Re: (sic) "Alfa Fugone (van)"

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The fourth item in Andrew Schwartz' essay (in ad9-0716) on "How many Alfa
Digest posters does it take to change a lightbulb?" was "7 to point out
spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs." Ergo I am
obliged to mention that the subject line in the Stevan Thomas/ Timothy Leigh
Rodgers discussion of Alfa vans, "Alfa Fugone (van)" needs a 'sic': the word
is Furgone, not Fugone.

Stevan wrote "I think the F12 is more what I'm after, although I'd certainly
consider the Romeo 2 as long as I got one that was late enough in production
so that it can be a "user" more than a "collectible". Any idea how to find out
about prices and shipping from Italy?"

The Romeo, A11, A12, F11 and F12 were never a large part of Alfa's production;
the only production figures I have seen were from the late sixties, when they
exceeded the number of Spiders built, but not by a large margin. The odds on a
utilitarian commercial vehicle surviving thirty to forty years of daily
hacking in Italian urban traffic are pretty slim. Some few do survive, but
prices would be pure supply-and-demand, plus luck; near zero supply, near zero
demand, entirely different if two are available and only one person wants one,
or if one is available and two people want one. I would advertise in, or
subscribe to, both Manovella and Ruotteclasiche, and be prepared to pounce
while feigning disinterest. Shipping can be expensive, or it can be quite
reasonable if two or three people fill a container, or if a vacationer comes
home by sea with the vehicle as accompanying baggage (which I have done, both
ways, on a Polish luxury liner plying the Montreal-Gdynia route. Avoid the
North Atlantic in November).

There is an alternative, if one is the sort of unpurist who dreams about
swapping engines or building fiberglass 'Stradale' clones to rebody rusty
Spiders. The Romeo had about the same track and wheelbase as a 155; the
F11-F12 are probably a tad larger, but as Tim wrote "These vans are about the
size of a VW van", which would be close to the track and wheelbase of a 164.
Cosmetically challenged 164s can be quite cheap these days, and marrying a VW
Vanagon hull to a 164 platform, with suitably hoked-up grill and badging,
would not be technically difficult or aesthetically particularly 'challenging'
and could probably fool most of the people who have never seen a real Alfa
truck. It would beat Timothy's in a drag-race, though probably not in an
authenticity/originality concours.

Enjoy,

John H.
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