Industry Profile
Charis Whitcombe provides us with an in-depth interview of Alfa Romeo UK’s MD Christopher Nicoll. So what is his plan? “It’s very simple. We took the J.D. Power survey where we were consistently near the bottom, and invited J.D. Power to analyse the problem areas – such as parts delivery and warranty policy… we now have a 15-point plan, covering quality, service, the dealer network and so on.”

Alfa Romeo 147 Collezione
Steve Berry takes a limited edition 147 for a spin, courtesy of Mangoletsi. “I never fell in love with the Alfa 147. And I don’t think I’m alone. But I do believe I know why. There was nothing wrong with it.”

Arizona Gold
John Simister enjoys a fantasy trip to the US to try out the lightweight Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera: “Our line of Superleggeras is erupting into life, one by one. There’s no push-button starter gimmickry, just the usual key. It’s not the prodding of a button that should please the enthusiast but what happens after the starter is thrown out of engagement, and in this case it’s a whoop followed by a busy, uneven hum-burble just like that of a now obsolete V10-engined F1 car in the pits mid-race.”

French Blue
A rather tasty bit of old kit, in the form of a Maserati A6GCS, is track driven by our rather handy chief test driver, Roberto Giordanelli: “Health and Safety communists would demand a triple-layer Nomex race suit, full-race helmet and asbestos underpants. For a 1953 car I chose period race clothing, ie a Harris Tweed Jacket, cloth cap, goggles and brown brogues (only for day use, as gentlemen never wear brown shoes after 6pm.”

One that got away
An Alfa Romeo 1750 GT Prototipo is given the Auto Italia treatment by Johann Lemmercier: “The owner, Corrado Lopresto, who has since become a good friend of this magazine, has a thing about rare and unusual Italian machinery. Prototypes, coachbuilt one-offs and pedigree icons form the core of his impressive collection. . .”

Along came a Spider
Alfa Romeo’s Spider enjoyed a sunny UK launch party in Morocco, and Adam Swift and Michael Ward had the invitations: “We noticed that the Spider still has scuttle shake as soon as we hit the nearest Moroccan pothole, but it is far more resistant to body judder than its predecessor, and thanks to springing which is quite a bit softer than the Brera, it is the more enjoyable of the two cars to drive.”

Improving on Perfection
Roberto Giordanelli travels to southern Germany to try out a supercharged 636bhp Ferrari F430: “Picking up the pace on these German sweepers, the F430’s course can be plotted to the millimetre. Body lean is absent and it would take a full-blown race track slide to provoke any roll. The chassis and handling are simply fabulous.”

Fiat Strada Twin Cams
From the days when hot hatches were the new big thing, Auto Italia tracks down two of the finest fast Stradas in the UK. Richard Dredge writes: “The Strada Abarth story begins in May 1981, with the launch of the 105TC. The name gives a clue as to just how powerful it was; with 105 horses on offer from the twin cam ‘four’, the model was significantly more powerful than its greatest adversary, the Escort XR3i.”