Great Italian car thread

[Fantuzzi]

coetzeeh said:

Great shot of the modern v12 supercar, love the rear of the F12, modern yet classic Ferrari kamm, love how it just melts into the rear diffuser.

I notice you have some rather nice Alfas in your garage, any pics of the GTV or Guilia, or are they still having work done?

[coetzeeh]

The two Giuia GT Veloe's are being restored - the Muschio Verde Veloce has never been welded - just needs a prop shaft and she should be ready - phot's coming soon. The red Veloce has just been painted after serious rust and restoration. Everything below knee hight cut our and replaced with new panels. Sorry about the poor photo's - must make an effort.

GTV6 first. South African 3.0 carb version.

[coetzeeh]

Muscio Verde Step Nose Veloce - photo taken earlier this year. Final bit coming together at the moment.

[coetzeeh]

The red Veloce during strip down

[coetzeeh]

and this is what we are aiming for

[jacklewisno1]

Fantuzzi said:

Ah yes the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione's Maserati derived 4.7, why do you think I believe the Maserati Mc stradale 4 seater is one of the best cars around? Same engine, more power, slightly different exhaust note to the connoisseur...

Fair one but i still prefer the Quattroporte, its a purpose built 4 door as appose to a coupe thats been stretched a bit. Plus does it not share the same engine anyway?

Fantuzzi said:

Firstly that exhaust sounds like thunder, angry thunder (great band name?) secondly GTV's have wrong wheel drive and the engines in the wrong place , my MR2 is perfect apart from having a mild problem that will be fixed after I sell my body to the sex industry or I become a sort of robin hood who steals from the rich and gives to the mid engine sports car owners.

Although GTVs do look the sex.

Edited by Fantuzzi on Friday 6th September 12:02

Wrong wheel drive yes, but its supposed to be one of the best wrong wheel drive cars ever. As for the engine in the wrong place, well i like front engined cars. Sure mid engined provides better balance but that doesn't mean front engined is bad.

Reading your post makes me realise ive never driven a rear wheel drive car, shock horror! Ive driven some 4wd though, the most desirable of which was an Audi R8. A great drive but the flappy paddle shift wasn't to my liking.

coetzeeh said:

GTV6 first. South African 3.0 carb version.

I love that car, decent pics please!!!!

[coetzeeh]

Great photos of SA GTV6 3.0 on this thread.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[jacklewisno1]

Aye seen that one already.

[Fantuzzi]

coetzeeh said:

and this is what we are aiming for

Great pics, cant wait to see the finished version (s).

Stunning garage!

[Fantuzzi]

jacklewisno1 said:

Fair one but i still prefer the Quattroporte, its a purpose built 4 door as appose to a coupe thats been stretched a bit. Plus does it not share the same engine anyway?

The Granturismo was designed to be a GT car from the start, to be a more comfortable and useable, cheaper, db9, xkr, rival, from the start, then it got more power sharper dynamics in S form, then they Made it even better with the MC stradale but forgot the rear seats which was the whole bloody point of the car, then they put them back in.Maserati not making a proper sport car had nothing to do with Ferrari being dicks in the Fiat group...

jacklewisno1 said:

Wrong wheel drive yes, but its supposed to be one of the best wrong wheel drive cars ever. As for the engine in the wrong place, well i like front engined cars. Sure mid engined provides better balance but that doesn't mean front engined is bad.

Reading your post makes me realise ive never driven a rear wheel drive car, shock horror! Ive driven some 4wd though, the most desirable of which was an Audi R8. A great drive but the flappy paddle shift wasn't to my liking.

No front engine cars aren't bad, (cough) if youre in 1954 (cough) . I don't think Ill go back to a front engine car as my 'fun' car though, really love the balance of the mid engine layout, not too worried about drifting around too much so the extra grip is rather fun.

When did you drive an R8, was it a track day? Those things must be rather monstrous in the wet, mid engined, 4wd, fat tires, awesome for winter honing, but not Italian so we'll stay of those.

Rear wheel drive is rather good, the MR2 was the first rwd car I drove, Im not going to be drifting in the dry, too much grip and not enough BHP, only 140 of them, but there is a 'clarity' to the way the car drives that is noticeable in a rwd car.

Perhaps you could join me in the Mid engined, RWD club with this?



Meant to be rather great fun, reviews at the time were raving.

[jacklewisno1]

Fantuzzi said:

The Granturismo was designed to be a GT car from the start, to be a more comfortable and useable, cheaper, db9, xkr, rival, from the start, then it got more power sharper dynamics in S form, then they Made it even better with the MC stradale but forgot the rear seats which was the whole bloody point of the car, then they put them back in.Maserati not making a proper sport car had nothing to do with Ferrari being dicks in the Fiat group...

Well that explains why it was too long to start with. Id have to drive them both on the same day to decide which i best.

Fantuzzi said:

No front engine cars aren't bad, (cough) if youre in 1954 (cough) . I don't think Ill go back to a front engine car as my 'fun' car though, really love the balance of the mid engine layout, not too worried about drifting around too much so the extra grip is rather fun.

When did you drive an R8, was it a track day? Those things must be rather monstrous in the wet, mid engined, 4wd, fat tires, awesome for winter honing, but not Italian so we'll stay of those.

At least with front engined cars you have a boot for things. With a mid engined one anything bigger than a slice of bacon can't travel with you.
The R8 was immense, the grip was surreal. Yes it was a track day, afterwards i switched to a standard Abarth 500. It performed better than i expected and i overtook a Ferrari 360! Must have been the front engined, front wheel drive layout of the Abarth.......

Punto engine + Panda chassis = Win

Fantuzzi said:

Perhaps you could join me in the Mid engined, RWD club with this?



Meant to be rather great fun, reviews at the time were raving.

Took me a good six minutes to recognise that X19, at first i thought it was a MK1 MR2. They do have a certain similarity about them.
Ill have to be honest and say i dont like the style of it, so it a thumbs down from me.

For the cost of an X19 or MR2 were looking at about 4-8k i assume. For that i could have my GTV 3.0 Cup in red with DTM exhaust and Auto Delta upper and rear lip for the back bumper, and that would be just fine by me Its also the last great V6 Alfa will (probably) ever make.

[Fantuzzi]

Yeah the MR2's boot is rather comical, with the spare tyre in it its, um, pretty useless. Oh no its not actually its good for storing the hardtop cover...



Ah the joys of impracticality. But I don't have any friends or things to carry any more so that's a plus with the MR2.

Yeah the MR2 MK1 and X1/9 are pretty similar, both can be picked up for 2-2,500 so pretty cheap fun actually.

Here's some un-cheap fun.



Blue exhausts are awesome. Very awesome.

[Fantuzzi]

What the Quattros fabled return, perhaps lancia Should, ok Ferrari, let this (below) happen? There is an excellent letter to Octane about the stranglehold of Ferrari on the FIAT group by the way.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vfCHikAIN4

[arguti]

coetzeeh said:

Great photos of SA GTV6 3.0 on this thread.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

That baby lives in cape town

[jacklewisno1]

Fantuzzi said:

What the Quattros fabled return, perhaps lancia Should, ok Ferrari, let this (below) happen? There is an excellent letter to Octane about the stranglehold of Ferrari on the FIAT group by the way.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vfCHikAIN4

Yes, i love that prototype. I think they got the looks just right, its not too futuristic like some of the other prototypes. And like the original having a Ferrari engine it obviously sounds fantastic!

[Fantuzzi]

jacklewisno1 said:

Fantuzzi said:

What the Quattros fabled return, perhaps lancia Should, ok Ferrari, let this (below) happen? There is an excellent letter to Octane about the stranglehold of Ferrari on the FIAT group by the way.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vfCHikAIN4

Yes, i love that prototype. I think they got the looks just right, its not too futuristic like some of the other prototypes. And like the original having a Ferrari engine it obviously sounds fantastic!

I was started to think you'd got bored of the thread Jack...

Yeah rather good looking car, light (ish) would have been a good halo car, for lancia in Europe, They could have done a sportier looking , is it eylipson?, might have got the brand looking a little sweeter than just rebodied 500s.

I really don't know why Ferrari are so cruel it cant be sales, they could sell the cars at a really high price and real low numbers, wouldn't touch Ferrari.

Its just Ferrari couldn't stand to make a car that would be better than its own cars. Perhaps they think its 'bad for the brand'...

[jacklewisno1]

Not bored of the thread, im just trapped abroad for a while and have little internet access. So reply's will be slower im afraid.

Im not a fan of the Eylipthing. Its just a worse version of the F500. Its uglier and more expensive. The interior is dreadful! Plus the fact that its a chrysler over here results in a loss of brownie points for me. It looks a bit out of place next to the other cars in there line up like the 300C. An all round epic fail for me im afraid.

I think you may be right on the last point...

Fantuzzi said:

Its just Ferrari couldn't stand to make a car that would be better than its own cars. Perhaps they think its 'bad for the brand'...

I remember when the prototype came out figures around the £500,000 mark were being banded about. It would have been nice to see it at about £150k or so. Just so their would be a chance of seeing one on the road.


Shame really. And even if it did damage their sales all the money ends up in the same pot anyway doesn't it?

[jacklewisno1]

Not bored of the thread, im just trapped abroad for a while and have little internet access. So reply's will be slower im afraid.

Im not a fan of the Eylipthing. Its just a worse version of the F500. Its uglier and more expensive. The interior is dreadful! Plus the fact that its a chrysler over here results in a loss of brownie points for me. It looks a bit out of place next to the other cars in there line up like the 300C. An all round epic fail for me im afraid.

I think you may be right on the last point...

Fantuzzi said:

Its just Ferrari couldn't stand to make a car that would be better than its own cars. Perhaps they think its 'bad for the brand'...

I remember when the prototype came out figures around the £500,000 mark were being banded about. It would have been nice to see it at about £150k or so. Just so their would be a chance of seeing one on the road.


Shame really. And even if it did damage their sales all the money ends up in the same pot anyway doesn't it?

[Fantuzzi]

jacklewisno1 said:

Not bored of the thread, im just trapped abroad for a while and have little internet access. So reply's will be slower im afraid.



I think you may be right on the last point...

Fantuzzi said:

Its just Ferrari couldn't stand to make a car that would be better than its own cars. Perhaps they think its 'bad for the brand'...

I remember when the prototype came out figures around the £500,000 mark were being banded about. It would have been nice to see it at about £150k or so. Just so their would be a chance of seeing one on the road.


Shame really. And even if it did damage their sales all the money ends up in the same pot anyway doesn't it?

You anywhere nice, weather is hardly great around, here, well a least the MR2 is in the garage getting done while its blowing like mad, not exactly honing weather!

I think it must just be same of Ferrari ego, they would hate for a review to say it was loads better than anything they have done, just look at the 8c, it should have been sorted by the chaps at Dallara, who know a thing or two about chassis given they make F3 cars, yet it was cut short, I'm surprised they even let the MC12 race!

Never really been a fan of Mr Enzo, nor many of Ferrari's tactics, in all honesty if one good thing comes of the economic crisis (which has hit Italy's car market big time), is if FIAT were forced to sell off Alfa or Lancia.

Let some car nut billionaire by it and even if they only do a handful of expensive supercars, like noble say, at least they will have revived some the brands qualities. Instead of turning 2 names that are so important in the history of motorsport into nothing more than half arsed hatchback producers.

Ferrari, as you say would loose nothing, Fiat would gain money and lancia would gain credibility. God they could even make a new Lancia out of the 4c tub, shove a v8 in that and go GT3 RS hunting, or they could make a more useable sub 100k mark supercar/sports car and go for the r8/911/vantage area.

Really no excuse from FIAT, they have lots of old Ferrari parts and tech to use and copy and what with the 4c tub, they have a great chassis to base small sports cars on.

[jacklewisno1]

Fantuzzi said:

You anywhere nice, weather is hardly great around, here, well a least the MR2 is in the garage getting done while its blowing like mad, not exactly honing weather!

Just down the road from Dubai, its a scorching 40 degrees over here!

Speaking of which i went to the Mall of Dubai yesterday. Some of the cars parked outside were amazing as you can imagine. But for the record i saw a Quattraporte GTS parked next to a Gran Turismo (really i did) and the GTS is the better looking car. Thats now scientific fact. There were also Aventadors and the like there too.

Fantuzzi said:

Let some car nut billionaire by it and even if they only do a handful of expensive supercars, like noble say, at least they will have revived some the brands qualities. Instead of turning 2 names that are so important in the history of motorsport into nothing more than half arsed hatchback producers.

Agreed, The Giulietta was a real disappointment after the 159 and the Brera. Although the 4c is putting them slightly back on track now. The type of people who bough an 8c were probably also wealthy enough to have a Ferrari too. So quite why they held back its potential seems strange.

I trust you read the article on the Zander Abarth. They must have been reading our Romeo Ferrari's bit.