By Sean Smith and Pete Vack
Color photos by Sean Smith
Sean Smith has already written about one of Alfa’s latest offerings, the almighty Quadrifolio (Read road test). This month, Smith reviews the rest of Alfa’s current offerings, beginning with the 4C below. In the next two week’s he’ll try out the new Giulia and the Stelvio.
Alfa’s Sport Coupes – older than you think
It is, like many things Alfa, about tradition. As we all know, sport coupes are a tradition with the company. But how far back can that particular convention be traced? To the famous Le Mans coupes from the late 1930s? No, go back further.
If there is such a thing as automotive DNA, this is the ancestor of the Alfa 4C, a mid-twenties RL with unknown British coachwork.
The Merosi designed RL was a favorite of coachbuilders. While researching photos for his still-handy book, Alfa Romeo Milano, Micheal Frostick came up with this RL bodied by an English firm in the mid 1920s. But he didn’t know what firm. But it was definitley a sport coupe. Readers?
In 1931 Touring came with this 8C sport coupe and entered it in the Mille Miglia.
Sport coupes were not usually road going, but usually set up for races like the Mille Miglia 8C above, and the 6C Pesacara series below.
Attractive two door coupe bodies were fitted to the 6C2300 Pescara chassis in about 1936, again by Touring.
The Ultimate Sport Coupe
The postwar Alfa coupes, both competition and street, are fairly well known and carried on the tradition of racing road going sports cars with fixed top. As readers of VeloceToday are very aware, in 1967 a true icon appeared in the form of the Franco Scaglione penned 33 Stradale, his roadgoing vision of the Tipo 33 race car. To many this was the most beautiful car ever created: brutish and elegant at the same time, a masterful mix of line and curve.
The T33 Stradale by Scaglione. Jonathan Sharp photo.
The Alfa 4C
Cute, modern, chic. But a Scaglione?
Today, Alfa is at it again in the form of the 4C. Taking styling cues from the 33, it’s not living in the past or a modern revival of the older car, but does carry on the line, quite effectively. Yet the 4C is a stand-alone machine.
But the proof, as alway with Alfas, is in the driving.
The one-piece, carbon-fiber monocoque chassis is the perfect platform for the mid mounted four cylinder, 1.7 liter turbo charged, 237hp engine. Not a big number, but the weight of the whole car is not a big number: 2,500 pounds. So you’re not left in the back of the pack, you escape stationary on your way 60 in 4.1 seconds and can reach a license-removing night in jail at 160mph—if you dare.
Rare today, a real sports car.
The 4C is a true Sports Car. Those are the two words you need to remember, Sports Car. There aren’t many of them today. We have family movers, GT machines, and Hyper cars. The 4C is a Sports Car. It’s small, noisy, and inconvenient.
At speed, the Alfa is a total driver’s car.
You can choose how the car responds to you by a small silver switch in the center console. When you change from Normal to Dynamic mode the grey and white, video-game dash changes from grey and white to red and white, and the tach glows yellow when you get near the limit: welcome to the modern age. Nonetheless the 4C is still a total driver’s car. You feel very much a part of the machine. The handling is sharp and fast, and the dual clutch shifts as fast as you can flick your fingers.
This might take some getting used to.
So you may not have great rearward visibility. To quote Franco from the movie Gumball Rally, “The first rule of Italian driving: what’s behind you is not important!” The 4C’s paltry trunk just barely holds a small bag and a credit card for your weekend outing. But you will want to drive it off on an adventure, no matter its shortcomings.
Overnight luggage only.
I’ve heard people complain that there’s no good place to put their mobile phone between the seats, and the cup holders are not up to standards. Did Tazio Nuvolari worry about where he would put his mobile phone in his Alfa P3? Nope… oh, yeah, wait, they weren’t invented yet. Did Benjamin Braddock pull his Alfa Duetto into a Starbucks while on his way to kidnap Mrs. Robinson’s daughter from her wedding so they could run away together? Nope. Starbucks—imagine this!— didn’t exist either—and the Duetto had no cup holders—and he didn’t want to lose the girl.
What, no space for Starbucks and iPhone?
That brings me back to the Alfa 4C… did I mention it’s a Sports Car? Turn your phone off, forget about that three-shot, low-foam, extra caramel, medium macchiato in a large cup. Just shut up and drive!
You’ll have more fun than you can stand.
Over the past 45 years of driving Alfa Romeo automobiles somewhat exclusively well over one million miles, (not kilometers !)…there is but a single Alfa Romeo that exceeds the level of motoring intoxication that the current 4C skillfully conveys…and that single solitary Alfa would be the 105 chassis Giulia 1600 Ti with 45 mm Weber carburetors. The 4C captures every high honor in the pantheon of post World War II production car designs, surpassing the emotional excitement of all of the present Alfa automobiles you and I currently and lovingly drive…except the ‘ugly duckling’ Giulia of 1965.
The T33 Stradale is indeed a thing of great beauty, and appropriately matched by its marvellous 2-litre V8 capable of 8,000 revs. It’s good to know that some are still in existence, including five concept cars in the Alfa-Romeo Museum, and that they are apparently a source of inspiration to Alfa’s current designers.Though rarely sold, it’s no surprise estimated a likely price of one would be $10 million.
Thanks for this story on the 4C, but aren’t they out of production, or soon to be? I hope there’s a replacement in the works. We are left with the Miata, which needs more motor and the Honda S2000, long out of production. Unlike the major auto makers/sellers in the US, it’s nice Alfa made/exported this car and knew all along it would not generate big sales numbers, but would be a true enthusiast’s car.
On Saturday April 21st My son and I set out for the old spider tour though central Oregon in my 1967 Duetto,(Hot 2 litre motor and 4:10 Diff plus a few other speed and handling goodies) he told me I was too old to drive on these “tours” so I said you drive! We hovered around the century mark on the speedo for most of the tour, passed a new Giulia Sedan and one of the New SUVs plus a few others but it was unfair as most of the Alfas had Lady navigators who I noticed had their heads turned toward the driver like maybe they were giving some valued instructions! We had a great time, however I later heard that the county sheriff had given out some $1000.00 tickets to some crotch rockets that were running 140 mph, we missed out on that also! So don’t tell anybody that Central Oregon has some of the best two lane roads and some of the nicest unmarked Police cars in the world. If you read Keith Martins weekly blog you might see a picture of the back of our heads!
I have had a soft spot in my heart (and an empty hole in my wallet) for Alfa Romeo since I was a young teenager. My only current Alfa is a 1986 GTV6, and although the Alfetta years were not the high spot of Alfa Romeo’s production quality, it is hard to beat the GTV6 for handling, sound, and technology. Alfa has been making beautiful and fascinating cars since well before the second World War, but thanks to Orazia Satta Puliga and Giuseppe Busso, they became accessible after the war, and yet were still full of excitement for their owners. I would be happy with any 1900, a Giulietta or 1600 Giulia spider, a 2600 Sprint or Spider, a Montreal–even an Alfasud Sprint! Alfa Romeo made cars that appealed to drivers. Luggage space and convenience items were unimportant, and that’s alright.
I have loved Alfa Romeos since my first one in 1961, a white Giulietta. Many have come and gone over the years but I have never been wthout one for very long. My current 4C Launch Edition is by far the best and most fun. Some times I just have to go out to the garage and see if it is really that beautiful and I am never disappointed.
Same here about Alfa Romeo. My daily driver is a 2017 Giulia and this weekend I pick up a 1970 Giulia Super that I just bought. Can’t wait! But I definitely wish for the opportunity to drive a 4C some day – have heard they are awesome.
I don’t believe that the 4C is out of production. The odds are that you will not be able to pick one up out of inventory. The car would have to be ordered. What a great, focused car!
I have a ’74 GTV2000 and it’s a light and responsive joy at speed on a country road. Just waiting for the 4C’s to drop a bit before I get serious about buying.
Mine is a ’65 Giulia Super but boy is Little right! I love all my Alfas but there’s something special about a sports car that can carry 5 people and a weeks worth of luggage and still makes you hoot on country roads.