UNSUBSCRIBE DeLand Barnstormers Bill Willmeroth 1151 Carter Rd. DeLand, FL 32724 386-453-7576 [email protected]
> From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: alfa-digest V10 #2515 > Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:30:23 +0000 > > > alfa-digest Thursday, January 12 2012 Volume 10 : Number 2515 > > > > Forum for Discussion of Alfa Romeos, etc. > Richard Welty <[email protected]> > Digest Coordinator > > Contents: > > Re: [alfa] yech! > Re: [alfa] yech!.....On the other hand > Re: [alfa] yech!.....On the other hand > [alfa] administrivia: Powell's Books > > Alfa Digest Home Page: > > http://www.digest.net/alfa/ > > Send submissions to [email protected] > > Send administrative requests to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe, include the word unsubscribe by itself in the body of > the message, unless you are sending the request from a different address > than the one that appears on the list. Include the word help in a > message to alfa-digest-request to get a list of other majordomo > commands. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:45:04 -0800 > From: George Graves <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [alfa] yech! > > It's like I've been saying for about 10 years now. There is no more > Alfa Romeo. They are just badge-engineered Fiats. There's no more Alfa > DNA in them. Alfa Romeo, like Lancia before it, has been swallowed > whole. It's just a name. If they can re-badge an Alfa Giulietta as a > Dodge Dart what does that say about Fiat's commitment to Alfa Romeo as > a brand? It says that they don't care and it's just a name and that > name means nothing. Who gives a good goddamn? The Alfas we have are > real Alfas. We will never see their like again, and even if Fiat were > to sell the brand to someone else such as VW, the magic is gone, > everything that was Alfa Romeo is in a museum or in private hands. The > car company is 25 years gone. That's more than a generation and more > than generation kills any company's DNA. Ask the Bugatti Owner's Club. > > I've seen this same thing happen in other fields. In addition to my > Italian car jones, I'm also an audiophile. Years ago, there was a > great company called Fisher. They made really good high-end audio > equipment. In fact Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, NYC, was named > after the founder and president of Fisher Audio. When old man Fisher > died, the company folded and the name was sold to some smarmy > marketing company. Soon, cheap receivers and other components from > Korea started showing up at places like K-Mart with the name "The > Fisher" with the Fisher logo (a bird carrying a musical note in its > beak) emblazoned all over them. Were they really Fisher components? > No. Because in many cases, the exact same junk was also being sold > under the names "York" and "Emerson" and "Crosley" (Two more now > defunct American electronics company name). Was Marantz still Marantz > after old Sol Marantz sold the company to the Japanese? Today, after > passing through half a dozen hands, the name Marantz belongs to > Philips of the Netherlands and everything is designed in Japan and > built either in Japan or in China. There is no Marantz in Marantz > gear. Hasn't been for decades. > > So, how can a car called an "Alfa Romeo" be a real Alfa Romeo when > it's made by another company other than Alfa Romeo (a company which no > longer exists) who merely slaps that name on products that might just > as well be named "Fiat", "Lancia", or even "Dodge"? > > G. > > > On Jan 10, 2012, at 6:14 AM, ira kaufman wrote: > > > Dodge Dart - the Italian connection delivers a 40 mpg Alfa Giulietta > > rework > > -- > > to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi > > or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:23:43 -0500 (EST) > From: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [alfa] yech!.....On the other hand > > Italian engineering, and made in the USA under Italian management. Who > knows, maybe worth a look. I've driven several Fiat 500s a total of over 1000 > miles. I'd have one, but there is no room in the garage or driveway. (4 > Alfas, 2 P1800s, one 122 and an Axiom, not counting my wife's S60) > > > In a message dated 1/10/2012 2:45:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, > [email protected] writes: > > So, how can a car called an "Alfa Romeo" be a real Alfa Romeo when > it's made by another company other than Alfa Romeo (a company which no > longer exists) who merely slaps that name on products that might just > as well be named "Fiat", "Lancia", or even "Dodge"? > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:08:36 -0800 > From: George Graves <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [alfa] yech!.....On the other hand > > The car's worth as an automobile is not the point nor is it in > question. It may be excellent, certainly the Fiat 500 is an impressive > car with great engineering (that multi-air engine technology is > apparently a real advance in engine management). The point is that a > new Alfa is simply not an Alfa. It may be a great Fiat, but there is > no Alfa DNA in it and when the same car is being sold with several > different badges, what does the name mean any more? It's like the > original Mini. You could buy it as a Morris, an Austin, a Wolseley, a > Van den Plas or a Riley, but it was the same car. Oh, the Wolseley and > Riley may have had tail-fins that the Austin and the Morris versions > didn't have but other than that, they were exactly the same car just > as the Austin-Healey Sprite and the MG Midget were the same car. What > did this kind of "badge engineering" get BMC? Out of business, that's > what it got 'em. > > George Graves > '86 GTV-6 3.0 'S' > > > > > On Jan 10, 2012, at 12:23 PM, [email protected] wrote: > > > Italian engineering, and made in the USA under Italian management. > > Who knows, maybe worth a look. I've driven several Fiat 500s a total > > of over 1000 miles. I'd have one, but there is no room in the garage > > or driveway. (4 Alfas, 2 P1800s, one 122 and an Axiom, not counting > > my wife's S60) > > > > In a message dated 1/10/2012 2:45:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] > > writes: > > So, how can a car called an "Alfa Romeo" be a real Alfa Romeo when > > it's made by another company other than Alfa Romeo (a company which no > > longer exists) who merely slaps that name on products that might just > > as well be named "Fiat", "Lancia", or even "Dodge"? > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:30:02 +0000 > From: Richard Welty <[email protected]> > Subject: [alfa] administrivia: Powell's Books > > Other ways to support the digest > > Richard's Amazon wishlist: > http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/30PQXKZQN9GWX/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go > (there is more than one list on amazon, see the menu on the left). > > Powell's Books affiliate: > Krusty Motorsports (parent of digest.net) is affiliated with > Powell's Books, a highly regarded bookstore in the Pacific Northwest. > Use this link to access Powells and buy books, and it'll help: > > http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=25667 > > ------------------------------ > > End of alfa-digest V10 #2515 > **************************** -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
