SHO vs. 164

["Joe Garcia" <corsanostra@domain.elided>]

As far as I know, the "new" (i.e. weird V8 & stickless) SHO is no longer. 
The previous iteration of the SHO is an example of which I have been the 
owner of 2 (both company cars that I bought for the paltry payoff value), 
one stick and one automatic.

The stick one, a 1992, died a premature death after some cretin T-boned it 
subsequent to him running a stop sign at about 50 mph. He hit the car on the 
driver's side, JUST aft of the driver's seat, causeing the SHO to spin and 
wrap the passenger side around a convenient telephone pole. No, the airbags 
did not deploy, but various bits of safety glass showered me and fortunately 
I was wearing Gargoyles sunglasses that kept my eyeballs safe.

Anyway, I wanted to replace the SHO with a 164Q, even in spite of the fact 
it is Wrong Wheel Drive. Two things conspired against this, though. 1- I 
wasn't able to find a Q (never mind a Q with decent mileage) and 2- The 
automatic SHO became available for the paltry payoff value.

Subsequently, I have driven/ridden in assorted 164s, (S, L & LS, but no 
Q!)and in my mind's filing cabinet I cannot say that any of those would have 
compared to the 1992 SHO as far as raw numbers go, (For that matter, neither 
can the 1995 slushbox SHO) which seemed to be a more enthusiast friendly 
vehicle. My guesstimate is that the Q would probably have been a bit faster, 
and given it's Alfa-ness more entertaining to drive.

The 164s I have ridden/driven, were more "driver's cars" than the SHO, which 
was a factory hot rod, with all the best & worst that term connotes. (I 
mean...an emergency brake PEDAL? In a stick shift car? Not to mention the 
rather insufficient gauge cluster, etc.) It would have been really cool to 
have put that Yamaha V6 inside, say, a Probe or an Escort though...

Well, enough rambling.

- -Joe in reasonably sunny SoFla, currently between Alfae but looking!

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