Thursday, October 23, 2014
You Really Should Get an Alfa
I have had my Alfa Romeo Spider for about 5 or 6
months now. It was an impulse buy. I had only seen the car for about 30 minutes
before I slapped down the cash. It literally only took that long, and one short
test drive, to fall in love with this quirky little Italian. It is a perfect
car. The all aluminum engine is so elegant and smooth that you would think it
was running on melted velvet rather than gasoline and it has a million miles of
headroom. There is an exhaust leak somewhere that makes it pop and burble on
the over-run (which I love) and the wooden steering wheel is so delicate, perfectly proportioned, and
deeply dished that I’m positive that if you boiled it down and drank it you
would turn into a beautiful dark haired woman on a Vespa. Not to mention it is
the last car that Battista "Pinin" Farina
designed, so of course it is gorgeous, if not a little oddly shaped. My car is
not, by any means, a show car. It has tears in the seats and the paint has seen
better days, but who cares right? It is such a joy to drive. I don’t think it
should even be called it a “car”; it should be called a “Converts gasoline into
Italian charm” machine. And no, you philistine, it is not as fast as your
wife’s Mazda 3, but that is really not the point of this car is it? Of course
being Italian it has a few quirks, which those of you with a more rational
mindset might find maddening. The turn signal stalk and the stalk that turns on
the lights somehow, physics be dammed, manages to occupy the same space at the
same time, so every time you turn a corner you end up flashing your lights. The
trunk release leaver is in the doorsill and the doors, trunk, ignition, and
glove box all have a different key (from the factory). There are four
lights on the dash surrounding some gauges. 2 red, 1 green and 1 blue. They indicate
low fuel pressure, low oil pressure, lights on, and parking brake on/low brake
fluid respectively. Simple enough right? Thing is though, these lights are
completely un-labeled. It is sort of like they had the intern just grab a
handful of switches and gauges and throw them at the clay model and wherever
they landed, that’s where they were going. It doesn’t get much more Italian
that that. All this just adds up to more charm though. It gives you the feeling
that getting an espresso is more important that getting your taxes done. The
engine is not only smooth running but it is so good-looking, with the Alfa
Romeo script stamped into the black matte cam covers, and the Italian labels
(OLIO on the oil cap for example) that it is literally calming to look at. It’s
no wonder they used the same engine from 1966-1994 (which as a bonus makes
parts easy to find). Should you get one? Of course you should, unless you don’t
like having fun. My experience with this car has been nothing but joy. I think
I might be a secret Italian. And really, aren’t we all? Anyway, I need to go
mop up the oil it is leaking, but hey if its not leaking its not full right? Ciao!
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