start of F1

[crisis]

The Alfa Twin Cam was one of the sweetest engines !
Yes it was highly strung, needed to be serviced and maintained.
But if you want performance, it has to come with SOME cost.
Alfa's worst was the AlfaSud and again not because of the excellent boxer engine but due to rust.
Many cars of the late 70s/early 80s were similar - something was messed up in the European steel industry at the time
The reference back to Alfa's twin cam 50 years before that was jsut to point out the error in drawing a line and suggesting only the Japanese have copied and improved.
All nations and companies do !!
I'd recommend you try an Alfa, they are 'spirited' and a joy to drive ( and listen to )

A couple of the new ones look pretty good, I'll admit, but front wheel drive and the cost of them here means 'Ill be looking elsewhere.

[Alfahollic]

Alfa's worst was the AlfaSud and again not because of the excellent boxer engine but due to rust.

My dad is working on a sud at the moment and it has not a bit of rust, if you treat your cars nicely they last. Yes the sud, 33 and 146 boxer engines were very sweet.

The Peugeot Grand Prix car of 1913 had the first DOHC/4 valve engine, so the Italians have copied that!?

The history of Alfa Romeo actually started in France. Car manufacturer Alexandre Darracq started up a factory in Portello near by Milan. In this factory cars with one or two cylinder engines were build from parts imported from Paris. This project was not that succesfull as Alexandre Darracq hoped for and in 1909 he sold his factory to the Italian Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, shortly A.L.F.A.

[henk4]

It may please you that generally Alfa's worst is considered to be the Arna, which was a Nissan Sunny fitted with the Sud boxer.

[Matra et Alpine]

My dad is working on a sud at the moment and it has not a bit of rust, if you treat your cars nicely they last. Yes the sud, 33 and 146 boxer engines were very sweet.

Work colelague had a Sud and a 33 Cloverleaf.
The other thing I remembered is the gearchange.
When I first tried it, it was awful, very hard to get it into gear.
The gearchange seemed to not be very positive and hard to quickly change gear. He said that once you got used to it, it was VERY easy. Trying to force it never worked. But gentle guiding did. He was able to change up/down VERY quickly and sweetly.
In the TC and the boxer, Alfa always manage to make an engine sound 'nice'.
We used to joke that they must have an audio engineer on the design team who's job it is to make it sound right

[Matra et Alpine]

It may please you that generally Alfa's worst is considered to be the Arna, which was a Nissan Sunny fitted with the Sud boxer.

Was that in the days when it was DATSUN ?
They rusted as quickly as 'suds in the UK !!
Hence the name change

[henk4]

We used to joke that they must have an audio engineer on the design team who's job it is to make it sound right

Such engineers do exist, they have to develop the solid sound that a door makes when being closed.

[henk4]

Was that in the days when it was DATSUN ?
They rusted as quickly as 'suds in the UK !!
Hence the name change

You'r right about Datsun, whether the Arna actually induced the name change I don't know.

[Deckard]

We used to joke that they must have an audio engineer on the design team who's job it is to make it sound right

I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

In the same way that you can recognise a Ducati or Harley coming a mile away.
They both have a very distinct sound.

Actually, I heard a rumor that Harley have patented their "Hog" sound.

[NAZCA C2]

I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

In the same way that you can recognise a Ducati or Harley coming a mile away.
They both have a very distinct sound.

Actually, I heard a rumor that Harley have patented their "Hog" sound.

Actually Ferrari and many other car makers do have technicians that work to make their cars have a special sound.

[Matra et Alpine]

IActually, I heard a rumor that Harley have patented their "Hog" sound.

It's real.
The patent describes the sound as potato-potato

[Matra et Alpine]

Actually Ferrari and many other car makers do have technicians that work to make their cars have a special sound.

The SMARTEST audio solution I've ever heard was Lotus - at least 10 years ago.
They had experimented on sound cancellation for one of the big companies.
The idea being to use the audio system to compensate for road noise etc etc.
As a spin-off they had developed ( and I believe patented ) an audio system to GENERATE engine noise. Again using the audio system.
The engineeer was driving along the road and would switch from 4 cylinder to V8 to BIG V8 at the touch of a button. It used engine rev to drive the spectrum generator for the audio feed.
It was bloody impressive

[Deckard]

It's real.
The patent describes the sound as potato-potato

Sorry that's not exactly the "macho" image that Harley try and promote, is it???

[Matra et Alpine]

Sorry that's not exactly the "macho" image that Harley try and promote, is it???

It works for the vegetarian, gay bikers - the Harley target market

[Falcon500]

I work behind Alpine motors who specify in alfas puegots and other such crap...they fail to impress me by any standards! and ive seen one of the pugs blow more blooody blue smoke then ive ever seen in my life! ive seen race failures and they dont even compare to this!

[Alfahollic]

Work colelague had a Sud and a 33 Cloverleaf.
The other thing I remembered is the gearchange.
When I first tried it, it was awful, very hard to get it into gear.
The gearchange seemed to not be very positive and hard to quickly change gear. He said that once you got used to it, it was VERY easy. Trying to force it never worked. But gentle guiding did. He was able to change up/down VERY quickly and sweetly.
In the TC and the boxer, Alfa always manage to make an engine sound 'nice'.
We used to joke that they must have an audio engineer on the design team who's job it is to make it sound right

Its really not a hard thing to overcome the very sloppy feel to the gearbox in the boxers. Takes around 15 minutes and slight engineering knowledge to make a short shift kit. Raising the point where the selector joins the gearstick by 17mm with a new hole works wonders.