Alfa Romeo Engineering: Unsung Innovator Behind Today's "Innovations" Part One of Four

["Auto Legal / New York" <autlegal@domain.elided>]

Digesti:  An electronic discussion between several 'old timers' at Alfa Romeo,
Inc recently took place.  I believe you might be interested in reading that
exchange of opinions and to consider them in the context of today's
plagiarizing by automobile manufacturer public relations machines... of past
accomplishments ...for marketshare and international prestige purposes.  The
exchange of letters discussed the fact that accomplishments of Alfa Romeo
engineers and stylists (and Italian engineers and stylists in general) have
never been widely acknowledged and in fact have become 'hijacked' over the
years by manufacturers who have successfully preyed upon the world's ignorant
autombile enthusiast masses.  While the writer of the first piece is the
father of Alfa Romeo in this hemisphere, his identity shall for the time being
remain "il fossile". The second piece I take responsibility for in response to
his comments.  These four sections will appear over a period of approximately
four days.



I hope this contribution will refocus and elevate The Alfa Digest back to
being a purely Alfa Romeo discussion forum.



While I am not, regrettably, in a position to respond to individual comments
due to my work schedule, I nonetheless dedicate this discussion piece to the
honor of the modern day Italian Automobile Engineer who I'm afraid is sharing
much the same fate as his ancestors who helped advance automobile design and
technology in the first half of the twentieth century.



"il fossile" writes:



Usually something is "new" when it is seen for the first time.  But when is
the "first time"?  We see relativity at work even in the semantics of our
language. Here are some Alfa Romeo related examples of how you might interpret
"new".



Alfa Romeo was granted patents in 1975 for a method of changing valve timing
to suit load conditions.  This system was presented to EPA for 1980
certification in 1978, at which time the writer coined the acronym "VVT". The
1980 M.Y. Alfa Romeo 4-cylinder engine family was the first ever production
application of VVT.  Today, we see other VMs touting "VVT: (or their
market-speak equivalent) as "new", "innovative", "Leading edge technology".
Now we are in 2003, so how "new" is VVT?  Further, some of this market speak
is mis-"leading", as in the buzz phrase "leading edge technology".  How can
this be, when only airfoils have a leading edge?  Are they using aero speak
for a vehicle that never leaves the ground?  Next they will be using Reynolds
numbers to describe the efficiency of their HVAC outlet grilles?  The Alfa
Romeo VVT was a concept of Ing. G. P. Garcea, the writer's mentor and chief of
the Alfa Romeo think tank.  The concept was developed in the experimental
engine department, DIPRE ESMO.   Of interest is that Ing. Garcea was an
aeronautical engineer who paid his dues in Via Avio at Portello.
Interestingly, he never used the word "leading edge".
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