On a grey December day in England, an early '60s Italian sports car definitely lifts the mood. It doesn't need to be packing 12, eight or even six cylinders: four good ones will do, particularly when they have two chain-driven overhead camshafts to make them breathe freely, smoothly and deeply. Your day becomes even better when such sophistication comes attached to four or five well-spaced, slick-shifting ratios to make the best use of sweetly responsive torque and redlines of 6000rpm and above.
The beguiling Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider Veloce and Fiat 1500S Cabriolet - both cars styled and built by Pininfarina - summon up every cliché of the era of La Dolce Vita. I almost feel too lumpy and Anglo-Saxon to be quite at ease behind the wheel of either: they were designed to be driven by the slim, tanned and effortlessly good-looking people of the world of 1960s Italian brochures. These were attainable glamour machines, cars for gambolling along the sun-dappled roads of the Riviera or Lake Como that helped sell the dream of the modern Italian lifestyle to the world.
While the Fiat could be mistaken for a variety of pretty contemporary two-seaters, the 750/101-series Alfa Romeo Spider has a shape that encapsulates the essence of everything the marque is about, even today. People with no interest in old cars could identify this jewel-like two-seater as an Alfa Romeo.
With their wind-up windows, decent heaters and hoods that are the work of a moment to erect, both of these compact Italians seem much more civilised than their early '60s British equivalents. That said, it does not do to push such comparisons too far: at £1500 apiece in the UK in 1964, each of this suave duo was roughly double the price of an MGB or a TR4A.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 2022-Ausgabe von Classic & Sports Car.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 2022-Ausgabe von Classic & Sports Car.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Mick WALSH
'Had someone said that this worn-looking titan would win the most famous old-car event, we would have laughed'
ALFA ROMEO STELVIO QF
Rewriting the rulebook on what an SUV can do, and how it can make you feel
FLOATING INTO THE FUTURE
Citroën's DS-replacing CX was at a cutting edge so sharp it still looks fresh today, and it had the drive to match - as five superb survivors reveal
"It's a car for posing in really"
Broadcaster Michael Buerk reflects on more than three decades with his beloved Jaguar E-type S1 3.8 fixed-head coupé
HONDAS DECK THE HALL
The Japanese firm's Los Angeles collection is now on public display for the first time in two decades
ABSOLUTELY buzzing
Honda's Si Civics brought agile, cheap fun to motorists long before the Type R name got anywhere near a hatchback
THE FEMININE TOUCH
In 1955, General Motors styling guru Harley Earl brought 11 talented women into the male-dominated world of automotive design. What was their lasting impact?
Out on a limb
Panther's innovative Solo 2 was something completely different, both for its maker and the sports car market
Restyles with substance
Panther Westwinds blended a passion for pre-war designs with modern-era mechanical usability and remarkably fine coachbuilding
Dead ringers
The Maserati Kyalami and De Tomaso Longchamp share much, having emerged from the same stable, but are poles apart at heart