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Topic starter
16/11/2013 5:45 am
more recent 1980s Alfas [pic]
Both of these are by Kess, recently found on German 'epay'. They are probably two of the biggest Alfas I have in my collection. Can you tell which one was designed in-house and which one is by Pininfarina?
photo no longer available
The Alfa 6 was designed in the height of the 1970's oil crisis and thus was delayed until 1979. The famous Alfa/Ferrari engineer, Giuseppe Busso, designed the big V6 that made it an 'executive car'! After a slight facelift, the car was deleted in 1986.
The 164 lasted from 1987 to '98 and was the last Alfa imported into the US, from 1991-'95 I think. The Busso-designed V6 was carried over as one of the engine choices in the 164. Body design was by Enrico Fumia. The other fun fact is that it was designed before FIAT took over that YEAR. Some consider post-1987 Alfas as just badge-engineered Fiats, so the 164 is the last true Alfa Romeo. Uggh.
So these 1980s Alfas, big 4-doors as bad as they seem, are my guilty 1/43 pleasures!
16/11/2013 5:59 am
The 164 looks like Pininfarina from that era. So I'll go with that.
Although I admit I KNOW the Alfa 6 was designed in-house, so I'm kinda cheating... 😉
I wish Kess would give that treatment to American cars. I know they tried the black '59 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 and it was initially priced higher than the better-looking TSM version in the same color (now they're about the same), but why would one car deter them? I'd like to see them give US cars another try, so long as they don't do a model someone's already done.
16/11/2013 12:45 pm
Does anyone know when they announced the....
other two American cars that they show on line? I seem to remember the prototype Marquis being shown here quite sometime ago. But, nothing ever came of it. I'd love to see both of those being released. The '78 Marquis (with closed headlamps) and the '68 Country Squire.
Topic starter
16/11/2013 1:18 pm
Yes! Fumia designed the 164 (the black one) while at Pininfarina!