst included the likes of Jacques Laffite, Alessandro Nannini and Gabriele Tarquini among it.
Bad news came just two weeks before the race when a telegram arrived at Alfa Romeo Australia’s headquarters confirming the factory team was out.
Newspapers across Australia revealed the news on September 19.
Bond’s attack ended after just 34 laps when Cesario crashed at The Esses leading to the first safety car deployment in Bathurst 1000 history.
Of course, Peter Brock took the ninth Bathurst victory of his career after disqualifications of the Eggenberger Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500s elevated his Holden Commodore to the win.
It wasn’t without drama after his own entry failed early leaving he and co-driver David ‘Skippy’ Parsons to switch across to the sister Commodore started by Peter McLeod.