Fw: Alfa Romeo Engineers: Unsung Innovators Behind Todays "Innovations" Part Three of Four

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

----- Original Message -----
From: Auto Legal / New York
To: alfa-digest@domain.elided
Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 6:58 PM
Subject: Alfa Romeo Engineers: Unsung Innovators Behind Todays "Innovations"
Part Three of Four


This Digesti responded:



Thanks for your letter ...you are absolutely right!   I have been
absolutely livid reading popular press accounts and advertisements of
supposed new stuff.  I had almost been motivated to write also, but
thankfully you came through with a hell of a lot more facts than I could
have presented.

Back in the 1970s and 1980's, Alfa needed a stronger presence in USA to
command the respect of information venues such as Automotive News, which, if
prompted and properly courted might have written the accurate truth about the
Italian
automobile engineer's contribution to the motoring world in 'real time'
.....and if that
authoritative material was read by the common urinalists of the day ....they
might have
picked it up and propagated the truth throughout the literary landscape.

I still hate with a passion the copying Japanese who thought and still think
nothing about
stealing Italian style and engineering.  The entire Alfasud bodystyle for
example, the names HF,GT, et. cetera.
 Take a look at the Alfa Romeo Proteo of the early 1990's....

within 24 months the design became the four individual headlight beam
Acura/Honda "latest innovative design".  At least Nissan paid something for
the VVT patent!  The "payment" became an alleged $10 million dollars

and a co-produced Arna using Japanese-imported sheetmetal and an

Alfa Romeo drivetrain.


S**t, if the Japanese had an original thought in their whole body, they might
have
something.  Actually, their original thinking they did come up with was pure
crap.
And still is.



And can they take and develop photographs quickly of the European auto salons!
Look at today's Mitsubishi's front ends (Lancia) and rearends over

the past several years for example (Lancia and Mercedes). The latest boring
Subaru wagen's taillights (Lancia and even earlier Alfa Romeo).
Those f**king copy artists.  Too bad style can't be copyrighted.  (I know the

Ferrari copyright case against GM's prototype Fiero was an exception).



Without European (Italian) style to unabashedly copy, they'd be reduced to
showing the ignorant-looking Mongoloid crap  all Japanese manufacturers sell
in their home market.

When they don't copy and steal a design concept they wind up with disasters

such as the current Montero SUV front end and the entire new mediocre Infinity
line...or sheer mediocity like any recent Nissan or (fill in the blanks).  And
who came up

with the famous Q45 grille emblem of the mid-1990's?   Certainly no one in the
western hemisphere. The Japanese strategy has been to take popular Italian
styling fashion cues and amalgamate (read: plaster) them together on the same
car.

A Ferrari side air intake here, a grille impression there, etc. A "C" pillar,
a rear taillight design, nothing I might add that can't be easily traced to
the 'donor' car'.  Or, they hire American designers who get their emotional
'fix' from Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari designs.  And we are not even going to
begin to discuss the contributions of Ingeniere Chiti (of Autodelta--readers)
, our aeronautical engineer friend and originator of dozens of historic
contributions to race car aerodynamics and safety innovations to racing
vehicles.  Maybe Honda PR types can yet find a way to steal those
accomplishments too.
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