Alfa Daily Drivers

[Carscribe@domain.elided]

I'm not surprised that some may think of an Alfa Romeo as just a toy or 
weekend car, but surely my experience and I'm certain that of  many others 
here would put the lie to that notion. For the last 17 + years I have relied 
on over eighteen different Alfas as my primary, and usually sole, 
transportation, covering over 650,000 documented miles in Alfas alone. 

This was nearly all done through the tortuous daily commute along the 
freeways to and from Los Angeles/Malibu from the San Bernardino/Lake 
Arrowhead/Riverside area. Average of one hundred fifty miles daily, minimum. 
Those familiar with the drive know that the pace is a crawl, nearly a parking 
lot each way, and very hard on the machines. All provided excellent service. 
Two hundred forty thousand of those miles were traveled in a 1987 Milano 
Verde, which never left me on the roadside, but in the end was fairly 
cosmetically knackered, yet mechanically excellent and still fast. Among 
other memorable machines were 2 GTV-6s, 4 Alfetta coupes, 1 1750 Berlina, 1 
1750 GTV, and 1 2000 GTV. All were surprisingly reliable, and I look back and 
marvel at my faith/stupidity in several of these cars, who had clearly seen 
better years by the time they landed in my hands, yet I trusted daily and was 
not disappointed.

What I came away with, other than many great and a few frustrating memories 
behind the wheel, is a clear understanding of the wonderful strength of these 
machines when properly cared for, and a base of knowledge of what that care 
consists of, which served me later when writing on the subject for 
publication. There are no flaws designed into in any of Alfas I've owned that 
would prevent them from being driven as a primary mode of transport with the 
proper care and maintenance. Are there flaws? Yes. But the biggest issues I 
invariably faced were putting the car back to right from previous poor 
maintenance and harebrained modifications from earlier owners and mechanics. 
To that end I must also thank Stewart Sandeman at APC and Rex Chalmers 
formerly of Omega Motorsport for their contributions to the cause. And to the 
defense of other Italian marques, the final months of that commute were 
performed by an 1965 Lancia Fulvia coupe, which though in need of a 
restoration, lived up to the challenge and met the mark set by my Alfas.
Cheers,
Paul Mitchell

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