 The car was constructed by Alfa Romeo's racing department Autodelta, and featured a Carlo Chiti designed Alfa Romeo flat-12 engine which had been used earlier in the Alfa Romeo 33TT12 and 33SC12 sports cars.In this engine was supplied to Brabham and the deal continued until .The 177, the designation of which was derived from the fact that its design was commenced in 1977, was a bulky car finished in the handsome dark red colour adopted by Autodelta.