Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo is an Italian automobile manufacturing company, founded as "Darracq Italiana" by Cavaliere Ugo Stella, an aristocrat from Milan in partnership with the French automobile firm of Alexandre Darracq. The partnership refurbished an idle Darracq factory in Portello, a Milan suburb, but at the onset of World War I the company converted to a munitions factory and the partnership was dissolved.

Racing history

Alfa Romeo scored many prestigious victories in all the different categories: Formula 1, Prototypes, Touring and Fast Touring. Private drivers also ran some rally competitions with fine results.

Related Topics:
Formula 1 - Prototypes - Rally

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In the 1930s, Tazio Nuvolari won the Mille Miglia in a 6C 1750 http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/AlfaTom2/galleria1/24hp.htm, crossing the finishing line after having incredibly overtaken Achille Varzi without his lights (at nighttime).

Related Topics:
1930s - Tazio Nuvolari - Mille Miglia - Achille Varzi

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The 8C 2300 won the Le Mans 24 Hours from 1931 to 1934.

Related Topics:
Le Mans 24 Hours - 1931 - 1934

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In 1935 Alfa Romeo won the German Grand Prix with Nuvolari.

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In 1950 Nino Farina won the Formula One World Championship in a 158 with compressor, in 1951 Juan Manuel Fangio won while driving a Alfetta 159 (an evolution of the 158 with a two-stages compressor). Other titles won in 1975 and 1977, while the 33 dominated the Prototype category from 1967 to 1977.

Related Topics:
1950 - Nino Farina - Formula One - 1951 - Juan Manuel Fangio - Alfetta - 1975 - 1977 - 1967

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In the 1960s Alfa Romeo was bought by the Italian government and became famous for its models specifically designed for Italian police ("Panthers" http://www.poliziadistato.it/pds/chisiamo/storia/pantere/scheda3.htm, http://www.poliziadistato.it/pds/chisiamo/storia/pantere/scheda2.htm, http://www.poliziadistato.it/pds/chisiamo/storia/pantere/scheda9.htm, http://www.poliziadistato.it/pds/chisiamo/storia/pantere/scheda5.htm, http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/AlfaTom/polizia/155pol2.jpg) and Carabinieri (http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/AlfaTom/polizia/156carab1.jpg); among them the glorious "Giulia Super" http://www.alfaclubdc.com/sprbrch1.gif - http://www.alfaromeo-classic.com/giulia/super_schaer/Bilder/giulia_super.1.jpg. Or the 2600 Sprint GT http://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/by-id/63/, which obtained an expressive nickname of "Inseguimento" (this car is wrongly supposed to be the one that the famous Roman police marshall and unrivalled driver Armandino Spadafora brought down on the Spanish Steps in 1960 while following some robbers - it was instead a black Ferrari 250 GT/E - this pic of Giulia http://www.alfaclubdc.com/suprflm3.jpg, one of the dozens about this legend, is taken from a movie and not at Spanish Steps).

Related Topics:
1960s - Carabinieri - Armandino Spadafora

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After the 1970s, a economic issues caused the government to sell Alfa Romeo to Fiat, which still owns it.

Related Topics:
1970s - Fiat

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Before being bought by Fiat, Alfa Romeo always had a daring commercial policy, constantly experimenting with new solutions and using them in its series production, even at the risk of losing market share.

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On an English sales brochure:

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:The Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 SS - For the man who has everything, here is the car to keep him company. ... The price is GBP 2394.1.3 including tax. Expensive? Naturally! What else would you expect a hand-built Alfa to be? http://www.geraldo.at/SS/sales/SS_sales_C1.jpg

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It represented the make of those cars which could allow some sport driving on common roads, provided the driver was clever enough to let them express their particular "sound".

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Owners of an A.R. call themselves "Alfista", in Italian. Alfa Romeo is sometimes worshipped by its owners, and many models have become cultural symbols http://www.alfaromeo-classic.com/occ/alfetta/Bilder/alfetta1.jpg. There are many thriving Alfa Romeo owners clubs and Alfa Romeo Model Registers.

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In 1967 the famous Dustin Hoffman's film "The Graduate" gave worldwide unforgettable celebrity to the "Spider" (best known with the Italian nickname of "Duetto", or as "Osso di Seppia" or Round-tail), and its unique shape.

Related Topics:
1967 - Dustin Hoffman - The Graduate

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See here http://home.wanadoo.nl/thomas-j.visser/galleria2/duetto.htm - http://hem.passagen.se/veloce/wpe28.jpg.

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The Spider was designed by Pininfarina.

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