Picking nits about drawing lines about the real Humpty Dumpty

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-1454 Joe Italiacars responds "    I agree, my point is that you can 
draw a line just about anywhere about what is a REAL Alfa and what isn't. It 
is just an excuse by a group of whinning people as to why they won't clear 
the dust off their wallets to buy a new Alfa or even new parts fr that 
matter. Then complain why Alfas pulls out of North America."

I have no personal argument with Joe or his organization- no dog in THAT 
fight- but I think he may have missed my drift. Indeed, one can draw lines in 
many places. Karl Ludvigsen drew HIS line with the 6C 3000 CM of 1952 in a 
most memorable article ("The Last of the Red-Hot Alfas") in the old SCI. He 
scored good points. For my part, the line falls elsewhere, and not just as a 
whining excuse for not opening my wallet to buy a new Alfa (which I have done 
several times). Nor did I complain when Fiat pulled its Alfa brand out of 
North America, nor do I wish to see them back.

Joe goes on to write "BTW the revival of Bugatti went belly up about 8 years 
ago. However, during their buying binge about 2 years ago, VW bought the 
rights to the Bugatti name and is now making show cars and plans to build a 
factory near the old plant in Molsheim"

There was no revival of Bugatti, any more than there were revivals of 
Duesenberg, Cord, Auburn, and Stutz in the United States. The post-Bugatti 
"Bugatti" project I believe went belly-up more than once, and was revived 
more than once, but I very much doubt that you will find very many members of 
the Bugatti Owners' Club, or other owners of Bugattis built by Bugatti, who 
would agree that there has been (or will be, or could be) a revival of 
Bugatti. VW (or a future owner of the name) may build a plant at Molsheim, 
may ride fine horses while wearing Derby hats, may inscribe facsimiles of 
Ettore's signature on squared-off cylinder heads with hand-scraped surfaces, 
may even stage sit-down strikes of workers waving red flags and singing the 
"Internationale", but they cannot revive a man who died. There is more to a 
company - to SOME companies - than the legal right to use a name and a 
trade-mark as the legal-right holder sees fit, even if they apply that name 
and that trade-mark to some superb product.

And I am not anti-Fiat. Fiat has had a memorable history, has built some 
memorable cars, and if Fiat reenters the US market I would certainly consider 
a Fiat on its merits if I was looking for a new car. But not if they called 
it an Itala, or an Isotta Fraschini, or an O.M, or any other name which had 
its own heritage quite distinct from Fiat's legitimate heritage.

Sorry if this is too bitchy, Joe. Others (obviously!) draw lines elsewhere. 
As one digestisti memorably said, "if it looks like an Alfa, sounds like an 
Alfa, and has Alfa's name on it, it's an Alfa". His choice.

John H.
Raleigh, N.C.

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