It’s Official: the 2013 DVAROC Tech Session will be held on 27 April 2013 at Nick Falcone Enterprises in Bala Cynwyd. This event usually attracts a lot of members and is always great fun! We’ll provide coffee and something to munch on.
Meet us around 10AM!
Nick Falcone Enterprises
161 Rock Hill Road
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
Date: 4/14/2013
Time: 9:30 AM-1:00 PM
Location: Meet at Casey’s in Newtown Square, PA at 9:30am
Blossom Run Sunday, April 14, 2013. We will meet at Casey’s in Newtown Square at 9:30am for a 10;00 departure. We will be heading to the Ice Museum in West Chester, PA.
For some people the fascination with extreme flavours is just that – an obsession with pungency – so they crave incendiary chillies, near-putrid game and other bombastic tastes. They are interested in the outer limits of what is manageable, but the moment you attempt to dilute experience, to them it becomes pointless. Anchovies that make you wince on a pizza? Fantastic. A mild anchovy flavoured soup? Minging.
Strong flavour
I think this behaviour is mirrored in the world of car styling insomuch as people seem more willing to celebrate challenging styling so long as it is underwritten with real confidence. If you are going to do controversial, don’t do half measures. Make it so ugly children will scream and hide.
Like an Alfa SZ.
Alfa 75 donated V6 and live axle suspensionThe press wasn’t kind to the ES30 (experimental sports car 30, as it was known internally) in 1987 and when the covers came off the production version at the 1989 Geneva show knives were drawn. This was the time of the E30 3 Series, the Ford Sierra and W124 Mercedes: a world of conservative, inoffensive shapes. The SZ was massive two-finger salute and immediately earned the name ‘Il Monstro’.
Ego boost
In many ways it was the 8C of its generation. As per usual, Alfa was skint, lagging behind the competition in just about every area and badly needed a publicity injection. At first, it looked like the SZ syringe contained the wrong liquid, because people just couldn’t understand why it had to be so ugly and it possibly damaged the Alfa brand. Then they drove it.
Vast panel gaps all part of the ‘character’And wouldn’t you know it, a shortened 75 platform with race-derived suspension, composite bodywork allowing a 1,256kg kerb weight and a 210hp V6 made for something rather memorable. Apparently much of the credit must go to Giorgio Pianta, the man who developed many of the great Lancia rally cars, because he was the one responsible for the chassis. Alfa claimed it could sustain over 1G lateral cornering grip.
I have only driven an Alfa SZ once. I expected to be profoundly disappointed by it because on paper 210hp seems pathetic these days, and the 225-section rear tyres looked like they might offer too much grip. The car proved me wrong. It wasn’t especially fast, but the motor made music, the gearshift was tight and mechanical in feel and it didn’t feel too stiff. A car which rolls and pitches and allows a driver to use that information to judge grip level is a rarity these days.
Simple interior contrasts with mad exteriorIn for a penny
And I make no excuses for simply loving everything about the design and the styling, both inside and out. For some reason the SZ doesn’t photograph well: it is smaller than you’d expect, and wider – on the page it can look too tall and narrow, and this is not the case in real life.
Cars whose appearance tells the narrative of their conception are among the most enjoyable. The SZ was an early experiment into composite body panels, and just like its contemporary the Ferrari F40, some of the panel gaps are hilariously inconsistent, although in fairness they all look like the bonnet hasn’t been closed properly.
The irony of the ‘experimental’ title in the car’s internal code is that the SZ couldn’t really be more mechanically conventional. As a classic, this surely adds to its appeal because the motor is unstressed and yet dripping with character, but back in 1989 you might have expected a little bit more for your £40,000
Would you really want to be seen in one though?Inside and out
For obvious reasons it’s the SZ’s exterior that snarls all the conversation, but I love the cabin. The seats are, to these eyes, perhaps the best looking ever seen in a production car and there’s a driver-centric simplicity to everything I’ve always thought was a clever juxtaposition to the coachwork which, despite the name wasn’t entirely the work of Zagato. It’s a clever combination, bend as many heads on the outside and recline in soft-hide splendour as you soak up the attention.
So the SZ serves to remind me of two aesthetic tenets that I still cling to – that for some reason I love cars that cut a profoundly different shape among other traffic. That’s why I like the Panamera. And the brave decision to shock can only be executed with full-strength, overproof zeal – this is why I find the modern Zagato Astons so unappealing. They disturb the elegance of the factory styled machines but don’t supplement that disruption with enough madness. In those terms, the SZ is a masterpiece that is yet to be bettered.
Of course it is not beyond the realms of possibility that I am over-romanticising a plastic bodied Alfa 75 that no more deserves to be celebrated than the Arna. Best you tell me if I’m wrong.
ALFA ROMEO SZ
Engine: 2.959cc V6
Transmission: 5-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 210@6,200rpm
Torque (lb ft): 181@4,500rpm
0-60mph: 6.9sec
Top speed: 153mph
Weight: 1,256kg
On sale: 1989-1991
Price new: c. £40,000
Price now: c. £22,000 upwards
Photos: Tom Wood courtesy of RM Auctions – this car (full details here) sold for £20,720 at RM’s 2011 sale in London; there are three others currently in the PH Classifieds, starting at £22,995.
Here’s a video from our last Tour:
The 2014 Alfa Romeo 4C is an all-new model.
Introduction
Alfa Romeo made a quiet exit from the U.S. nearly 20 years ago. Despite some iconic roadsters and a sporty sedan, Alfas were reliably unreliable and weren’t especially cheap to buy in the first place. The Italian automaker, owned by Fiat, will try its hand at the U.S. market again, this time with the 2014 Alfa Romeo 4C.
The 4C is Alfa’s beachhead back into American garages, but it’s actually a follow-up to the car Alfa used to test the U.S. waters last decade, the 8C Competizione. Like the 4C, the 8C Competizione was a two-seat coupe with sensual curves. The 8C, however, wore a carbon-fiber body, made nearly 500 horsepower from its Ferrari-sourced V8 and cost more than $200,000. Fewer than 100 models made it to the U.S. and most sold through Maserati dealers. Alfa’s re-entry to the U.S. was as quiet as its departure.
Alfa has pared the supercar formula for the new 4C, a stubby, midengine coupe built around a carbon-fiber tub, with aluminum used for roof structures and crash supports. All-aluminum engine construction keeps weight down; Alfa claims the 4C will weigh in around a Lotus-like 2,000 pounds. A turbocharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine makes 240 hp and 258 pound-feet of torque with the aid of direct injection. The turbo four — visible through a glass panel, Ferrari-style — will pair with a six-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission with paddle shifters on the steering wheel.
A light body over front double wishbones and a rear strut suspension promises exceptional handling, and the 4C offers two staggered tire packages: either 17-inch tires up front with 18s in back, or 18s in front and 19s in back. A Brembo brake package will also be available, in addition to a race package with more aggressive tires and suspension settings.
We expect to see the U.S.-spec model in November, with a starting price of at least $70,000. Alfa plans to make just 3,500 total units, with 1,200 due in North America by the end of the year. The first 1,000 models produced will be known as the Launch Edition and feature LED headlights, a sport exhaust and special paint. And if you can’t lay your hands on the 4C, don’t fret. Alfa’s long-term plans include an ostensibly more affordable roadster built off the next Mazda Miata platform.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ADrXZsroPWE
Alfa Romeo and Mazda Join Forces for Future MX-5-Based Roadster – Rumor Central.
Mazda and Fiat announced today plans to work together on the development of a small, rear-wheel-drive roadster. The agreement will see both Mazda and Alfa Romeo co-design a sports car based on the platform of the next-generation Mazda MX-5.
Although the two cars will share most of their platform components, Alfa and Mazda assert that the two models will have unique styling, and each will have a powertrain from its own manufacturers’ stable. The Mazda version, which will probably continue to be called MX-5, should use one of the company’s new SkyActiv engine and transmission pairings.
The Alfa Romeo model will most likely be called the Spider, harking back to the lightweight Italian roadster first launched in the 1960s (pictured). Ironically, the original Mazda MX-5 was inspired by lightweight European sports cars like the Alfa Spider.The new Alfa Romeo will almost certainly be sold in the U.S.; the brand is expected to return to our market next year with the 4C sports coupe, and the Spider would be another key brand-building entry.
Alfa Romeo was once planning for its new Spider model to compete head-on with the Mazda MX-5. Co-developing the models will probably prevent any real sales contest, although it remains to be seen how much the cars’ styling and engines differ.
The deal is a boon for Mazda, as it will help the company amortize the development cost of its low-volume MX-5 roadster with extra sales from the Alfa Romeo version. Mazda has been losing money for several years, and likely needs all the support it can get. Fiat, on the other hand, will have access to one of the world’s most iconic roadster platforms for its next sports car. Better yet, working with Mazda – which will almost certainly sell its version stateside – means it should be fairly simple to federalize Alfa’s model for U.S. consumption.
“By partnering with Mazda, we will be co-operating with the recognized leader in compact rear-drive vehicle architectures in order to deliver an exciting and stylish roadster in the Alfa Romeo tradition,” Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said in a prepared statement.
The new roadsters are expected to go into production at Mazda’s factory in Hiroshima, Japan, in 2015. Fiat and Mazda hope to finalize their cooperation by the end of this year, and say they are open to further partnerships on vehicles for Europe.
Read more: here.
Confirmed for 2015 as a production car, the Alfa Romeo Spider will be built in Mazda’s Hiroshima plant, after the Italians and the Japanese have signed a partnership last year.
Designed as a global vehicle (we’re shocked!), the new Alfa Romeo Spider will sit on the next Mazda MX-5 Miata’s underpinnings, but won’t share the same body style with the small Asian sportscar.
While we’re still guessing what type of engines potential customers will find under the new Spider’s bonnet (and we are still betting on a turbocharged 1.8-liter for that matter), we have decided to show you a rendering of the car which is set to revive a famous Alfa Romeo moniker.
Obviously inspired by the 4C model, the rendered Spider bears the same front grille, air intakes and splitter as Turin’s latest 2-door coupe. However, the headlamps are a completely different story and we dig ’em to the point where we wouldn’t mind seeing them on the bug-eyed 4C.
Report: Chrysler Expects Alfa Romeo Will Outsell Fiat – Rumor Central.
Alfa Romeo’s return to the United States market has been a long and drawn-out process, one repeatedly lengthened by postponements, product changes, and financial hardships. But parent company Fiat is putting all of that in the past; the company even went so far as to say Alfa Romeo’s future will be bigger — and more profitable — than Fiat’s.
It doesn’t take a long memory to remember that Fiat’s re-launch in the United States was a treacherous one, as the diminutive 500 hatchback initially struggled to gain traction. After selling just under 20,000 units in 2011 (well short of its goals), the brand moved 43,772 units in 2012, a much better showing. Here’s hoping that Fiat and Chrysler learned enough about the hurdles of launching Fiat, because Chrysler Group’s head of network development Peter Grady recently said that Alfa Romeo will outsell its sibling.
The reasoning behind that claim is pretty valid: while Fiat will stick with the 500 and a handful of variants (Abarth, Turbo, C convertible, X crossover, and L family hatchback), Alfa Romeo will start with the long-awaited 4C sports coupe later this year and go from there to a more diverse portfolio of cars. Those cars, as we’ve reported, include the Giulia sedan, a crossover, a roadster version of the 4C coupe, a rear-wheel drive BMW 3 Series-fighter, and a Spider convertible developed in conjunction with Mazda’s MX-5 Miata.
Can Alfa Romeo outsell Fiat after all? At this point we’re still cautious, focusing more on Alfa’s ability to return to the U.S. at all than its long-term future. But it’s obvious that Chrysler/Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is standing behind the storied Italian brand — he said that Alfa’s one of only two Chrysler Group/Fiat SpA brands that have true global appeal. The other, of course, is Jeep.
Read more: here
In case you are not up to speed on Bob’s project here it is briefly.
I met Bob at an HCCP show at the Massey house. He was not a member at the time. He has three Alfa’s including a 166.
Bob purchased his father-in-law’s 164. He has been restoring this car over the past two years.
His search for parts includes trips to Italy and the junk yards there.
He has restoration photos too which I’m sure he will send. Hopefully the car will be ready by the Tech Session.
I’m sure it is rare indeed to actually restore a 164.
