That's something I didn't know, thank you for sharing!

If it is the same article that I remember, the article was from 1972 (or first months of 73) and the comparison was between 3 cars, there was also the Lancia Beta, which was judged second.

I couldn’t agree more . Should they decide to bring it back , albeit somewhat retro , it would be a great idea.

It’s great that the car still exists, cool 👍

Agree. Away from the more connoisseur motoring magazines most of the writers didn’t know what the heck they were talking about re: the Alfetta. The same can almost be said today. Great cars but not Alfa’s best looker - you can still get a good one.

The back end was as stable as an S Class. I easily outran 5 litre V8s on the highway. 122 bhp 😆

Actually in real world terms, the earlier 1800 model was , as fast , if not faster than the later, 2 litre model , that replaced it. The later model was heavier due to more overhang when they extended the boot line, plus at some stage , Alfa , like Fiat with their 132 models fitted higher gear ratios in view with better fuel consumption. This was short sighted , as earlier models had excellent intermediate in gear acceleration figures without having to change down a cog, whereas you felt more likely to change down a gear for more responsive acceleration, if gear ratios are more “overdrive “ based.

I had three in total, all 1.8's. Basically my only beef with the car was its gear change, but through practice, I learned how to deal with it and get the most out of it. It may not be a design icon, but I loved how they made me feel. Two large dark blue dials in front of me, the sound and responsiveness of that twin cam engine and the excellent handling made me forgive its flaws. I searched for a good example about two years ago, but quickly found out that the value of these cars have risen to a level that I wasn't prepared to invest, so I bought another car with some more value for money, a Rover P5B Coupé.

Too bad for that Ferrari in that film. But also for Cameron's Alfetta, which plays the part of the loser car while it was the best and fastest sedan of its time.

Yep! Carabinieri patrol cars were always 1.8 models, and the car I show in the video is unusual, as it's an armored 2.0 they used to transport important high ranking personnel

Cool! Rust unfortunately killed most Alfettas prematurely even in Italy’s mild climate, so I don’t want to imagine how bad these cars rotted elsewhere!

@@Matteo_Licata The inland parts of Northern Sweden, where I lived until about 20 years ago, weren't that bad since they didn't use salt on the winter roads. My first Alfetta had spent it's first few years in Gothenburg so it got a bad start to say the least. My second Alfetta had spent it's entire life up north so it was in a very good shape when I got it. It was decent until I spent a winter in the coastal region where they did use salt on the roads . It went downhill very quickly after that. Now that I live in Stockholm I see that most cars start to rust after only a few years. My current 156 is in a very good shape still but I've for the most part only used it in the summer so that's probably why.

@@Matteo_Licata ..my father bought a new Alfetta in 1977. Two hard & salty winter here in Germany had been enough to rust the blue Berlina down. So he bought a Giulietta 1.8. And this Giulietta had no rust issues.

Yes, the Alfetta’s lines have really come of age, at least those of the clean, unadorned early models

Me too! Hope they'll make cool cars for a long time still!

@@Matteo_Licata Its in their blood !

Alfa = separate headlights, preferably round, preferably the larger exteriors: Oo v oO 😋 In retrospect, those rectangular headlights took the Alfetta out of its personality

It was a similar story with a Rover SD1 2000 I still remember from my childhood: because Alfettas and 131s were common here in Italy, that Rover caught my attention and I have never forgotten it. In the end, we tend to lust after what's unusual, what's more difficult to get :)

🤣🤣

Glad you appreciated it :) There’s no way of knowing for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if nowadays more 105 saloons survive than 116s. I don’t know why though, as both generations rusted equally badly at every latitude 😆

Maybe it's because of sales numbers in your country.

A Jethro endorsement is worth an Oscar from the Alfisti family 😃

@@studiocalder818 sure is, he's a legend

I'm glad you think so! Thank you for your appreciation and kind words

Me too! Thank you very much!

Here in Italy you rarely, if ever, see a four-door Alfa painted in the classic Alfa red. Which is a pity, as it looked great on the early Alfettas like the one your dad owned 👍

@@Matteo_Licata the grey silver 1800, like in the movie, where hardly seen overhere in the Netherlands. It probably was an expensive option back then.

Grazie a te!

The 504 was a nice car too. Pretty rare nowadays here in Italy, where not that many were sold new in the first place.

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! You could still buy a carburetted 2.0 up until the end of Alfetta production. It was only the Gold Cloverleaf model that had the fuel-injected engine with VVT.

Indeed. These were piling up in scrapyards when I was growing up, and it’s good to see them finally getting due respect

That’s the power of good design :)

@@Matteo_Licata 👍🏼

Wow, thank you for sharing your ownership memories of a Sport Sedan, very interesting! I read that it was a very expensive car when new, costing about as much as a Corvette… Which mustn’t habe helped sales!

@@Matteo_Licata I bought it used.. non running, and spent $4000 to get it back on the road, I've commented a lot on your channel, I've owned many Alfa's, my first one was a 1978 Alfetta GT, in the states that year it was called a Sprint Veloce. I loved it but I didn't know about the rear transaxle, I let a friend borrow it, and he broke it. It was very rusty so my mechanic recommended that I didn't fix it, I always wanted a sedan for more comfort.. I'm 6'2" and Italian cars are for shorter people, well at least back then. So he told me about someone that had one.. I was looking for one that was up in New Jersey.. a far distance from St Louis., Missouri. So I called the guy up and set an appointment to see it.. this was back in 1992 I was in college then, he was going to give it to me for Free! It was stored in his garage and his wife wanted the space.. as the car was used as storage, too. In order for me to see it, he had to remove Christmas decorations, boxes in the trunk filled with miscellaneous stuff. I was thinking I probably should have just went to New Jersey instead. But it had only one rust spot on the rear wheel well.. so I think the wife knew I wanted it, so he came back and said that he would sell it for $500 USD. So since my mechanic previously worked on it, I figured it was worth it. But it took a long time to get it back. I love European cars, verses most American ones. Yes I did own several American cars too.. I'm going to turn 50 in October.. and have owned over 50 cars.. no I'm not a car dealer, but just love different cars. I really wanted an Alfa 6. But my mechanic said that the were so rare here.. I don't think they were even imported here. I love your content in the videos.. I just wish I had the time, space and knowledge it own more cars, but I'm trying to keep things simple. That's why I enjoy my 1986 Spider veloce!! Cheers!!

@@des9655 👍🏼👍🏼 You deserve an Alfista flash with low beams

@@studiocalder818 I really miss most of my Old Alfa's.. especially my 1986 GTV6. It was a one owner car, with all maintenance records, including the original window sticker at $19,000. It had the velour interior, which held up much better than leather. It was totalled in an accident. I only had it for 6 months. But I did buy 2 other ones a 1983 and 1985. They just weren't as nice as this that one was. But here to see a vintage Alfa, only on an Alfa meet. I'm in the owners club.

Glad you enjoyed it Dave! 👍

Indeed. Alfa Romeo officially introduced the Alfetta 2.0 "Protetta" in 1977, and period press says it sold about 20-25 of them each month, at nearly four times the price of the regular saloon. The sheer number of cars made and the fact that some weren't driven all that much means that armored Alfettas aren't difficult to find here in Italy even now. But, of course, few want them, as performance is leisurely at best and upkeep is more complex. By the way, that Carabinieri car in the video is an armored one: regular patrol cars were 1.8s, not 2.0s :)

@@Matteo_Licata I just remember seeing loads of cars for sale, not just Alfettas, with 'blindata' in the description, German cars also

Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, a patchy dealer network never helped Alfa's case abroad, and the company remained heavily dependent on the home market throughout its history, despite its planetary fame.

A Rover P5B Coupé is a fascinating, charming automobile indeed. Always had a soft spot for these old Rovers, because very few were ever sold here in Italy, and therefore you rarely, if ever, saw them. Yes, Alfettas have been appreciating sharply over the last few years, which I consider a good thing after all: if the cars have value, it incentivizes people to spend on restoration and repairs rather than junking them. Hope you'll find the right Alfetta for you soon, by the way!

@@Matteo_Licata oddly enough, one of the best examples of the Rover actually came from Italy! It was bought by an English man who entered it last year in a very prestigious concours and won its class. Much like the Rover, I'm sure I'll stumble on the right Alfetta some day.

It does indeed!

So cool to hear you've enjoyed your Alfetta so much, thank you for sharing!

Thank you! Rest assured that I’ll keep my focus on Italian motoring tales in the future. There’s still so much to talk about! 👍

Wow, thank you! Glad you enjoyed it so much 👍

The GT6 looked great, by the way. Here in Italy only a few were ever sold, while the Spitfire was a success, especially in MKIV form. I’ve owned a Spitfire 1500 myself.

@@Matteo_Licata It was after that British Car phase my brother and I went full Italian, mainly Fiats but we really wanted Alfa's. Growing up in Southern California in the 70's there were two car cultures: Big V8 Muscle Cars and Imports.

Indeed. The Alfa 90 lasted only three years and was a stopgap model directly derived from the Alfetta. I'm writing a book about that story that will be out in Autumn...

Not in Italy, luckily

I imagine. Restorations are daunting from a resource perspective: lots of time and money. In the Alfetta’s case, sure it’ll require lots of welding too

Well, that was Alfa Romeo's specialty, after all

@@Matteo_Licata Was the power output achieved only when using high octane leaded gasoline (red benzene)?

There is also an Alfetta featured in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Cool, I’ll check that movie out then!

That's right, haha ​​!!! (and better handling on the road, but worst gearbox to be honest)

"Berlina" isn't actually part of the name, it's merely how Italians call four-door saloons. I added it to the title to make clear that the video isn't about the GTV

@@Matteo_Licata thanks. Explains why I see it used so often. Always wondered if it had something to do with the city, but clearly not.

Almost all car body styles are derived from the names of horse-drawn coaches and carriages. This a berline or berlina was a type of covered carriage associated with the city of Berlin but popular elsewhere. The name is still used in France and elsewhere for what on the UK is called a saloon and on the US a sedan.

@@BanjoLuke1 Although to clarify, berline/berlina/saloon is a broader category, since it includes hatchbacks as well which are considered a different type entirely in America (but didn't used to be), kind of an "is a hot dog a sandwich?" thing.

@@BanjoLuke1 thanks

I've repeatedly asked about the story of that car, as it's a weird contraption indeed: a GTV body grafted onto an Alfa 6 floorpan, with a 3.0L engine under the bonnet and a custom interior. No idea why they made it.

@@Matteo_Licata wow, never realised it was on an Alfa 6 floorpan, so front gearbox?

But sold significantly worse 😂. Alfa wanted a piece of the 2002’s market, but somehow failed to gain traction.

Yes indeed 👍

It's the Countach that took from the Alfetta, of course. Does anyone remember that the Biturbo took its front lights from the FIAT 127? 😃

My hunch is that Alfa Romeo had a surplus of US-spec components and tried to offload them to Italian customers. It did look rather smart though, and it came loaded with accessories. That's about it.

@@Matteo_Licata yes they were high spec I suppose. In the UK we had the limited edition SL with 2 tone paint, sunroof and various other extras fitted by the UK importer. The America theme was even carried on to the 75s, the 3 litres had the US bumpers which just added loads of unnecessary weight. My father bought one of the first 3 litre 75s in the UK in 1987, the front grille had the detent for the 'America' logo but no 'America' badge. I never understood why they put the America bumpers on the 1.8 Turbo, they must have weighed so much more than the regular bumpers.

Got that one covered too: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/prVgacKD2bvSmIE.html