[alfa] Alfa Style and Fashion

[alfacybersite <acs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've heard the distinction between Style and Fashion before which Karl 
D. brought up. Wish I'd said it first. However, he no doubt phrased it 
much more eloquently than I would have.

Long before I'd ever heard of the Bauhaus, I had a gut feeling that  
"Form Follows Function".

This does not mean, say for instance, one couldn't give 12 highly 
talented designers the same "problem" to solve and they all wouldn't 
come up with brilliant, yet totally different solutions.

I certainly agree one of the key components of a transportation / 
automotive designer is to make the vehicle functional engineering wise, 
but must also attract buyers.

Felix suggested to me: "The GTV by Bertone is subtle, Biba....one must 
approach it low to see just how all of it's curves and moves come 
together. It is far, far more the masterpiece than the Alfetta/GTV6, a 
nice design of it's era but nowhere near the timelessness of it's 
predecessor."

I'll admit I wasn't that knocked over by Duettos / Round-Tails until I 
had one in the shop up on stands. I had walked in through the overhead 
door with no electrical lights on the car, just the light coming from 
the large skylight. Wow! Have admired the design ever since.

I can only surmise the Alfetta GT's designers (Giugiaro) had 
considerably different parameters with which to resolve than the GTV 
designers (Bertone) did. Two critical ones being, there needs to be at 
least a semblance of headroom for the admittedly minuscule backseat, yet 
the gas tank Shall be directly behind the seat, rather than in the usual 
location under the trunk floor.

One might then call it a compromise design. Perhaps, but doubt if any 
other automotive designer could have done a better job. I'm fairly 
convinced the silly negative comment regarding only the tachometer being 
placed in front of the driver with him / her having to take their eyes 
off the road for too long to read the other instruments was a red 
herring brought up by those not willing to accept the new design.

Don't care for the so-called school of folded paper design? Hang in 
there, I'm sure it will return so you can hate it all over again. Funny, 
when this "school" was king, all of those funny old rounded, bulbous 
cars looked So Terribly Silly.  
The Alfetta GT was admittedly a rather radical departure for an Alfa 2 + 
2 coupe at the time.

It obviously still is...for many.

Biba
Irwindale, CA USA

Just the other day when coming out of my bank, there was a new bright 
blue Avid (?) (believe a GM product) parked to the right of my freshly 
washed red Alfetta GT. Let's assume a freshly washed GTV (pick your 
color) was parked to the right of the Avid, and in turn, a Berlina 
(again pick your color) was parked to the right of it.

I'd guess anyone (no matter their degree of design sophistication) (and 
going from right to left) would have said the Berlina was damn cute, but 
butt ugly. They would have thought the GTV nice looking. The Avid had a 
nice shade of blue. The red Alfetta GT (which was about 8 inches lower 
than the Avid) looked (from the rear) like a Crouching Tiger.

Yes, anyone making a Chinese movie may use the name - if it hasn't 
already been used.  
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