Alfa's unlikely return

[Mike Grace <mgrace@domain.elided>]

I'm disheartened to hear Dave Mericle's story of Alfa's view of American
buyers and their unlikely return even though I'm guilty of being one of
those "cheap bastard" alfisti. On paper, it seems improbable that I would
plunk down $30K for a car with only a non-turbo four-banger driving it. But
last year in Monterrey, after the sound of that Tipo 33 Stradale melted my
heart (and ears), I was ready to put down a deposit on a beautiful 156 TS
right then and there. The style of Alfa's cars is undeniable and the
performance is typical Alfa. Yeah, a V-6 Accord for $25K is probably what
most people would go for, and there's a number of nice cars in the 156's
(est.) price range that are mighty stiff competition performance-wise, but
it's a lot like Ducati versus Japanese sport bikes. There's something
undeniable about these stylish Italian products that nobody seems able to
match. So it's a little surprising that Alfa is blowing us off when there
seems to be a huge market among the young, wealthy buyers today for all
things stylish. Unfortunately, I'm neither young nor wealthy and I'll just
have to be content turning heads wherever I go in my 25-year-old GTV.

Mike Grace
Santa Barbara
'74 GTV

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End of alfa-digest V7 #990
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