My dad always had a thing for Italian cars,
and so growing up that seemed to be all we had. My mom drove a tiny red Fiat
that was terribly unreliable, but rather cute looking. We had a series of Alfas
and Lancias that were nice enough cars, but terribly built. The Italians seem
to have the concepts of how to build a 20th century automobile, but
none of the drive to actually do it properly. They design gorgeous cars,
tasteful interiors and some of the best engines around but when it comes to
making them, it is too much trouble. It’s easy to imagine middle-aged Italian
men in the 1980's standing around a small car plant, drinking wine, playing
bocce with lunch and not really caring if the car doors were bolted on
properly. There was a devil-may-care approach to manufacturing at the time.
Rust protection was also done in a haphazard way; most of the time it wasn’t
done at all. This led to cars rusting away in a matter of years. In fact, it’s
safe to assume that if you had bought a new Lancia in 1985 and left it outside,
the only things remaining today would be the 4 tires and a small pile of rust.
While
the cars had quirks and may not have been up to snuff in the quality
department, they had that Mediterranean spirit. Clearly, the Italians knew how
to build a truly excellent car, but they were not going to sacrifice their
personal happiness to do so, especially for some overseas buyer. This being
said though, when the cars worked, boy did they work - just about well enough
to make up for their faults. When we had a few Alfas and Lancias in the mid to
late 80's, they were driven everyday, but on some weekends in the summers I can
remember going to Italian car shows in them and simply putting the car on
display next to similar models. Because there were so few sold in England,
owners of both new and classic models wanted to get together to share their
passion for these vehicles.
It
is with regret that we can look back on the 1970's then, since up to that
point, both Alfa Romeo and Lancia had garnered their fair share of wins in
prestigious motor racing events and had proved themselves to be world class. They
were sporadically sold everywhere from California to Kuwait, although not in
large numbers anywhere but in the Mediterranean and nearby European countries.
Both manufacturers became part of the Fiat Automobile company, Lancia in 1969
along with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo in 1986. From the mid 1970's onward, Alfa had
been run by the Italian government in an attempt to save it from closing
altogether. With Alfa’s financial trouble and Lancia’s buyout by the
controlling and really stifling Fiat SPA, the products suffered not only in the
quality department but with innovation as well.
Mrs.
Robinson, Dustin Hoffman and a small red convertible made up Alfa’s entrance
strategy to the US market. The Spider, the primary car sold, was a big hit,
especially in California where the climate was perfect to preserve a car that
rusted quickly. A handful of other Alfa models and a tiny smattering of various
Lancias were sold across the US in the 1970's and 80's, but not in the numbers
needed to sustain sales. The waves of cheap imported cars from Asia were
killing the biggest American auto makers, so Fiat’s tiny entrance into the
market was withdrawn for a more opportune time.
Meanwhile
Fiat was diversifying into other fields and the extra cash flow trickled down
to the automobile divisions. Fiats were being made in China, Russia and
Argentina. Quality was recovering thanks to the revelation that unprotected
steel rusts in wet climates. Cars living up to the high standards from the
1960's are again pouring from the small factories in Italy. The mid-life crisis
of the Italian car industry seems to be over.
It’s
not too much of a surprise then, that Fiat is beginning to send out feelers
toward the only market it doesn’t currently sell in; this one. Since Alfa had
some foundations in the U.S., the hope seems to be that current buyers will
remember the good times, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Hoffman speeding
around southern California in their ads.