Alfa Romeo
history 1910 - today
Written by: Marc Vorgers/ ClassicarImages
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The marque Alfa Romeo is one of the most important names in the history of the automobile..."Alfa" (Socičtŕ Anonima Lombardo Fabbrica Automobili) was founded in the year 1910. The company was given the name Alfa Romeo after Mr. Nicolo Romeo bought the firm in the year 1915. Alfa Romeo
started building small automobiles for "everyday" passenger
transportation. In the early 1920'ies Alfa Romeo also started
engineering and building sports- and racing-cars. During the thirties and in the end of the forties of the ninetieth century Alfa Romeo was the dominant marque in racing competitions. Alfa Romeo racingcars were able to win all racing competitions which they competed in like Le Mans and the Mille Miglia. In the early thirties Enzo Ferrari was racing for "scruderia"Alfa Romeo and was promoted to be team manager in the late thirties. Alfa Romeo decided to put an end to the racing activities in 1938 and Enzo Ferrari decided to start his own racingcar business in 1940... Before the
second world war Alfa Romeo produced primarily rolling chassis as
technical base for passenger automobiles. These rolling chassis were in
most cases fitted with body designs created by the famous Italian
bodywork artists like Touring and Zagato. After the
second world war Alfa Romeo started producing the 6C 2500 again which
had been in production for over ten years already. Just in time the
people in charge of Alfa Romeo realized that the industry had changed
and that the market for large, expensive "tailor made"
automobiles was increasing rapidly. In the year 1949
the first result of the new Alfa Romeo era saw the light of day; the Alfa Romeo 1900! 1954 was the
year of introduction of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta series. The Alfa Romeo 1900
was still in production then but production was ceased in the year 1958.
The Giulietta series included some very fine classics like the Bertone
Sprint, Giulietta SS (Sprint Speciale) and the Pinin Farina Convertible. All Giulietta and Giulia models were characterized by their unitary bodywork construction, their powerfull aluminum alloy engines, double overhead camshafts and five speed gearboxes (with floor shift!), excellent roadholding capabilities and excellent body designs...The post war glory days of Alfa Romeo... There is no
other marque in automobile history (Mercedes Benz comes close) with a
more important sportscar and racing history as Alfa Romeo. Regretfully
it was that in the 1980'ies not very much was left that symbolized that
great history.
The Alfetta series was not the bestseller the Giulia has been for Alfa
Romeo. Alfa Romeo did have a potential best seller; the Alfasud (a
tremendous driver with boxer-engine!)... over one million were sold but
overall quality was so bad, the car already rusted during production,
that the Alfa Romeo name was crushed. In the mid-eighties Alfa Romeo was
ready to shut the factory gates as it was reluctantly taken over by
Fiat. It took Fiat/ Alfa Romeo almost fifteen years to rebuilt the old
Alfa Romeo image by good marketing and by building better Alfa Romeo
cars every generation. It started with the Alfa 33 (with boxer-engine),
75 and 164 (both with rear-wheel drive). Then the new generation 145, 146
and 155 followed (all front wheel drive) Specials were introduced at the
same time which hit bulls eye; the GTV and the Spider! Now the Fiat group (Fiat, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Lancia) is working together with General motors (a.o. Opel and Saab as European GM companies). Click
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