I don’t need to come across an old Alfa Romeo to remind me how much I miss the days when Alfas were a common sight in San Salvador. It’s a feeling that lurks in the back of my brain, dormant, but occasionally pouncing to and pounding my front lobes: Gosh, Alfas! Alfas!… How… I miss them!
And my heart sighs, hoping for that rare encounter. For they are rare.
But exist in this city they still do. And like all Italian cars, only in two possible conditions: well-preserved or basket cases. Nothing in between. But it makes sense. It’s well known that dealing with old Italian hardware is a passionate affair, not for the faint of heart. These cars were neat-looking and fun to drive, but their sophisticated mechanicals built to a price required patience and devotion. Qualities not every corner store mechanic had in spades, and mostly absent in the average car buyer.
So, like any place with Alfisti, around here, those who enjoy them are a passionate and devoted lot. Just the right qualities for an Alfa owner.
Still, this find just brought me back to the days when Alfas were the brightest of sights in San Salvador’s traffic. I don’t really know if Alfas were that numerous back then, but they stood out in a way that made them seem so. The GTVs, the Alfa Suds, Giulettas and Giulias, were just the sexiest of views against tons of Japanese iron and transport trucks.
There’s an old R&T review covering these here at CC. Unsurprisingly, there’s great praise for the car’s handling but oddly, quibbles about its styling. Whatever. I sort of get where they’re coming from; against a Giuletta or a Giulia GT being the sexiest of sexy, the sedan’s utilitarian profile is a lesser kind of sexy.
But we’re no longer in the ’60s (a decade stuffed with automotive lusty sexiness). As such, this Giulia just makes my heart race; today and back in the 1970s. And I’m sorry these are not the greatest shots of the car, but is not like this shop’s personnel was too keen on me taking photos. And yes, I owe you some shots of that Chevrolet Task Force photobombing.
So this was a brief and rushed encounter. But as short as it was, a memorable one. A sign that the old Alfa lust hasn’t decreased one bit.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1966 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super – Ready For My Close-Up
Cohort Classic: 1969 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300Ti – Nice Alfa!
CC Twofer: 1968 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super / 1974 Alfa Romeo 2000 – For Your Four Eyes Only
Alfa Romeo Giulia Design Inspiration Discovered (And Vice Versa)
Engine History: Alfa Romeo Twin Cam Four – A Pioneer, And As Beautiful As The Cars It Powered
Two memorable recent Alfa sightings have unfortunately not been of these lovely Berlina’s. But both were on very remote roads, miles from any specialty (or even non-specialty) repair shop: a modern Stelvio on the Alaska Highway last summer, and a not-so-modern Tipo 101 Spider in the middle of Nevada just last week. My own, albeit brief, experience with two Alfa’s was that they were adequately reliable. Far better than my similar vintage VW Scirocco or BMW 5 series.
As a lover of nearly all boxy little cars from the 1960s, I definitely approve of lust for this Giulia. The arrangement of lights in the front is good as well. Often rally lights look silly and poorly integrated to me, but they definitely work on this Alfa.
I only wish that the owner had managed to find the rubber for the bumper over-riders…but I suspect that’s pretty much unobtanium in El Salvador.
In a kind of CC effect, I was thinking yesterday afternoon about my comment in the recent post about the Maserati on how I frequently see new Alfas, but never Maseratis. Sure enough, as I’m thinking that, I get passed by a Stelvio. These are mostly what I see (essentially another Italian Jeep 😉 ), but do run across new Guilias too. There’s someone in the next town who has a Guadrifoglio, but I rarely see that. Anyhow, I’d much rather see one of these 1960s Giulias, but I think they’re rare everywhere.
The second car I ever bought was a 1965 Giulia TI sedan from a wrecking yard in Berkeley with a blown 1300 “Normale” engine. I replaced the blown engine with a well used (nearly used up) 1300 Veloce race engine which had some very radical cams in it. It had a lumpy idle at 1500 rpm and would not idle any lower. But it would happily rev up to 7,000 RPM in a blink of the eye. That little car was a complete hoot to drive, especially with its low 5.12:1 rear end gearing. Amazingly fast for such a boxy looking car. Plus lots of trunk room, a heater that worked, and windshield wipers that actually cleaned the rain off the windshield. Not to mention the benefits of soft & comfortable fully reeling front seats (important to teenage boys and their girlfriends).
Y’all can keep your ‘cudas, here’s the one that I want. The one with all the lights, the red paint, the glorious sound, the kitchen table seating, the corner carving, and of course the inside that we don’t get to see here.
It’s plenty sexy, it just happens to be dressed for business instead of for the beach today. The same bits are there underneath though, I assure you…
There is just… something about these little four doors. I especially like the front end, four headlamps and the almost always present driving lights. Looks like a rally car. The belt line sculpturing adds a lot of interest. I know that they were good performers, but I’ve learned my lessons about European cars. Maybe a lot of Alfa love got transferred to the Datsun 510 sedan?
Difficult to believe it combines excellent aerodynamics with such characterful styling.
There was a proposal for a 157 with that wonderfully eccentric boot/trunk design, but it got canned for the 159 instead.
Do you mean the 75? That was, indeed an “interesting” rear end!
You are right about the aerodynamics of the Giulia – at 0.34 it was exceptionally low for any car of the time, not just a sedan.
Lovely car and peak Alfa – no 3 Series BMWs around at that time – it was the very definition of a sports sedan.
No – the 156 replacement. It continued on the ‘premium’ platform, although there was some talk of switching it onto the Audi B platform when Piech was sniffing around Alfa…
Apparently, the management preferred Giugiaro’s proposal and it led to the unfortunate GM-based 159 instead.
I remember and love these fine sedans .
-Nate