Ferrari, Pininfarina

1989 Ferrari Mondial T – Revisit

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The odometer on this black Ferrari Mondial T, featured here in February of last year, hasn't moved a single click in the span of 15 months since its first listing. Conversely, the price has softened by 8%. Our attraction to this example? Steadfast, if not even stronger.

The Mondial can seem like a compromised 308 or 328, when in reality it is more fairly compared to something like the 964 generation of Porsche 911, which came to market in the 1989 model year. Both are high-end sports coupes with both engine and a pair of passengers (theoretically) located aft of the driver. From a 3.6L boxer 6, the 911 manages 247hp, while the Ferrari produces 300hp from only 3.4L of displacement. That fact that the Ferrari tops out at around 158mph while the Porsche carries on until 163mph is an indication that the Mondial T is geared to rip, with a shorter final drive. Once into the power band, the Ferrari is likely to trounce the Porsche on acceleration.

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Maserati

1990 Chrysler TC By Maserati

As car enthusiasts, we sometimes respond irrationally to brands that we perceive as the mark of excellent engineering. The Chrysler TC By Maserati features pistons by Mahle, a Cosworth and Maserati cylinder head, a transmission by Getrag, and the list goes on. If we were to assess the TC solely on the merits of its component suppliers, it would rank among the greats. But, the whole probably comes up short of the sum of the parts.

The TC rides on a modified Chrysler K-car platform - specifically, the truncated chassis of a Dodge Daytona. Bodywork was a product of Innocenti facilities in Turin, while the final assembly took place in Milan. The intercooled Turbo II powertrain was an amalgam of Chrysler and specialty components. The base engine was similar to a standard Chrysler Turbo II, while the cylinder head was cast in a Cosworth foundry and assembled by Maserati.

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Centro Stile Fiat, Fiat

1997 Fiat Barchetta

The original Fiat 124 Spider production ceased in 1985, leaving about ten years between the 124 Spider and the Barchetta replacement. Compare this to the continuity at Alfa Romeo, where the Spider nameplate didn't skip a beat between the Series 4 spider and the 916 series Spider, swapping out RWD for FWD without so much as a name change. That Fiat abandoned its old nameplate to position the Barchetta as a new model was wise to us, as it allowed the Barchetta at least a chance at being evaluated in its own context.

In our experience, the formula for a hot hatch doesn't feel out of place in a roadster. Sports car reflexes are lost when the chassis is mined from a FWD economy car, but the result is far from hopeless. We've spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a first-generation Audi TT - a car that by all logic should be a disapointment - and yet the car just feels like a droptop GTI. No need to fret the FWD, in our opinion.

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Fiat

1984 Fiat 127 Fiorino

The Fiorino on this Fiat 127 pickup name caught us up for a minute, as we confused it with the Fiorano test track at the Ferrari manufacturing center in Maranello. Look, if you owned over 50% of Ferrari, wouldn't you be tempted to borrow just a handful of names? How about an Alfa Romeo 75 GTO? Or a Fiat 130 Coupe Lusso? Again, we were confused by a vowel and this never actually happened, but the idea is pretty amusing.

The Fiat 127 would be analogous to a Volkswagen Polo, but since the Polo was never offered in a pickup truck version, we'll compare it to the slightly larger Golf Caddy. In this comparison, the Giugiaro-bodied Golf takes the prize on design. Really, no compact from the car stands a chance against the German Golf. They squeezed the very best from Giugiaro on that design, that's for sure.

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Abarth, Centro Stile Fiat, Fiat

1984 Fiat Ritmo Abarth 130TC

The Fiat Ritmo Abarth range started out with a relatively tame offering, the Fiat Ritmo Abarth 105TC. It aped the famous VW Golf GTI's performance, producing 104bhp from its 1.6L mill. As time went on, the Ritmo Abarths continued to see more powerful engine options, and by 1984, Fiat had installed a 128bhp 2.0L twin cam 4-cylinder in the Ritmo Abarth 130TC. In contrast to the fuel-injected GTI, the Ritmo Abarth sucked down fuel through twin carbs - more exciting, if not as livable in day-to-day driving. The Fiat also featured a more favorable cylinder head design, with a cross-flow twin cam architecture sure to breath better than VW's single cam reverse-flow design.

Unique trim separated the Abarth models from the standard Ritmos. Inside, optional Recaro seats were available. Exterior improvements included Abarth-specific wheel arch trim, spoilers, bumpers, as well as upgraded alloy wheels.

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Alfa Romeo, Bertone, Gandini

1985 Alfa Romeo 90 2.5i Quadrifoglio Oro

We make a trip to rural Illinois every summer, usually in the Milano Verde or the Maserati, to see our friend Andrew and check in on his German cars. Invariably the Milano and Andrew's 1991 BMW 535i are lined up to see who has the edge on acceleration. Even after building up a hot 3.0L Busso V6 with higher compression pistons, hotter cams, and ported heads, we have failed to keep up with the Bimmer.

Today's Alfa 90, or Novanta, would be a closer competitor to our friend's 5-series in terms of passenger space, but would stand an even worse chance of embarrassing the 5er in a straight line. Clean lines come courtesy of Marcello Gandini at Bertone, and the underpinnings - torsion beam front suspension, rear-mounted transaxle and DeDion rear suspension - are largely shared with the Giulietta, just like in the Milano / 75. The Quadrioglio Oro models like this one share their 2.5L Busso V6 with the Milano too.

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Fiat

1973 Fiat 128 Coupe

As we touched on yesterday, the North American automotive players struggled in the 1970s to adapt to changing consumer demands. The Japanese automakers ultimately succeeded in taking on the domestics, but Italian car companies had a similar advantage - rather than shrinking down their offerings and downsizing their powertrains, they were simply loading their current products onto ships and delivering them to the North American market.

The Fiat 128 Coupe is a reasonably sized vehicle for personal use in Italy, where a contemporary Mustang would have met difficulty in navigating narrow and crowded streets. And its 1100cc SOHC 4-cylinder was a continuation of Fiat engineering success, rather than a rework of something from the European division, as was the Mustang's Lima 4-cylinder. Though less appreciated among enthusiasts today, the 128 brought front wheel drive to the market back in 1969, when American cars were roasting their rear tires with power from 800cfm double pumper carbs.

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Lancia, Pininfarina, Zagato

1979 Lancia Beta Zagato

Lancia dabbled in Greek letter naming of its vehicles at the turn of the century, making its way through a succession of Greek letters before moving on to the Roman roads naming convention. Among our favorite of the old Greek models was the Lambda, a 70mph 1920s unitary body feat of design and engineering. The Roman road names began (we believe) with the Astura, and continued through the end of Fulvia production.

The reintroduction of Greek letters was accompanied by a Fiat takeover and a new lust, by those responsible for the corporate coffers at least, to introduce scaled production and profitability. Lancia vehicles had, to this point, been the dreams of engineers, and sold with high prices to compensate for low production. With Fiat at the helm, the Beta series was introduced with lofty production targets and reduced development spending; understandably, many Lancia engineers walked out during this transition.

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Alfa Romeo, Pininfarina

1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider

Alfa Romeo broke into the mainstream with its 1900 offering, which couple a unibody construction and a modern twin cam engine with modern production methods. The resulting sales propped up the brand sales enough to allow for the development of even more affordable options. The resulting car was the Giulietta series, which proved to be the most attainable Alfa Romeo to that point.

Early Giulietta fell into the 750 series, while later examples belonged to the 101 series. The transition came sometime between 1958-1959, and since we are not experts, we'll leave it at that. We can say that this 1959 model can safely be classified as a 101 car due to its small fixed window on the door, which accompanied the longer wheelbase 101 series. The 1300cc engine is also a 101 series unit, with a block-mounted fuel pump and the enlarged camshaft and crankshaft diameters that would allow for larger displacement engine variants down the road.

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Alfa Romeo, Centro Stile Alfa Romeo, Italdesign

1984 Alfa Romeo GTV-6 3.0L swap

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The North American market never saw a 3.0L V6 version of the Alfa Romeo GTV-6, but across the Atlantic, South African customers were offered the opportunity to purchase one of 212 3.0L GTV-6s which were manufactured in the name of homologation for the racing circuit. That offering was a result of a collaboration between Autodelta and Alfa Romeo South America.

The more common version of the GTV-6 3.0L is made possible by an engine swap from an Alfa Milano Verde, or more commonly, the Alfa 164. In comparison to the South American 3.0L V6, the Verde/164 engine features a slightly longer stroke, coming in at 72.6mm vs. the 72.0mm stroke in the 3.0 SA; cylinder bores are a common 93.0mm. The South African engine made use of 6 single Dell'Orto carburetors, whereas the engine-swapped examples usually feature fuel injection.

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