Malaysian fans celebrate 100 years of Alfa Romeo

keshy

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Alfa Romeo turns 100 years old this year and it has been quite a century for the Italian marque. Like most car makers of its age, Alfa had a turbulent few years, went through some change of ownership, made some machinery for the war effort, raced and put some big boys to shame and ended up being one of the most successful brands in history. And it's quite a story.



Starting off life as Società Anonima Italiana Darracq in 1906, the early cars were put together by a French automobile manufacturer by the name of Alexandre Darracq. The Frenchman was financed by some powerful and wealthy Italian investors.

The company that will one day be called Alfa Romeo was first based in Naples, Italy, but soon relocated to Milan under Darracq’s orders. A new factory was built there but come 1909, cars under the Darracq brand were not seeing good sales and a solution was needed, quick.



One Italian investor that had earlier financed Darracq, rounded up a new bunch of investors and initially in partnership with Darracq, founded Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili or better known to you and me as A.L.F.A. The company went on to hire a new designer to win over the hearts of Italian motorists and ventured into motor racing for the first time. Then came World War I.

In those turbulent times, the company came under the guidance of a Neapolitan entrepreneur by the name of Nicola Romeo. The company then began producing military equipment in the form of ammunition, aircraft engines, compressors and other military hardware for the Italian and Allied war efforts. After the war was over, Mr.Romeo invested all his proceeds from the war into acquiring locomotives and carriages and increased his ownership of A.L.F.A.



Initially there were no plans to build cars, but car building resumed again in 1919 after over 100 cars were laying around unfinished since 1915. In 1920, a year after production of cars began again, the company was officially christened Alfa Romeo.

In that very first year, the young company tasted its first success in motor racing with a win at Mugello with driver Giuseppe Campari, and that followed by a second place at the legendary Targa Florio driven by another legend by the name of Enzo Ferrari. Alfa Romeo enjoyed a few more years of motor racing success but in 1928, it all came tumbling down.



Nicola Romeo left when the company’s defense contracts ended and Alfa Romeo was officially broke. In 1932, Alfa Romeo was rescued by the government and went on to become a tool to Mussollini’s Italy and was considered a national emblem. In this period, Alfa Romeo produced bespoke cars for the fabulously wealthy but with its factory being bombed out of the ground during World War II, the company had to resort to building small, regular cars for the regular person after the war was over.



In the post war period, motorsports was back again and Formula One was introduced. Alfa Romeo was back in action in the F1 races and proved to be the car to beat, until the 70s when it all came tumbling down again. With the government unable to sustain the car maker, Alfa Romeo was sold to the Fiat Group in 1986, and since then, the legendary Italian car maker has came a long way.



Alfa Romeo’s once had a reliability problem but never had a problem with design, modern Alfa’s together with its older siblings have never ceased to turn heads thanks to their beautiful design lines. It is probably one of the only reasons why potential buyers could overlook the reliability issue. Modern Alfa’s are no longer what they used to be but retain their beauty and charm and add another feature in terms of all round usability and reliability.



100 years later, Alfa owners and fans are marking the centennial of a successful car maker and its remarkable ride through the pages of history. All across the globe, convoys and track days are being organized to mark a century of Alfa Romeo.



Alfa's may not be big here in Malaysia, and we usually get more classic Alfa Romeo's here than new ones but that's not to say there's no one that loves them. The Alfa Romeo owners club recently organized a drive up to Genting Highlands to celebrate the centennial and we were there at the starting line to catch some of the action. Invited by the editor of EVO magazine Malaysia, Chris Wee is also a huge Alfa Romeo fan and was part of the organizing committee that put together the drive.



When asked about the event, Chris had only this to say - “It’s really great to see the Alfa ‘cuore sportive (sporting heart) alive, well, and beating even stronger in the hearts of Alfisti in Malaysia.” We couldn’t agree more with Chris, however their cars may be today, it’s great to see a legendary carmaker that gave rise to great models and an icon in Enzo Ferrari celebrate 100 years of establishment.



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chimaera1855

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the red ferrari alfa 156 2.5 v6 belongs to KEVIN a friend of mine was detail by me the day before ahaha no wonder is on the pics. super shiny.MASTER GLAZE will make ur car sparkling.