Touring Superleggera presents Disco Volante in Geneva 2012

It's interesting! We have been talking about "retro design" for quite a bit of time, but usually we were observing the car manufacturers, but not the Italian design shops to come up with retro styled vehicles.
Yesterday though Touring Superleggera presented its Alfa Romeo Disco Volante 2012. And they were brave enough to show it together with the original Disco Volante coupé from 1953 - though on a poster.
The new car isn't bad, but if you remember how revolutionary and extreme the original Disco Volante was, then you may be disappointed.

The best ever driver's car? Not an obvious choice

Here's a picture from Pistonheads. Actually they sort of borrowed it from Classic and Sportscars. C&S is celebrating the best ever driver's cars in a coming issue and that's where the foto is coming from. As you can see in the picture, the top 5 are the Alfa 8C, the McLaren F1, the Mini Cooper, the Porsche Carrera RS 2.7 and the Lotus Elan Sprint. Now, the question of course is whether we agree with this selection (and the winner RS 2.7). Difficult to say, as I haven't yet driven four of the five, at least not in the proposed disguise. But I wonder whether they didn't miss a couple of additional candidates, i.e. the Dino 246 GT or something from the 50ies for example. And, three out of five are British, but only one German and one Italian car? Seems to be a bit harsh. No Japanese car, not even the iconic Honda NSX or the Toyota GT 2000? No French car, not even the multi-times-Monte-Carlo-winner Alpine A110 1600S or one of the sought after Bugattis? No American car - well, maybe that's okay.
But, if given the choice, which of the five would I take? Probably not the McLaren and neither the Mini. Rather the Lotus or the Porsche. But my winner would be the Alfa-Romeo. Yes, I am slowly getting mature enough to fancy pre-war cars ....

From the RAID Prolog in Zurich

Accidentally I ran into the opening ceremony of this year's RAID Prolog in Zurich today. It's refreshing to see so many classic cars in the center of Zurich where usually only 2010 Mercedes and Porsche drive around. Already in the morning the cars gathered at the Burkliplatz were impressive with Alpine A110, Lancia Flaminia, Facel Facellia, Alfa-Romeo Giulia SS, collections of Jaguar XK and E-Types, Porsche 356 and 914 and even a Citroen DS transporter with a Dino 246 GT loaded. If you want my opinion, they could do this every day!

Great Classic Car weekend with wonderful weather

This was really a classic car weekend. Not that I am aware of any famous meeting or gathering, it was just great weather and obviously many classic car fans thought so and took their car for a ride. I spotted several E-Types, Alfa-Romeo Spiders, Triumphs and many other more or less rare classics and apparently everybody enjoyed his drive! Good so!

Oldtimer Sunday Morning in Zug - great variety and really rare cars

Finally I found the time again to visit the Oldtimer Sunday Morning Meeting in Zug. It usually takes place on the first Sunday during the summer months. Usually there's a special topic, today it was "Alfa-Romeo - cuore sportivo". And with probably 100+ Alfas there was a great selection ranging from Giulietta Spiders, to GTAs and other rare types. There was even an Alfasud, that many of you probably remember. I also found quite a selection of Lancias. What really makes this meeting special is that there's everything at one place. You can see Volkswagen Beetles side by side with a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso or an ASA race car. And you can find big American classic cars, Italian and English cars just sitting side by side. It's all about bringing your car and watching all the others. It's a lot of fun.

Passion shows also in the rain - GP Mutschellen 2010

This year's GP Mutschellen really didn't have a lot of weather luck. 10 degrees of Celsius and rain the whole day, that's not what you wish for if you organize an event like the GP Mutschellen. Depsite of this, lots of exciting and also really rare cars showed up and drove the 1'500 meters up the hill. The "track" was quite entertaining with two hairpins and long swiping straights. The rain made the road slippery, but that sort of adds to the excitement. A few cars suffered under the rain, didn't start or had other problems, but that's probably what you would expect. Thanks and congrats goes to the organizers having their time schedule under control, cheering up the spectators and making sure there was enough hot coffee at the hill climb.

Picture of the Week - Alfa-Romeo Montreal V8

This weeks picture shows a detail of the Alfa-Romeo Montreal.
The Montreal was presented in 1970 in Geneva and was produced until 1977, a total of 3'917 cars left the factory. The design was done by Bertone/Gandini and it is certainly impressive, even today. However the highlight of the car is the V8 engine that came more or less directory from the Alfa-Romeo 33 Stradale sports racer. In the Montreal it had 2593 ccm. The 90 degree V8 received its fuel through a SPICA fuel injection, delivered 197 hp and was coupled to a five speed ZF gearbox. With all this technology performance was certainly up to the standard in the early 70ies. Handling was apparently less of a buying factor also because with 1'270 kg the car was quite heavy for its time. Despite the great design and the race bread engine prices for used Montreals are low, especially if you compare it with other cars of that time. But maybe, this will change.

Everyday Classics - example Porsche 911 SC G-Model

Classic cars are often said to be "heavy maintenance" compared to "low maintenance" of modern cars. That's why most people use classic cars only for the sunny and dry days and keep them in a warm garage for the rest of the time. However there are a number of classic cars that often also get used like everyday cars. A typical example is the Porsche 911, pictured here the G model (built between 1973 and 1989). Many of these cars still get driven every day and maintenance bills are not higher than if you drive a modern equivalent. Other examples are the SL series from Mercedes-Benz, be it the R113 or even more the R107 (280 SL, 300 SL, 350 SL, 380 SL, 420 SL, 500 SL, 560 SL). Also some of the Jaguars get used every day and many sport limousines from BMW, Mercedes, Alfa-Romeo or other car manufacturers still help their owners to get through the daily traffic. That's good, as so we keep remembering them and the streets don't look so dull showing only silver and black aerodynamic wonders passing by.

Select your car of the year 1967

In the year 1967 the German magazine "Hobby" asked its reader to select their "car of the year". What is interesting is the choice offered, sort of a preselection. They had three categories based on engine size. In the "small" section you will find a lot of cars that people barely remember today. Cars like Autobianchi Primula Coupé, Simca Sportscoupé 1200 S, Sunbeam Imp Californian, NSU Sport-Prinz Coupé, Renault Caravelle, Bond Equipe GT or Matra Jet 5 are rare finds on today's roads and even at oldtimer meetings. I would reckon that people today don't recognize half of the cars on the first picture any more. Only the Alpine 1100 Coupé, VW 1500 Karmann-Ghia, Fiat 124 Sport Coupé and Lancia Fulvia probably are cars many people would remember.
With the bigger cars it's a bit easier. Less known cars here are probably Reliant Scimitar, Glas 3000 V8, Bristol 409, Alfa-Romeo 2600 SZ or Fiat 2300 S Coupé. The kings of the road of 1967 like the Jaguar E-Type, Iso Grifo, Maserati Mistral, Maserati Ghibli, Lamborghini Miura or Mercedes-Benz 280 SL probably are still in the memory of any car interested person having lived in the 60ies or even later.
So, what would my pick today? In the first group Alpine Coupé, Lotus 46 Europe, Honda S800, Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior and Matra Jet 5 would be candidates for the win and if I had to choose one it would be the Matra Jet 5 as it was a very innovative car with a mid mounted engine and fiberglass body and it's extremely rare today. Plus it was successful in racing too. In the large car category my winner would be the Lamborghini Miura, a car that I really adore.
Interesting at the side is the fact that Hobby didn't include the regular Aston Martin DB5 but rather a designer version.

Can Pininfarina's Alfa 2uettottanta beat the old Alfa-Romeo Fastback Spider 2000?

Pininfarina presented the 2uettottanta, kind of an Alfa-Romeo Spider in the tradition of the beloved fastback spider of the 70ies and 80ies.
It's an impressive design and the car looks really sharp. The whole thing makes the impression as if production could start tomorrow. Not many prototype and concept car gimmicks, stuff you actually could build today.
Would I buy one?
The old Fastback Spider 2000, built around the end of the 70ies is one of my alltime favorites. I tried two times to buy one, but never really was successful for various reasons. It's one of the first convertibles I drove and I loved the slick gearbox, unmatched by most modern cars. The sound of the engine was like music and you enjoyed every double clutch gear change. The car was very easy to use too with its simple roof that you could bring down with one hand and without the need of an armee of electric motors. With 127 hp or so the performance was more than satisfactory thanks to the low weight.
I actually still would love to own one of these, maybe one day ....
Coming back to the 2uettottanta, would I buy one of these if they put it on the market? Maybe, but in all honesty, I would prefer the old car (once again).

Great choice of individualist's Limousines in 1980 - Citroen, Alfa-Romeo, Saab, Rover and Lancia

In 1980 there was quite a choice when you wanted to buy a limousine. You could go for a Mercedes E or BMW 5 Series just as today, but there were also some really individualistic limousines available if you didn't want to swim with everybody else. Auto Motor und Sport assembled this nice group of five cars: Alfa-Romeo Sei, Lancia Gamma i-e, Rover 3500 V8 S, Saab 900 Turbo and Citroen CX 2400 GTI. This gave you a choice of very different shapes, but also a broad range of engine technologies. The Alfa-Romeo 6 came with a V6 and six Dell'Orto carburetors, the Citoen had a straight four cylinder engine with fuel injection, the Rover was propelled by the ex-Buick V8 with SU carburetors, the Lancia had a four cylinder boxer engine with Bosch L-Jetronic and the Saab 900 Turbo had a Turbo aspirated straight four cylinder. While the engine choice was quite diverse, the power output was quite comparable, ranging from 130 to 158 hp. 0-100 km/h could be reached in 9.4 to 10.9 secs. Top speed was 192 to 202 km/h. The Rover and the Alfa were fastest thanks to the superior engine power output. Interestingly the Rover was the most fuel efficient car with 13.6 l/100 km despite the largest engine and the highest number of cylinders. None of the cars was all wheel driven, the Alfa and the Rover powered the rear wheels the others the front wheels. Roughly DM 27'000 to 31'000 had to be on your bank account if you wanted one of these cars, 2.5 to 3 times of what a Ford Fiesta Festival would have cost you then.
I guess we can only dream of so much individualism today!

What Sportscar to choose in 1961?

Here's another one of my "let's have a look into an old car magazine". This time, 1961, "hobby" asked the question, what classical sportscar you could pick. What is interesting is that out of the nine cars, actually four were British, two Italian and three German. Actually there's wasn't that much choice in 1961 if you wanted to buy an affordable sportscar, at least if you didn't want to include small production cars (e.g. TVR, Alpine, etc.) or top end sportscars (e.g. Jaguar XK, Aston Martin, Ferrari). Anyway if you read the test the conclusion is not that straight forward, too different are these cars and the prices as well. I probably would have chosen the Alfa Giulietta or the Porsche 1600 S then, despite the fact that I actually like the design of the MG A.

Best 10 car investment opportunities for 2010

In their current issue Octane proposed "The Smart Buys of 2010". There list includes the following ten cars that they expect to rise in value: Ferrari 550, Porsche 911 Turbo, Aston Martin DB7, Jaguar Mk1 3.4, Jaguar E-Type S1/S2 FHC, Lotus Elan, Aston Martin V8 Zagato, Aston Martin V8 Virage, Ferrari 308 GT/4 and Mercedes-Benz SL (R107). While I do agree with some of these cars as good candidates to gain in value, I think the list is very "UK focused" and misses a couple of exciting investment opportunities. So here's my list as an alternative:

(1) BMW M3 (E30) - great car for everyday and exciting track cars for the special occasions, not too many were built and there's lots of racing pedigree
(2) Porsche 924 Carrera GT - I wrote about this car before, it's clearly undervalued, was produced in very little numbers and has more racing pedigree than any Ferrari since the GTO
(3) Ferrari 308 GTB/GTS - I consider these cars as still undervalued especially in comparison with some of the 12 cylinders. These cars are great to drive and less expensive to own than the bigger cars and the design is just magnificent
(4) Mercedes SL (R07) - great classics, were built over 17 years, the last ones are not only reliable but also inexpensive to own. They are not rare in comparison, but they even have catalyst converters and therefore can be driven even in protective cities
(5) Alfa-Romeo GTV 6 - again an instant classic with an unbelievable soundtrack. Not that expensive to buy, but some money is needed for maintenance. Many have disappeared appreciating the value of the remaining cars.
(6) Lotus Esprit S2, S2.2, S3 - great and fairly revolutionary shape in the 70ies, thanks to Giugiaro. S2.2 very rare, but even S2 and S3 reached small numbers in comparison to other classics. Inexpensive to own if it's a well sorted one.
(7) BMW M1 - as close to a race car as you can get. It was developed to win in racing, the road going sportscar was sort of a by-product, less than 500 cars produced make it very rare. Prices are climbing quickly though. A few years ago I was offered a M1 for less than € 50'000, now they are twice to three times this price level
(8) TVR 3000M/Taimar/3000 S - easy to own and maintain british sportscar, low number produced, especially in LHD. You can't go wrong if you buy a well sorted one
(9) Lotus Elite - less popular than the ever loved Lotus Elan, but actually much more nimble, exclusive and much closer to racing than its successor. The Elite competed in Le Mans successfully and the road car was fairly close to what the guys were using there. Prices are not too much higher than for good Elans but you get a Climax engine and lots of engineering ideas from Colin Chapman. Not a car for everybody though. But the shape is just exquisite, especially for a car of its size
(10) Aston Martin DB7 - okay, I had to take one of these onto the list. Not that it's really a great car in terms of technology and engineering, but the design is so much better than most alternatives you can buy for the same money that it's worth being considered.

So, that's the list, and of course there are many that could be added. And remember: if bought only for making money, probably none of them will bring enough interests due to all the cost that come with owning an exclusive car. But if you include your passion and pleasure in the equation, then you can forget oil, gold, platinum or any other investment ....

What's wrong with the Alfa Romeo 8C?

The Alfa-Romeo 8C is certainly one of the design master pieces of the last decade. It's gorgeous, no doubt. It was the star at many car shows and it's probably on the wish list of many many Alfisti waiting to win in the lottery. Despite the fact that only 500 cars (Coupés) were produced and got distributed "by hand", it is not difficult to buy one today. I would estimate that roughly one fifth of all the cars are on the market currently. Only looking at three online classifieds platforms I already found more than 50 and quite a big share actually being offered from the UK. So what's wrong with this car? Maybe it's not the car, but the financial crisis. But even if that's the case, listening to people who know or should know, the car is not really a "low maintenance" toy. And in my eyes it got way too expensive. It was initially "announced" for less than 100k € and finally was sold for at least 50% more than this. The convertible version is with more than 200k € even more expensive. Maybe, together with the rather average handling (see for example the TopGear test, see 4:00 and later), it was just too much? I am sure there would be a market for such a car in the 70-90 k€ segment, maybe with a smaller and lighter six cylinder engine (not the Holden/GM version, please) and with less carbon fiber and electronic gimmicks. I would probably put my name on the list. But not for 200k € plus and knowing it's some sort of a prototype where you are the test driver. For this it's way to complicated.

The Alfa Romeo GTV 6 - best post-80ies Alfa soundtrack

The Alfa Romeo GTV had been around for quite some time when they decided to put the 6 cylinder from the Alfa Sei into it. And this totally changed the car and its positioning.
The Alfa Romeo GTV 6 was directly competing with the contemporary smaller Porsches and for example the Renault-Alpine A310. The price point was set at around half the value of a Ferrari 308 GTB, so it was somewhat affordable.
The Alfa Romeo GTV 6 is a car where the engine is (almost) everything. And what an engine this was! In the GTV 6 disguise it developed roughly 160 HP, featured a fuel injection and produced an unbelievable soundtrack. Different to other cars where you need to wind down the windows this soundtrack is always extremely present also in the interior and reason enough, not to order a stereo for this car. Why should you? The rest of the car was okay but not really great. The transmission mounted in transaxle setting was difficult and not exact to operate. Breaks and suspensions were acceptable but not really performance car like. The interior was improved against the older GTVs but still much less attractive than for example what came from the UK at this time or even partially from Germany.

But as a package it was a great car and the reviews from the different car magazines were quite positive, again especially for the engine. Fuel consumption was quite low too, performance with roughly 8 seconds from 0-100 km/h and 220 km/h top speed pretty competitive during the early 80ies. There was a kind of Mark 1 and a Mark 2 (with more plastic and some improvements). It was built between 1981 and 1986. Rust and corrosion were still a topic but less so than for the years before. The car sold quite well.
I haven't yet owned a GTV6, but it's one of the 80ies Alfas to consider and I believe there hasn't been one since then (maybe with the exception of the outrageously expensive 8C) that sounded as well as the GTV6.

30 years ago - looking back to 1980 motoring events - the birth of the Audi Quattro

Soon we will have a 2010 on our calendars and therefore it's a good moment to look back 30 years to understand what actually 1980 brought to the motoring world and what cars qualify as "oldtimers" in the coming year.
The biggest sensation of 1980 most probably was the Audi Quattro. It was not the first 4x4 for every day (the Jensen FF was before), but clearly the one that made 4x4 relevant for the sportscar manufacturers. Interestingly the competition didn't see the point. Mind that it took Audi until 1984 to win both rallye world championship titles, in the two years before they won either the drivers or the manufacturers title, while the competition (i.e. Opel Ascona 400, Lancia 037, etc.) was still on rear wheel drive. Mercedes for example didn't at least see any reason to also build 4x4 street cars, as they claimed that ABS is good enough, 4x4 is not needed. Audi thought differently and not only created a brand (Quattro), but also did a lot of pioneering steps for preparing the market. By the way, only the Japanese followed immediately and partially quite successfully.
1980 was also a year where fuel economy and cheap cars were trendy, creating an open market for the Fiat Panda.
And 1980 also was the year were more and more manufacturers finally switched from rear wheel drive to front wheel drive. Opel had done it the year before already with the Opel Kadett, Ford was following in 1980 with the Ford Escort.
Also the Renault Fuego was front wheel driven and a successful attempt to replace the not really loved R15 and R17.
When you go through 1980 catalogs to see what (attractive) cars were sold in that year you will find also:
Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce 2000
Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint Veloce 1.5
Alpine-Renault A310 V6
BMW 323i
Citroen 2CV 6 Spécial
Ferrari 308 GTB/GTS
Lamborghini Urraco P300
Lotus Esprit S2
Maserati Khamsin 4900
Reliant Scimitar GTE
Saab 99 Turbo 2
TVR 3000 S (although they were only built in 1978-1979)

But it was also the time of cars such as:
Austin Allego 1500 Special
Datsun Cherry GL Hatchback 120 A
Ford Granada 2800 Ghia$
Lada Niva 1600
Mitsubishi Sapporo
Opel Senator 3000 CD
Zastava 1100 Super
Much fewer people will remember these cars and they rarely make it to classic car auctions, but maybe this now will change.

Anyway it is stunning that for example the Lamborghini Urraco was priced at 5 times the cost of a Volkswagen Golf GL 1500, and for the Lotus Esprit you could have bought 4.5 Golfs. Today, no Lambo is available below 8 Volkswagen Golf equivalents, while at least the small Lotus are in reach for a Golf buyer (at 2-3 times the Golf price).

What actually is Handling? And does it equal fun?

The other day I discussed with a friend of mine what Handling actually means. He did a bit of research and found a "definition" in a 1996 CAR magazine issue. They spelled out five criterias then:
1. Grip: absolute lateral grip does matter. Tackling a corner fast is more fun than tackling it slowly
2. Steering: A good steering gives crisp, accurate response at the start of a corner and then responds proportionally afterwards. As the front tyres get a greater cornering load, the steering should weight up, gaining more self-centring force. Then, as the front tyres begin to slide, the steering should get lighter, so you know what's going on. This is what "steering feel" is all about
3. Progression: The tyres should not grip completely and then suddenly let go. Their slip-angles should build up gradually to tell the driver what's going on
4. Controllability: Even at the limit, when there's no more grip to be had, the car should respond crisply to inputs from steering and throttle, and in the steady state it should be balanced - understeer or oversteer should not predominate. Throttle response should be progressive and predictable
5. Stability: the car should not be thrown off its line by bumps. Under braking the car should follow the bidding of the steering wheel, rather than tramlining, or being deflected by the road's bumps and cambers

A bit later in 2002 Road & Track described "handling" this way:
"Handling is really the sum of the driver and the vehicle. The driver provides the input and the vehicle responds with feedback. Without an easy way to characterize the driver, we are left to study the vehicle response, or the vehicle dynamics".
They also went back to a guru of handling of the 50s, who put forward the following criteria:
1. Steering response to be fast and well damped, with the car showing minimum roll angle and roll/yaw coupling
2. Steering ratio appropriate for the speed range and adequate for emergency maneuvers
3. Smooth steering control force with progression in normal driving, definite on-center feel and moderately fast return
4. Minimum steering backlash, springiness and shake
5. Minimum change in car direction, pitching and control response with road roughness
6. Modest aerodynamic and tyre/road steady-state stability over speed range
7. High side forces, or ultimate cornering adhesion
8. Satisfactory skidding characteristics: adequate skid warning, gradual rear breakaway and easy natural recovery
9. Minimum change in behavior with braking and acceleration

Now it's quite funny to read this when you think it comes from the 50ies and you mentally compare an early Austin Healey with let's say a Nissan GTR.

But this brings me actually to another point: We probably all agree that the handling of modern car is superior to what we had in the 60ies or 70ies, there's been a lot of progress and it's amazing how fast you can corner these days thanks to modern tyres, suspension design and electronics. But, does better handling also mean more fun? Does handling actually equal fun? Is a modern Audi R8 really more exciting to drive than let's say a Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA?
You know what I will say. My answer is "no". Old cars offer in my eyes much more entertainment at a fairly safe speed. Taking one of my older race cars on a track like the Salzburgring is great fun and cutting the lap time in half isn't making it really better.

The 2010 Alfa Romeo Giulietta - it's not called Milano

Alfa Romeo has just announced the 2010 Alfa Romeo Giulietta, formerly known as Milano (or maybe 149). I am very glad, they changed their opinion and actually didn't call the car Milano. As some of my readers may remember, the JWF Milano GT, built from 1962 to 1969 already used this name. And most people who know the car refer to it as "the Milano". So by Alfa changing the name, there's no confusion anymore. Good!
Looking at the new Giulietta - yes, we also had this name before, but at least with an Alfa - it looks quite okay to me, though I don't really like these headlights. From an engineering point of view it's yet another re-bodied Fiat-Lancia-something, as most of the recent Alfa Romeos have been. Sad. Well, at least most of them and specifically the 8C sitting on the Maserati mechanics are good looking cars. But why can't we have something that matches what was the Alfa Romeo Giulia as we loved it in the 60ies?

Looking for an Oldtimer - lots of choices

When a car turns 30 years old, then it's called an "Oldtimer". In Switzerland it's called a "Veteran". Being 30 years makes a lot of things easier (in Switzerland, but also many other European countries). You can apply for special number plates, cheaper insurance and you only need to go to the Swiss equivalent of MOT every six years, assuming the car is in good shape and original configuration. Now an interesting question is what cars would fit this scheme in 2010, ready for being used in the next season. Here a couple of examples, coming from the used car section in one of the online platforms:

• Lancia Gamma
• Alfa-Romeo Spider 2000 Veloce
• Alfa-Romeo Alfasud Sprint Veloce
• Puma 1600 GTE
• Lotus Esprit Turbo
• Triumph TR7
• Porsche 911 SC
• Mercedes 280 SL/SLC
• Fiat Ritmo Abarth
• Mazda RX7
• Ford Escort RS 2000
• ...

The list goes on. Some of these cars cost less than USD 10'000.-, so are truly affordable. And some will most probably gain value over the next 10 to 20 years. If you pick the right one, you are not only welcome in many Oldtimer event you actually may make more money with it than with alternative investment possibilities. And certainly you will have more fun.

Picture of the week - Alfa-Romeo 8C 2600

Unusual, rarely seen, an Alfa-Romeo 8C 2600 in white, well not completely. It's a Swiss vintage racing car, so the colors are red and white. This one drove at the 2009 Arosa Classic in the competition class and mastered the 7.9 km long hillclimb in 5:53. Not bad for a 70 years old car. Most of the younger cars actually were slower.