Happy 100th Birthday, Alfa Romeo
If you go to www.alfaromeo.com, you’ll be invited to celebrate Alfa Romeo’s Centenary, which is officially marked today. Try to click on the “celebrate with us” button, however, and all you get is some digital smoke (bottom left) before being stranded by the side of the information superhighway. A temperamental machine? An inelegant operator? None of this matters when the view is so good. Click on “models” tab (the rest of the site works just fine) and you’ll see that, after 100 years, Alfa is still making some undeniably ache-worthy cars. The brand finds itself in an all-too familiar position: once great, and having slid languidly from grace, now in the midst of a life-or-death comeback. And though Alfa’s storyline may be familiar, its cars have always been, for better or for worse, distinctive. In this day and age, what more could a brand ask for?
Happy 100th, Bella!
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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Mille Grazie! Cureent Alfas: 1959 Giulietta Spider Normale 1964 Giulietta Sprint Normale 1969 1750 GTV 1991 164B (almost 200k miles) Past Alfas 1969 Berlina 1979 Alfa Sprint Veloce (Alfetta) When I was looking to replace the CX Gti in 2000, I drove BMW's and Audis but and inspite of its FWD, I settled on a 1991 164 with 5 speed at 80,000 miles. Its been a great car and I smile every time I head down the road. Nylon suspension bushings really transformed the car.
The heart aches for such cars. One day I'll have one of these. And contrary to most I like the modern ones just fine. A 147 or 169 hummm. Spider, GVT, even the 164 was a beauty in its time. Just talking abiut these cars can set one dreaming...
Those are incredibly beautiful cars. I have no idea how cantankerous they are, or if it would be worth the while. But I wouldn't mind giving that 8C Spider a try.
I really like the way the Alfa 159 looks (even more after seeing it in person). Same for the Brera. Also the looks of their round hole wheels. I don't know the name of some old Alfas, but the 60's were quite good looking.