1985 Alfa Romeo Graduate, With Bonus Italian DOTS Poll

Murilee Martin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EDT

Italian cars have been mighty rare in this series, so I was pleased to run across this '85 Alfa Romeo Graduate parked in the island's East End. I see this car moving under its own power on a regular basis, so it's a genuine driver (not just someone's hopeless Hell Project).

We've seen an '89 Graduate already in this series, but the 1985 was the first year for the "entry-level" version of the Alfa Romeo Spider and that makes this example seem more significant.

You didn't get alloy wheels or luxury goodies when you bought a Graduate in '85, but you did get a real Italian sports car for just $14,395 (two grand more than the V6-powered Fiero GT). Which would you buy?

It's in pretty decent shape for a street-parked 23-year-old Italian commuter car. Good enough shape to win our first-ever Favorite Italian DOTS car poll? Let's find out! I thought of including the Pininfarina-styled Datsun 411 and MGB-GT in the choices, but decided against it.

DOTS 1-200 • DOTS 201-250

1989 Alfa Romeo Graduate

Murilee Martin — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:00:00 EST

Now that we're in an 80s mood, let's keep our Members Only jackets and Vuarnet shades on for one more day! By 1989, Alfa Romeos just weren't flying off the showroom floors (though we can assume they were limping into the dealerships' service bays). In what appears to have been a desperation move, the Alfa marketing wizards decided to capitalize on that really popular Dustin Hoffman movie, swapping out the "Spider" emblems for "Graduate" ones on their North American cars. After all, while the Alfa in the film runs out of gas, it doesn't actually experience any mechanical problems.

Sadly, the rebranding move wasn't so successful, and Alfa Romeo retreated- temporarily- from North America just a few years later.

I wish I could find more street-parked old Italian cars on the island, but (other than the '66 Lancia) all we've got is a few Graduates. I've seen some more exotic Italian machinery roaring around the island's streets, but all of it seems to live in garages.

This car serves as somebody's daily driver, which is medium-impressive for a nearly-20-year-old Italian car.

Jalopnik: graduate

1985 Alfa Romeo Graduate, With Bonus Italian DOTS Poll

DOTS 1-200 • DOTS 201-250

1989 Alfa Romeo Graduate

First 200 DOTS Cars