Going Home to Arese!
This picture of my (Jurgen) red GTV6 was taken during a four-day scramble trip to Italy end of March, 1996. Eur had to visit a fair in Milano, and this seemed to us the perfect opportunity to pay a visit to the Alfa Romeo museum in Arese in the process. Furthermore, we had a mutual friend (although he did pull us a mean one, Alfa-wise... Read this to find out why) living at the Lago Maggiore with whom one can have a good beer so all in all we had ample reasons to fire up the GTV6 and zip down to Northern Italy!
From where I live on the coast in The Netherlands, all this amounts to a nice cross-Europe trip of some 2,600 km (1625m) in total through four different countries and three language area's. Long stretches of (partially non-speed limited) highway in Germany, some climbing stages in Switzerland and winding backroads and again stretches of highway in Italy (the latter do have speed limits, but nobody seems to care...) seemed like the perfect workout for my red 1983 GTV6 (which I imported from Switzerland, btw) with some 200k on the engine but still pulling it's weight. We hadn't even left The Netherlands when my twin plate clutch decided that it had had about enough of it. I knew the plates were getting rather thin, but this was a mean one it pulled on us! Anyway, we made it through the trip with little difficulties, other than that I could not suddenly slam the pedal to the metal because then I would have the familiar roar, but not the corresponding surge. A frustrating, somewhat crippled feeling I should say, not having the car's full acceleration potential at the ready. Nevertheless, it was hardly a problem to take it up to 215kmh (134mph) on the highways and keep it there.
Of course one can drive that fast in a GTV6 but that's not what makes this car what it
is. This was my first real long trip in the GTV6 and it has proven to be the great travel
companion I had expected it to be: smooth, fast, comfortable, versatile and reliable.
Fast-cruising at 170kmh (105mph) on the Autobahn in Germany when possible, sometimes
having to hold back, sometimes doing a little more left the car feeling rock-solid, with
power to spare (damn that clutch!). One can still hold a conversation at a normal decibel
level through the mobile phone with the respective girlfriends back in NL or have some
music on (or, like Eur, prepare a business presentation on a laptop in the passenger seat.
He complained about 'experiencing slight difficulties in hitting the right keys' above
180kmh (113mph)). In the mean time the GTV6 makes a comfortable car, stopping from time to
time to have a coffee or feed the Alfa (at $1.25/litre!) left us refreshed as ever and
makes long-distance travelling a real joy. The Alfa loves it too and purrs along at
5,000rpm in 5th for miles and miles on end as if there's nothing the beast
wouldn't rather be doing.
The Alps, thanks to the St. Gotthard tunnel (which is 17km (11mi) long) were bested in a mere two hours from Basel down to Lugano where we took a broad right to get to Ispra on the Lago Maggiore. At that time it was around midnight, and the small winding roads in Italy were abandoned. This gave me the opportunity to drive the GTV6 on the edge, on its home turf with the back settling in for fast corners on dark roads. This is great, exhilarating fun as invariably when in Italy, there are hardly any signs to warn you for corners or show you directions. We'd been there before a couple of times so knew the general lay-out and condition of the roads but got surprised once and again nonetheless. At one AM we sat down at our final destination with a cold beer, having driven some ten hours on end from The Hague in The Netherlands to Ispra in Italy. The GTV6, cooling down happily under the trees before the cafe, had proven to be more that worthy of its name: a true Gran Turismo Veloce!
The next two days we raced up & down the highway from the Lago Maggiore to Milano in great weather: sun, sun and more sun. On this particular highway (roughly Torino-Milano) there is invariably little room to spare, and everybody does over 150kmh (94mph) anyway, from the smallest Fiat to the biggest Alfa. The Italians, due to exorbitant high taxes imposed on engines over 2.0l never got that many GTV6es on their roads, so I found that my car was still a head-turner for I got many a thumbs-up or flash of light when passing someone. Going through thick traffic in down-town Milano whilst burbling along at 2,000 rpm in 3rd without a hiccup makes you feel like a big lazy predator in a fast stream with food. Food that's getting out of the way, most of the time. Not that the Italians don't drive positively aggressive all of the time, but somehow it seemed as if the drivers around me recognised the GTV6 for what it is and didn't bother to challenge the car. In fact, I had little trouble weaving my way through traffic, for courteous as the Italians are, they often gave way with a smile for the growl of the V6 after a blip on the throttle. Of course, when in Milano, do as the Milanese do: don't bother overly much about signs, traffic lights and what have you because nobody seems to really care that much anyway...
We went to the Alfa Romeo Museo Storico in Arese and took the pictures shown here, and I can only tell you that it's a weird, but very inspiring place to be. The museum is located on the premises of the huge Arese plant, in the management building to be precise. On arrival, you pass a typical guard house and get to park your car a way back (Alfa's with factory licence plates driving around: I saw one 164 parked with a plate stating 'F.A.S.T. 001'...).
In sight is the huge assembly building as shown in the picture on top. Second guard house, the guard (bored to death seemingly) kindly asks for your passports and points to a nondescript building a few yards back. There is no sign saying "Yer Tizz: The Museum!". Nothing. Enter a nondescript door, and there's a small sign with 'Museo' and an arrow, that's all. On through the building (imagine walking up to any office building, going in at the front, walk the office spaces where people are working as if nothing is more natural and out the back again: odd) out onto another court and a new nondescript building. And there it is: our Alfa nuts' cathedral: the museum. Eerie. The place was absolutely abandoned, except for a guy doing some work on a car's grille, and a cleaning lady. No guard, nothing.
The cars on display are very, very interesting. It is inspiring to see how the Alfa's the majority of us know and drive got to be what they are: driving machines, designed by engineers for those who could appreciate them, but often stuffed into mass-marketing schemes. I saw essential pieces of technology in the development of Alfa through the years and the linear and clear echo of that technology in our cars. See things like pre-WW2 differentials with inboard disk brakes, the 2*4=straight 8C engine, the 'bi-motore' car with the two straight 6Cs mounted side by side (!), and the +500hp, 350kmh (219mph) 16 cylinder race monster: one 8C in the front, one 8C behind the driver. The Giulia Sprint GTA, the original 33, the F1 race cars, the 6C 2500 Super Sport & 8C 2900 B Lungo, the absolutely far-out design studies, the P2 & P3, Fangio's 159 (the first 'Alfetta'), the aircraft engines... it's all there, and, it's the real thing! I got to open hoods, crawl underneath cars, sit in them, work their gearboxes and so much more. I cannot describe the effect the place had on me in full, but IF you ever get the chance, go there. It's a very, very inspiring and awesome experience and quintessential in understanding the history of the (technological) development and heritage of our cars.
Furthermore, it's a great feeling to have actually taken my GTV6 back to the place and on the premises where it was born: the Arese plant. Now, how many car owners can say that nowadays, eh? The plant itself seemed rather quiet, and not that inspiring I'm afraid. Then again, how good should a huge factory look? Next time we'll be down there we'll try to arrange for a tour of the factory! We motored back to The Netherlands the next day, leaving a sunny Northern Italy behind. Once on the other side of the Alps, grim Teutonic weather and heavy traffic left us longing for the place we had left behind. Again the GTV6 did what it is supposed to do: take two persons in comfort across the continent fast, peeling back asphalt, countries, languages and cultures in swift strides. To finish off this perfect little sprint across the globe we installed new twin clutch plates in three hours flat the next day...
