Re: The Alfa-haters

[Will Owen <nashwill912@domain.elided>]

Charlie quotes, then comments thus:

> Throughout the entire season thus far broadcast by "The NASCAR Channel"
> the announcers have made NO secret of the fact that they are anti-Alfa
> Romeo. I don't know exactly why...

"If I were a well-known German marque with a rather sterling reputation that
I'd been dining out on for years, I would certainly not be above, in the
rough and tumble of business life, slipping a healthy little vigorish to
those who could polish that reputation in its dimmer hours..."

Said "sterling reputation" is and always has had a very hefty hype component. Alfa was
BMW's big target when they tried (and, it must be admitted, succeeded) to take over
the sports-sedan market which Alfa had essentially invented. They've managed to
leverage the undeniable goodness of their earlier cars, the tendency of the world at
large to believe blindly in the inherent wonderfulness of German machinery, and the
similarly blind loyalty of every damned Yuppoid on the planet into one big fat myth of
Manifest Destiny: BMW is ordained by (your favorite deity's name here) to rule the
roads and the tracks forever, just because because because. Nobody brings up the fact
that Alfa was a three-time world GP champion before BMW built their first 4-wheeler, a
licensed copy of the Austin 7...

I would not sell the Bey Em Vey gang short - the 1600/2002 were some of the most
delightful , delicious little cars ever invented, and I wouldn't mind having another
of any of'em. But some outfits just can't seem to deal with success in a graceful way,
or with competition without getting all personal and nasty about it, and I must say
that their conduct, or at least that of their partisans, in this instance is beyond
ugly.

Will Owen
Pasadena, CA
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