Alfa Romeo GTV News

Alfa Romeo will reinvent itself - again - to become an all-electric rival to Tesla by the end of the decade. 

Alfa Romeo has finally confirmed its worst-kept secret. The Italian brand will build a mid-engine supercar inspired by its famous 33 Stradale as its final internal combustion engine model before it begins transitioning to its electric future.

As Easter is a time for renewal and re-birth, we've looked at some other nameplates we'd love to see not only make a comeback, but do so with an electric powertrain for a long-term future. Some of these may have an element of optimism to them, but there's actually genuine hope that several of these could be in showrooms in the not-too-distant future.

Alfa Romeo has reiterated its commitment to right-hand-drive production globally and a continual presence in Australia in particular, revealing that support for the brand in this market stretches all the way to the top.

Everyone loves a good comeback story. And in the automotive world everyone has a discontinued car they’d love to see make a comeback.

Alfa Romeo to launch scorching supercars and sexy SUVs as it announces new five-year plan.

While those super expensive Aston Martins are out of the reach of 99.99% of collectors, there are other cars used in the movies and driven by 007 that will appeal to those with more modest budgets.How about a 1996 Z3 BMW? It appeared in Golden Eye and while it only was on screen for a minute or two they are cheap. A quick look on Carsguide suggests $11,000 will get you into one and I'm sure with a bit of arm twisting you could reduce that even more. Hairdressers paid over $70,000 when they were new.If a sports car is not your style, then there is always the 1997 BMW 750iL that Bond drove with his phone in Tomorrow Never Dies. When new BMW dealers were asking punters to part with $265,000. Right now depreciation is your BFF and you can snatch a high mileage example for under $7000. Be cautious though, it might be well shaken and mightily stirred.For a bit of Italian flavour, 1983 the Alfa GTV6 which 007 used in the movie Occtopussy makes for a cunning alternative. Some sell for as low as $3000 but good ones go for mid-teens. If something British is more to your liking, then what about the Triumph Stag? Bond drove a yellow one in Diamonds Are Forever while he was impersonating a diamond smuggler called Peter Franks. Around $15,000 seems a likely starting point for negotiations to get you into a true classic.Another British choice is the Sunbeam Alpine, which Bond drove in the first movie, Dr No. These are fabulous looking little convertibles. My neighbour in London had one and always referred to it as "the real Bond car". They range from about $16,000 all the way up to $40,000 depending on condition. As an aside, the Alpine was also the car of choice in the Get Smart TV series.But I'm saving the best two for last. In Man with the Golden Gun, Bond drives a red 1974 Rambler Hornet hatchback through the famous corkscrew aerial jump. Although the coupe never made it to Australia, 1,825 four door Hornets were built and sold here between 1971 and 1975. Many have been hot-rodded, but unmolested examples sell for less than $10,000 and are a bargain.So that leaves the red 1971 Mustang Mach 1 from Diamonds are Forever. A good one will set you back about $40,000 and there are plenty around. And yes, I know that's six times the price of the 750 BMW, but it looks way cooler!David Burrell is the editor of www.retroautos.com.au 

"I used to roll my pedal car down our long driveway with my feet up because the pedals would go too fast for me," says the 46-year-old electrician.  I suppose that was the fun thing to do at that age."He graduated from pedal cars to real cars when his father bought him a 1977 XC Falcon ex-taxi.  But what he really wanted was something more exotic.A few years later he bought a 1979 Alfa GTV for $7700 at auction and even though it had "rust like you wouldn't believe on a three-year-old car", Moore had become hooked on Euro-exotica."My neighbour had a lot of Renaults at the time, he says.  "I liked the shape of his 15TS and the Alfa was sending me broke, so I decided to get one.  He wouldn't sell me his, but I got one for $1800."The love affair with French cars, in particular Renaults, had begun Over the years he's owned a Peugeot 205 GTI, two Pug 405s, a 1973 BMW 2002 tii, a 1954 Renault 4CV, a 1989 Renault Alpine GTA Turbo and a 2005 Falcon BA Futura wagon as the daily driver.  The Pugs have since been sold."Generally French cars are more comfortable and I guess I like to be a bit different," he says.  "I appreciate well-made cars and given a few million dollars I'd own a lot of cars from other manufacturers, but four is enough for most of us."Moore bought the 4CV for $500 in 1992 and has since replaced the 749cc engine with a 1605cc donk from a Renault 16TS.  Likewise, he is about to replace the 2458cc V6 engine in the GTA for a three-litre V6 from an early '90s Volvo 960.The 1988-plated engine was made under an alliance with Peugeot and Renault. The flexible engines were made from 1972 to the late '90s for use in either transverse or longitudinal engine bays in the front or rear mated to either rear-wheel-drive or front-wheel-drive.The original GTA model produced 154kW, but Moore has already fitted a bigger GT30 71R Garrett turbo that returns about 186kW.  "With the new engine and bigger cams, valves and injector and depending on the boost I expect to get over 300hp (223kW)," he said.  "I do all my own mechanicals and modifications except for wheel alignments and upholstery," he says.His interest in bigger engines stems from his amateur racing career in motorkhanas, hillclimbs and club sprints.  He mainly uses the 2002 for race duties, but the Alpine will figure more prominently once he shoehorns in the bigger motor.Renault-owned French manufacturer Alpine produced 3400 GTAs in left-hand drive and only 343 in right-hand drive between 1986 and 1991.Moore bought his rear-engined right-hand-drive coupe for about $14,000 in 2004.Apart from the engine, the rest of the vehicle is all original, although he has replaced the wheels with AZEV 255/40 17s because tyres for the original 255/50 15s were too difficult to find and too expensive."It handles well," he says.  "In slow corners it understeers and if you come on the boost mid-corner it will put its tail out a bit.  "They say rear-engined cars don't handle ... someone forgot to tell Mr Porsche that."Moore also has a shed full of bikes in need of restoring.  "I'll have to work until I'm at least 80 to pay for the things I've got to restore," he says.Allan Moore's garage:1989 Renault Alpine GTA Turbo2005 BA Futura Wagon1973 BMW 2002 tii1956 Renault 4CV1986 Honda TLR200 Trials1976 Yamaha XT5001974 Yamaha TY250A1972 Suzuki T5001970 Triumph Bonneville1968 BMW R60/21938 BMW R711937 Rudge Special

Cancer as a boy left him blind in one eye, but it hasn't slowed him down. The 51-year-old Gold Coast businessman has owned a host of performance cars from a Mini Cooper S to his current 400 horsepower Trans-Am Mustang and has raced since he was 40. Except for the years 1998-2001 when CAMS took away his race licence because of his sight.Rigon loves a good stoush, so he took CAMS to court and won and is now the only one-eyed driver licensed to race in national events. His first car was a 1968 Mini Cooper S former NSW police pursuit vehicle."The police had GTHOs, Chargers and Mini Cooper Ss back then," he explains. "It had great handling and was very quick, but I eventually blew the engine up driving it too hard."He then moved to a Mazda RX4 Coupe "rocketship", followed by several company cars, a GTV6 Alfa Romeo in 1989 and a Porsche 911 Carrera. "The Alfa stayed with me for some time and was picked up by a collector in Western Australia, an 81-year-old lady who had it fully restored it," he said. "Being Italian it never stayed together and spent more time in the repair shop than it was on the road, but it was a great car to own."His current everyday cars are a 2007 V8 SS Commodore and an ex-police Ford Typhoon F6: "I like to buy ex-police cars because they are looked after and have a few trick bits."Rigon was a late starter to racing at the age of 40 competing in the WA Formula Ford series against eventual winner Garth Tander. He's made up for it since with a host of race cars, including two Subaru WRX STIs. But the Trans-Am Mustang he bought early last year is his favourite."It's the most pleasurable car to drive because it is not as technical as a modern race cars which are very forgiving," he says. "Modern race cars take a lot of technology to make them run quick but there is a lot more driver skill required in old cars. They tend to go sideways quite a bit.""It's something about our age group. It was the car that always appealed to me. "I was heavily inspired by Steve McQueen in Bullitt and always loved American Trans-Am (1964 to '74 American V8-powered cars) racing series as well as the Australian equivalent with Bob Jane, Allan Moffat driving around in Mustangs and Comaros. That was the style of racing I could really identify with."He's now the treasurer of the fledgling Australian Trans-Am Series which, not surprisingly, doesn't operate under CAMS licensing. "The average age of the racers is 45 to 60 and those drivers wouldn't necessarily get a CAMS licence which can take a year to get a full licence," he says.The series has 24 members with about 12-14 cars lining up on the grid. "We believe that will grow to a full field of 24 in about six months and about 34 in 12 months at any race meeting making it the largest Trans-Am series outside the US."Needless to say, his dream machine is a race car. "One of those limited edition GT3 Porsches," he is quick to answer. "I have always had a love for Ferraris but Porsches can take a pounding. They are a bullet proof car. For my driving style - while I love Italian cars - they just don't stay together." 

For Alfa admirer Richard McKee, some phone calls, faxes and emails led to a decision to purchase a 1986 Alfa Romeo GTV6 Grand Prix in Adelaide.But it didn't exactly result in the dream ride back home he had hoped for.“My wife and I flew to Adelaide on a Saturday morning and went straight to the place to pick the car up,” he says. “We then drove it back to Sydney, which was a terrible experience."“It had been in a garage for such a long time with little use on the kilometres. Driving out of Adelaide we got to 80km/h and the car began shaking as if the wheels were out of balance.”A quick stop into a garage and a check of the wheel alignment failed to locate the problem.So it was one wobbly ride home, or as McKee calls it, “the worst trip out.”After making it home safely, McKee discovered that all it needed was a new set of tyres.But being confronted with Alfa problems isn't something new for McKee. His Alfa Romeo appreciation began in 1979 with an Alfetta model, the same family line this GP model belongs to.“They're just unique in terms of their styling, their performance, but I definitely wasn't drawn by their quality control,” he says.Despite some unreliable Alfas in the past, McKee says the looks are just one element that draws him back to the cars. And in the same way that 1980s fluorescent clothing, leggings and teased hair has struck a chord with the younger generation today, the stylish Italian 1980s car still hasn't gone out of fashion. His wife occasionally drives the car to her job as a primary school nurse, and even the kindy kids are impressed.“The kids just love it,” McKee says. “A really young person would never realise the car is 22 years old. It still looks extremely good and that's probably one of the most outstanding things about Alfa Romeo's design. They're timeless ... this could be mistaken for a more current car.”But as the saying goes, looks aren't everything. It's what's inside that counts and that's also an aspect that attracts McKee to Alfa models.“It was about the styling of the car and the performance of the car was second to none when you consider the cc capacity of the cars,” he says.“The engines are so well developed, it's just a pleasure to drive. Their torque, their overall performance, the longevity. They certainly build one strong engine.”McKee says they were built with a 50/50 weight distribution, which was extraordinary at the time.“Everything was about getting the balance of the car right,” he explains, adding this also provides better handling when on the race track.Four-wheel disc brakes also come in handy, something that was also rare at the time. And aside from the initial forgettable road trip, McKee says this model hasn't caused him too much trouble, although as is the case with all classic cars, it does require general maintenance.“It was worth going to Adelaide to get a car that had been extremely well looked after,” he says.Indeed, this Alfa is a model clearly designed for the open road, rather than Sydney's traffic.“The engine is very much geared towards open-road running,” McKee says. “Its potent 2.5-litre V6 delivers exceptional economy.”With the previous owner adding a stainless-steel exhaust, McKee says the sound also adds to an enjoyable overall driving experience.McKee is only the third owner of the car and when he bought it three years ago, it had just 107,000km on the clock. He's now added 8000km of his own, mainly through weekend drives.However, as with many other classic car owners sharing their passion, McKee enjoys joining other members of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Australia on some longer cruises.Of course, there's a really good explanation for all this. McKee confesses that he's not just a fan of the marque and says, “it's called being an Alfa nut” — something that can be illustrated by a quick inspection of his garage. The McKee household is not short on Italian machinery.While he's currently restoring a couple of older Alfas, he also races an Alfetta model and his wife owns a 2001 Alfa Spider. So with both old and new models, McKee is considering selling his GTV GP.The car originally sold for $39,812 when it first went on sale in 1986, but McKee believes it would now be valued about the $12,500 mark.And it's not just he and his wife who have caught the Alfa bug. McKee also managed to pass it on to his son.“When we were driving back from getting his first car, he was just 16, and I asked why he wanted an Alfa,” he says.“He said, 'Because they're different'.” Snapshot1986 Alfa Romeo GTV6 GPValue when new: $39,812Value now: about $12,000Verdict: This car still knows how to look cool in the 21st century thanks to its classic, timeless design and powerful performance.