A CENTURY OF DESIGN & ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE

Some highlights from my recent visit to the Museo Alfa Romeo, which is located in what remains of the Arese factory outside Milan and served as Alfa Romeo's principal manufacturing and engineering facility for over four decades. The museum houses models dating back to the company's origins in 1910 and includes not only road, concept, and race cars but aircraft and boat engines too.

As with when I visited the World of Volvo in Gothenburg a few years ago, it is fascinating to see what must amount to hundreds of thousands of hours of design and engineering effort that have been expended over many decades within the context of a single company's output and how aesthetics, materials, processes and technology have also evolved during this period.

Early Years

Founded in Milan in 1910 as A.L.F.A. (Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili), the companies first car was the 24 HP, designed by Giuseppe Merosi, which became commercially successful and participated in the 1911 Targa Florio endurance race. After entrepreneur Nicola Romeo took control in 1915, the company's portfolio expanded to include heavy machinery and aircraft engines with the company's name being changed to Alfa Romeo in 1920. Although best known as an automobile manufacturer it has produced commercial vehicles, railway locomotives, tractors, buses, trams, compressors, generators, marine and aircraft engines.

Road Cars

After the Second World War, the brand shifted toward larger-scale automobile production with models like the 1900, Giulietta, Giulia, and Sprint GT. By the late 20th century, cars such as the Alfetta, GTV, 155, and 156 cemented Alfa Romeo’s image as a maker of stylish, driver-focused vehicles, earning a passionate following and becoming one of the world's most iconic automotive brands.

One of the interesting things for me was to see cars such as the 75,156, and 164, which were produced in the 80s and 90s, in as delivered from the factory condition, particularly with regards to the interiors, which were sadly impossible to photograph, that showed not a single sign of wear or UV discoloration. Perhaps fortunately for me, there was no 159 on display to compare to my, far from mint condition, 2006 registered 159 Sport wagon.

Race Cars

Alfa Romeo has one of the most celebrated racing records of the 20th century, competing successfully in Grand Prix racing, sports car endurance events, and touring car championships with many of the cars involved on display at the museum.

The marque dominated pre-WW2 Grand Prix racing with legendary cars such as the P2 and P3, won the inaugural Automobile World Championship in 1925, and later secured the first two Formula One World Championships in 1950 and 1951 with the Alfetta158/159, driven by Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio.

In sports car racing, Alfa Romeo achieved major success with the 8C models, claiming four victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and numerous wins in the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio. During the latter half of the century the company also became a dominant force in touring car racing, winning both the European and prestigious German and British national championships with models such as the 155. During the 1994 season I was even lucky enough to be taken, along with two of my teenage friends, to Silverstone by my dad to see Gabriele Tarquini race during his championship winning season.

Concept Cars

Alfa Romeo’s identity has been shaped not only by engineering excellence but also by long-standing collaborations with Italy’s great design houses, particularly Bertone, Giorgetto Giugiaro, and Pininfarina. Throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, these carrozzerie created some of Alfa Romeo’s most memorable and influential cars.

The three vehicles shown in the images above illustrate that creative partnership beautifully. Firstly on the left is the 33/2 Coupé Speciale which is a 1969 concept car designed by Pininfarina, built upon an 33 Stradale chassis, and finished in a striking Day-Glo yellow paint scheme. In the centre is the Alfa Romeo Nuvola (Pininfarina, 1996), a graceful grand touring concept whose smooth, organic surfaces reinterpret classic Alfa styling cues in a modern form. On the right is the striking Alfa Romeo Carabo (Bertone, 1968), famed for its wedge-shaped silhouette, dramatic glass canopy and vivid green colour, a design that heavily influenced the super cars of the 1970s and beyond.

My Favourite

Not the most expensive, fastest, or rarest Alfa but for me the Giulia Sprint GT, commonly known as a "Bertone Coupe", from the mid-1960s is the one I would most like to own. There is something about its diminutive size and understated styling that for me epitomizes what I would describe as well resolved design where from whatever angle you look at the car you never feel a sense of awkwardness where surfaces or edges blend and intersect with each other.

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