A Wise Old Man Once Told Me About An Alfa Romeo

It's been a long, long time since Alfa Romeo had a serious new car presence in the U.S., and we've been teased and teased over the years to the point of near-explosion. The whole brand itself is on life support, but Fiat's fearless leader Sergio loves Alfa to pieces.

Sergio Marchionne loves Alfa Romeo because of The Graduate. He was a "young idiot" in Canada and fell hopelessly in love with this flawed car and this flawed marque. He's had a career to rationalize Alfa while at Fiat and the fact it doesn't have much new product suggests there's no solid business case for the badge. Yet, anyway. Sounds like he's willing to wait, which is good.

b33g33 listened to a trio of old men, although they're often unwise:

The one good thing about romantic old men (with or without boners) is that they generally don't give a damn about what anyone else thinks.

I have a soft spot for Alfas, and yet, I've never driven one. I can only go by what people who have driven them tell me about them. My father reviewed a 164 for his newspaper column in the early '90s. He complained that the dash was covered in similarly-sized buttons that had no discernible markings. He hated his oddities. But I knew he liked driving it.

This proves that, on occasion, old guys know things us young kids don't.

Photo: IMCDB.org