Non-Volvo car chat megathread

[BlackBart]

All the ads are fantastic - "Ed's Speed Shop"

[RickHaleParker]

Porsche Fade-Proof brakes. I doubt they would get away with that ad today.

[BlackBart]

Why Alfa Romeo was the badass sportscar of the 20s, 30s, and after WWII to 1951. Big aluminum twincam straight 8s with finned superchargers. Updraft Weber carburetors. Fast, innovative suspensions, good handling, good brakes, some had rear transaxles, all were stylish. Lightweight bodies by Zagato and Touring. Some of the greats raced and won in these cars. They won Le Mans four times. Movie stars and Counts ordered open and closed versions to play in. The road cars were works of art mounted on racing chassis'. Sometimes the race cars were re-bodied after the races and sold to customers.

They used the same 158 Alfetta design from 1938 to compete in the late 40s and early 50s. It won the original F1 race. Following the 1.5 liter formula with a blower, the straight 8 158/159 developed 420 hp. It won every race it entered in 1950. In 1951, Juan Manuel Fangio won the World Championship in the 159, coming in second one time to the Ferrari at Silverstone because it got such poor mileage they needed more stops. After the 1951 season, Alfa had run out of money and withdrew from Grand Prix racing.

Enzo Ferrari drove for Alfa Romeo in the 20s, and ran the factory race team from 1932, until in 1939 they decided to pull management of the team completely in-house, and he left. In 1947, he produced the first V12 racing Ferrari for a hillclimb. In the 50s, Ferrari began to chase the now tiny market of very high end performance cars that Alfa used to live in. Alfa and others had to survive the new economy and went to small, affordable, lightweight, small displacement race and street cars.

I've seen these go by in person once, and they have a huge bellow that surprises you because of how pretty they are. The closest thing I could describe is a completely built big block 454 with a single 4" straight pipe out the back! Add to that the whine of the blower and straight-cut gears.

I tried to find some video with that sound.






https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/mo16 ... ing/381861

https://simeonemuseum.org/collection/19 ... -8c-monza/







https://simeonemuseum.org/video/1933-al ... nce-drive/


Dyno run...

[RickHaleParker]

Shoot I always wanted to build the original and now Robert Q. Riley Enterprises are coming out with a updated version. This version is gull wing instead of clam shell like the first version. Reminds me of the Spaceship in the movie Dark Star by John Carpenter.

Trimuter HP3.

[BlackBart]

A friend lent me a 1961 Car and Driver (recently changed from Sports Car Illustrated). One of my new favorites:

The Lancia Flaminia GT coupe with body by Touring.

2.5 aluminum (Italian!) V6, rear transaxle, handling, leather, style.....

[abscate]

Isn’t pininifarina a pasta starter followed by cereal?

[RickHaleParker]

Isn’t pininifarina a pasta starter followed by cereal?

It a pasta ender. Carrozzeria Pininfarina was Italian, he ended pasta by eating it.

[BlackBart]

Touring, boys, Touring!

"Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera"

Touring_logo1.gif (15.65 KiB) Viewed 1346 times

IMG_0730.jpg (67.47 KiB) Viewed 1346 times

31_259_01.jpg (139.04 KiB) Viewed 1346 times

artcurial_alfa_romeo_8c_2900b_lungo_touring_berlinetta_10011921.jpg (62.87 KiB) Viewed 1346 times

1939-alfa-romeo-8c-2900b-lungo-spider-by-touring-pass-front.jpg (447.1 KiB) Viewed 1346 times

images.jpeg (9.72 KiB) Viewed 1346 times

[BlackBart]

As long as we're having Italian.....

here's some spaghetti...

[BlackBart]

Alfa Romeo Giulia Tubolare Zagato (Giulia TZ)

1963. A superlight space frame race car, under 1500 lbs, with an aluminum body by Zagato, and a screaming 160hp 1600 twincam with dual Webers, 135 mph. The race cars had a megaphone exhaust out the drivers side and they were LOUD. Early use of the Kamm tail theory of aerodynamics.