If you’re in the DC area and want to check out an exceptional collection of exotic and immaculate classic rides FOR FREE, I suggest you head over to Great Falls, VA to the Cars and Coffee event that takes place every Saturday.
Victory by Design: Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B
Today’s normal highway speeds generally range from about 60 mph to 80 mph and are attainable by just about every road going automobile out there. How about back in 1937 though when technology and safety features on automobiles were all but non-existent. What must it have been like back then? Traveling at high speeds today is something that I think all motorists take for granted, as today’s cars just do it so easily. Hell, even the slowest Hyundai you can buy today still goes well over 100 mph. Now take a look at the above video of this beautiful 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Mille Miglia, a car that, for its time would reach 150 mph. Former auto racer and automotive personality Alain de Cadenet takes us through the particulars of this simply beautiful and one of a kind automobile.
Source: Streetfire.net
If you’ve got a soft spot in your heart for hardtop Alfa Romeos, especially Alfa Romeo GTAs, then don’t watch this video. It showcases why hillclimbs are inherently more dangerous than track events, since public roads don’t have wide runoff areas, gravel traps or energy absorbing barriers. When something goes wrong at speed on a public road, bad and expensive things happen.
On April 10th in Milano, Italy Zagato Atelier announced the introduction of the Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa. This car is not a design exercise but a fully functional race car that was built to celebrate the 90 year collaboration between Alfa Romeo and Zagato. German automobile collector Martin Kapp commissioned the TZ3 to celebrate 100 years of racing throughout the 20th century. The Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa is a masterpiece of automotive design with ques from some of the most prestigious race cars of the last century. Powered by the same V8 as the Alfa Romeo 8c Competizione, the TZ3 puts out 450hp and 347 ft/lbs of torque.
Source: Zagato / Click here for full gallery at omniauto.it
No, we can’t have it in the U.S. Unless the Large Hadron Collider opens a rift into a parallel universe where Alfa Romeo never left the States. Anyway, we can dream and gaze upon it, mouthes agape, minds frazzled by its pure beauty. Lucky bastard Europeans will get to chose among four engines—two 1.4-liter turbo fours with 120 or 170 horsepower and two turbo-diesel mills with 105 or 170 hp. Alfa will later unleash a cloverleaf-badged monster with a direct-injection 1.8 liter turbo four that puts out 235 hp. Right now a six-speed manual is available with all engine choices and a dual-clutch transmission is on the way. Sigh. Hit the jump for more teasing.
Twetta what?
Another sexy Geneva concept car was unveiled yesterday, this time from Alfa Romeo. Dubbed the “2uettottanta” (two-etto-tanta, say it with me), the name is an homage to the storied Alfa Romeo Duetto, one of the all time classic roadsters. More pics after the jump.
Alfa Romeo Giulia Sedan
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has confirmed that Alfa Romeo will return to this side of the pond in 2012. Speaking at an industry gathering in Toronto, Marchionne expressed his confidence in Alfa’s product line and the North American demand for it.
The new Alfa Giulia sedan and wagon are likely to be the first models imported, followed by a North American model produced jointly with Chrysler.
Source: Left Lane News
I play a little game during night drives. I try to identify the make, model, and year of cars by the shape of their taillights or headlights alone. I’m pretty good. See, I have an Asperger’s-like obsession with cars and I’m rarely stumped. So when most of the cars at an auto museum absolutely confound me, I know it’s good. And thus, the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, Ca., is good.
The Blackhawk Museum is tucked in the foothills of Mt. Diablo, technically in Danville, just south of the upscale community of Blackhawk. It was built in ’88 and has 70,000-square-feet of gallery space. The place may be small, but it’s crammed with a stunning, bizarro collection of contraptions. On average, it houses about 90 cars, most on loan to the museum from private collectors.
And it’s quite a collection, spanning automotive history from the early teens right up through the Malaise. But enough talk, let’s take a look at some of these rides.
I’m not much of a Harley guy, though I do have a strange attraction to their XR1200. I also like the look of a well done bobber, like the one you see above. Throw in the fact that it’s powered by a V6 from Alfa Romeo, and I’m in. All in.
Alfa motors (and Italian engines in general) are the sweetest sounding mechanical devices on God’s green earth. Seventy one virgins, simultaneously achieving orgasmic bliss, could not rival the sound of a properly tuned Alfa Duetto. Throw in two more cylinders, and I’m sure it only gets better.
The words “affordable” and “Italian” generally don’t play well in the same sandbox. Italian sports cars as a whole bring up thoughts of big dollars, big repair bills and big ego’s, that is, until now. I recently had the opportunity to view one of these rare Italian beasties in person and was pleasantly surprised by what I found out, that being, that most anyone whose employed can own one.
What you see here is a 1960 Alfa Romeo 2000 and it is a beauty. Think of it as the Mazda Miata’s illegitimate great grandfather. These cars, although rare are actually quite affordable with the price spectrum ranging from about 20k-40k which really isn’t that bad when you consider this car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro… never heard of him? Well, he’s the guy who also designed the Ferrari 250 Berlinetta Bertone, De Tomaso Mangusta, Iso Grifo and Maserati Ghibli, so in short… he’s got mad skills.
Performance wise the little Alfa is no pavement shredder. It’s little four cylinder cast iron mill churns out about 105 HP @ 5300 RPM and sounds glorious, not to bad for a car that weighs less than 2300 lbs. Although, if you want to get really crazy the later 2600 models did have an 2.3L inline-6 that produced 145 HP… BOOYA!! Make no mistake, these little Alfa’s are all Italian, all sports car and everything you’d need to fit in to any car show anywhere in the world. So before you go out and spend that 30k on some new pasta rocket or strudel wagon, take a look around and think outside the box, because if you do, you may just be amazed at what you’ll find.
