You may have seen the CC and appreciation of the Alfa Romeo 75 (or Milano) and preceding Alfetta Tipo 116 series of cars that came before and donated so much to the 75, and looked at its place in Alfa Romeo mythology. But as a bonus and addition to build on the Alfa-iste mythology around these cars seems a good idea, and I managed to find this, a classic CAR magazine road trip of the greatest kind, from July 1987. Just driving a great car home. In fact two great cars.
The premise of the article is very simple – fly to Milan, pick up examples of two of the then new Alfa Romeo 75 derivatives – the 2 litre four cylinder Twin Spark and the 3.0 V6 – and drive them back to London, with permission to take the long way hone. This was not a new format for CAR – most who read Convoy! in February 1977, bringing three Lamborghinis to London, will have it etched on their mind.
The longer form used here, in a monthly magazine and now with full colour printing, allows more depth and colour to be added than you’d find in the usual road test format. There aren’t the stats pages or direct competitor comparisons, but an absorbing, involving entry into the journey, the cars, the people and places.
The V6 is red, obviously, the four cylinder in a more discreet silver. Interestingly, Green suggest the less powerful but lighter 2 litre car is perhaps the better for daily use.
However, that does not mean the V6 engine is lacking. Anything but. “The new 3.0 litre is a pearl of a motor“, “as fine a six cylinder production engine as there is” and will “sing exultantly“. Tunnels and gorges will therefore have featured in the route planning..
Some aspects are criticised – the interior layout and finish, the styling and the gearchange, a common Alfetta family issue.
The chosen route went south from Milan to the Mediterranean coast, into France, across the mountains and gorges of Provence and then up the Rhone valley, stopping to buy wine and demonstrate the knowledge of it all CAR journalists seem to have, and then across north eastern France to Calais and the ferry port (no tunnel in 1987).
This was a longer than truly necessary route, but a scenic option across driver’s roads in an Alfa rarely sounds like a bad idea.
And any option would have needed to cross northern France at some point, which is a bit of anti-climax after Provence or the Alps.
And back home, off to Millbrook (Vauxhall’s test centre at the time), to not quite match Afla’s performance claims.
But who cares – just listen to them, and take in the journey and the history.
I believe I still have this issue in my archives (archives says he, means a dusty box or half dozen in the garage…). I recall devouring the article when new and then re-reading it usually every time I was considering purchasing a Milano.
These “bringing it home” stories were some of the best ones in CAR, with Bremner, Green, Barker, LJKS, and Kacher on top of their form. There’s another long drive story I’ve been thinking of posting for years but my scanner isn’t set up for CAR’s larger format. One day…
After reading Carr´s article the night before last I got out this very copy of Car. If you read it you´ll notice Green is very charitable about the steering. He claims (I think this is hype) the interior quality is as good as a BMW. The 4 cylinder gets some praise for its more communicative steering (I seem to recall) but the V6 wins on performance. It´s a good article and the rest of the magazine is worth a look.
I got a bit ticked off with Georg Kacher´s sneering review of the Opel Senator B. Apparently it´s fine ride and performance and handling weren´t enough for him and he waded in with some ill-informed aesthetic comments.
Richard Bremner reviews the base model Citroen AX and Renault 5. The curious bit was his dismissal of the Peugeot 205 which, even in base-model form, was a hoot to drive. I am not saying the AX is bad, more that it´s a different size and price of car.
I too remember this issue and the article from decades past. Such an unusual handbrake, such comfy-looking seats… Fascinating to read it again and a nice flashback, thanks Roger!
The 80’s truly was the golden age of motor journalism. Great read thank you for posting.
It was, and will never return. Car mags were never big money-makers, but made enough to fund the writing standards which, above all, took up time (time being money, etc). In a different era, gutsy-enough small publishers also backed honest criticism in the face of huge car-maker pressure. (I’m aware there are folk here who’d vehemently disagree and argue all car journos were only ever paid shills, but I don’t agree: some were vastly better than others). The two factors here, money and independence, are gone for good in a corporatized world always wanting big returns. Thus for a drearily long time, motor journalism has just been woeful, cliche-ridden, PR-re-written drivel.
Agreed. I regularly buy 80s “Car” magazines such as the one Roger has posted. You get hours of reading and the photography (all analogue) is so much better and more legible than the harsh, high-contrast digital stuff you find today.
I’d agree the 70s and 80s were the golden years for CAR, and I sometimes wonder if I’m still reading it more out of loyalty than anything else. Yes, there are still some great features but a lot of the same again and “this month’s mega-Porsche is blue”
What you won’t get are regular features covering cars you might actually be able to afford, which derates it significantly to me.
Curbside Classic and the blog I sometimes write for, Driventowrite, produce vastly more interesting material than Car does. I read it out of loyalty for a decade after I ought to have stopped. I gave up about four years ago. Car is stuck with a very narrow idea of what you can write about. They used to print articles that were essays on aspects of driving – Setright on engines, a memoir of a car or something like an article on night driving. The content is driven by new car launches and I don´t think they can afford to be critical about the big names. It´s pretty tedious and though competently written, devoid of sparkle. My ideal magazine would blend new car news, design stories, classic car stories and random car-related themes. And nothing about wrist watches, anywhere.
A great tale, and a good review, because as the latter, it (subtly) acknowledges the previous faults and most of those still-present. Alfa finally gave the front a stiffer roll bar for that odd front end kneel and understeer, and an LSD for that rear that, as acknowledged, had long finally stepped out into oversteer. The only gloss that appears to arise from this glorious long jaunt at Alfa’s expense is saying the driving position is fine: no-one else agrees, including Green’s passionately-Alfa former boss in Oz, former Wheels Editor Peter Robinson. He was still shaking his head at it in ’89, even while still loving much about the car.
I remember this article and still have the copy of the magazine in my closet.
The cars drove well but then as now I still hate the looks. If only one could transplant the chassis and drivetrains into a 105 Berlina or Guila.
I can see what you mean about the styling. It´s on the brave side. I can´t hate it though as it was the kind of car that inspired me to draw cars in the first place. I can still remember doing loads of Alfa-esque drawings influenced by the lamps of the 75. On the plus side, these cars look like nothing else. That would be because back in the early 80s car design must have been a lot more provincial than it is now. Today a designer can see and car instantly on a screen. Back then it was a matter of checking the car park, Car Styling magazine and the motoring press and whatever was in the company library. Anyway, it was all paper and I suppose designers were less exposed to other ways than they are now.
It seems that CAR did not have any French speakers on staff. The myna bird was saying “tais-toi” not “tête-toi”.