One of my wisest friends has just bought a Bertone-bodied 1977 Alfa Romeo GTV that he owned at the time. It’s a car I’ve admired all its life, with styling that’s aged better than any other 55-year-old car I can think of – not something you can say about the Alfas that have come shortly after.
My mate left me behind the wheel for 20 minutes where fond memories of a nice mechanical shifter, an unhindered exhaust rasp near the 5700 rpm redline and a pedal hard and progressive brakes have been revived.
Many years ago I drove a GTV up the east coast of Australia (it was a 4400 mile round trip). Besides the joy of spending so much time in a great car, I especially remember this trip for the spirit of a local guy I met in my destination city of Cairns in Far North Queensland. We were both sitting on a seat facing the sea – me a proud arrival taking a breath of sea air, he a local resident who probably sat there every day.
“Where are you from, buddy? he asked, looking at me and my glitzy tourist Alfa with mild disgust. “I just drove from Sydney,” I said with what turned out to be a reckless level of city pride. “Sydney, huh? ” he said. “Who’s got the pub over there now?”
Wednesday
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-04-13 05:01:23
