#21 - Dolce Alfa

There is no better way of enshrining a car than by sticking it in a blockbuster film. Take your pick; a Lamborghini Miura P400 being driven up the Gran San Fernando pass and into a tunnel it never makes it out of, Jason Statham defying physics in a BMW 735i as he zooms across the Cote d’Azur, Will Smith driving a Porsche 964 Turbo through Miami, Will Smith driving a Ferrari 550 Maranello through Miami…..the cars made the films and the films made the cars. Which brings me to the Alfa Romeo 1600 Spider; in 1967, a baby faced Dustin Hoffman found himself behind the wheel of one in the classic remake of the novel, “The Graduate”. In Hoffman’s first major lead, he plays the down and out Benjamin Braddock, a 20 year old college grad, who lacking any real drive or ambition finds himself romantically embroiled with the wife of his father’s business partner…..Mrs Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me aren’t you?

Anyway, back to the Alfa; in so many ways it was the car that perfectly personified dear old Benny Braddock. It was beautiful and fun to drive but in typical Italian fashion, it was flawed. Water hitting the roof could drain down into the sills but Alfa never engineered any drainage holes to let this water back out again so you got horrific premature rust issues and the gear stick protruded awkwardly high and at a funny angle…..but none of that really mattered, it was an Alfa. And in many ways that is how Alfa has survived the last half century, even under Fiat ownership. If you want perfection buy an Audi, if you want something beautiful albeit with the potential to be temperamental, get an Alfa. It was Jeremy Clarkson who said you cannot categorically consider yourself a proper petrolhead until you have owned an Alfa Romeo.

But by the late 90s/early 00s, the rose tinted spectacles had really begun to fade and even cars like the monumental GTV and the little 147 seemed to be a long way behind what the rest of Europe was producing…..Alfa were in trouble. However, unlike most car manufacturers who would have focused on rebranding or consolidating product lines, Alfa built a supercar.

In 2006, the 8C Competizione was a Hail Mary attempt by Fiat Chrysler to put Alfa back on the map. Utilising a carbon fibre body, steel chassis and naturally aspirated Ferrari V8 (the F136), the 8C was a 2 seater, front engined, rear wheel drive GT car that quite possibly was one of the most beautiful automobiles to be produced over the last 40 years. A 1000 units were built globally split evenly between Coupe and Spider variants. For the first time in recent history, Alfa had built a car to challenge the established marques such as Aston Martin. Was it perfect, no, but the package was more than enough to showcase that Alfa Romeo were still very much capable of producing world class sports cars. So even when production of the 8C concluded and Alfa returned to making relatively bland everyday hatch backs, saloons and estates, the creative spark had been reignited and in the background they were working on something truly special.

In 2011 Alfa teased us with the 4C concept. In essence, a mid-engined, carbon fibre tubed, Lotus Elise contender; the motoring world was going absolutely nuts about the car. Let us not forget, back then, the only people brave enough to utilised carbon fibre tubs in production road cars were McLaren. And while the concept looked incredible, the philistines were quick to highlight that the finished production version would look nothing like it…..but they were wrong, it did.

At the Geneva motorshow in 2013, the 4C was officially launched. Utilising a 1750cc 4 cylinder turbo engine coupled to a twin clutch gearbox, the car produced 240bhp which given it only weighed in at 895kg created a monumentally fast pocket supercar. Finally an Alfa that had sporting prowess and pedigree combined with proper build quality…..I was sold. So much so I called up the closest dealer offering a build slot and handed over a deposit. I was going to own an Alfa, I was going to become a proper petrolhead.

The months past and the European road tests started leaking out. Initial feedback was positive but already rumours of production delays owing to issue with the carbon fibre tub molds were brewing. Alfa UK did what any PR team trying to conceal a potentially terminal issue could do….they invited me to Millbrook Proving Ground for a day to put the first cars to hit British soil through their paces. With the good ol rose tinted spectacles firmly back on I was smitten and with the car spec’d and a delivery month allocated, the wait began……and then it all went a bit quiet. The first UK road tests began to appear from a handful of reputable publications. Complaints around the amount of tracking on the more undulating British B roads arose, as did frustrations about a lack of power steering. “Hmmmm” I remember thinking, “the rose tinted specs must have been particularly strong that day at Millbrook as I didn’t notice any of these issues.”

Finally delivery month came…..and went. It turns out my idea of taking delivery of a car is vastly different to that of the Italians. This was compounded by the fact that it was August, which meant there was no one home in Turin to field my frustrated call or emails. It was October when I finally got the news that owing to the carbon fibre issues, production had been delayed by close to a year. To be fair, Alfa were extremely accommodating when I asked for my deposit back. I was gutted…..the thought of waiting another year for a car which had received such tepid reviews from a typically impartial and objective bunch of automotive anoraks had really put a damper on my lust for the 4C.

Was it a mistake? At the time no. Faith in my decision was restored when I saw second hand prices plummet. It turns out that living with the 4C in the UK is a very different proposition to hooning it round a track for a couple of hours or driving from Nice to Saint Tropez. That said, as I write this now the idea of purchasing one is most definitely taunting me. Are there better cars to put your money in at that price point and purpose, most definitely. But the same could be said of the 8C, and I would still have one of those over most V12 powered GT cars for the same money.

The thing about Alfa’s is you can’t look at them objectively. If you do you will never own one as you are destined to find a reason to buy something else…..something more “practical” or “reliable”. The fact is both the 4C and the 8C are extremely special cars in their own right and as values begin to creep up for both of them, the broader market is getting wise to this. Now is the time to buy.

Happy Motoring,

Greg