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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by MarnetteD (talk | contribs) at 20:08, 20 July 2016 (→External links modified: the update was successful). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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Decent article - some comments

This article contains a lot of useful information and some great images. Some really good work has been done to bring together the information. Editors involved should be commended. However, it does now need some attention to develop it and make it more readable and useful for the general reader. The layout and organisation would benefit from tidying up in order to present the information in a manner useful to the general reader, and to aid navigation through the article, and loading of the article on slow devices. Currently it has a lot of minor sub-sections which consist of little more than a sentence or two, and there are a lot of images, which can make loading slow. There are also some statements that need sourcing to give them credibility, otherwise they look like editorial opinion. And some sections are inclined to be lists rather than explanations. The media section is rather long. The lead needs building per WP:Lead. These are just quick observations of matters that are distracting from the generally good content. SilkTork *YES! 10:16, 12 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]


Dubious content

The media section is unsourced, and reading through it, much is rather trivial. I am moving the entire section here for editors to look at and decide what to use in the article, and then to source it before placing it back. SilkTork *YES! 22:31, 14 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Media and public profile

In Italian the owner of an Alfa Romeo is an "Alfista", and a group of them are "Alfisti". Alfa Romeo is sometimes worshipped by its owners, and many models have become cultural symbols. There are many thriving Alfa Romeo owners clubs and Alfa Romeo Model Registers.

Some notable owners include Beppe Carletti (Musician, Retailer - 2000 Spider), Jeremy Clarkson (Motoring Journalist - GTV6), Roger Moore (Actor - GTV6) and Michael Schumacher (F1 Driver - Giulietta Super).

The hosting team of the popular British motoring interest show Top Gear often state that a car enthusiast must have owned an Alfa Romeo at some point before they can be considered a true petrolhead (meaning an extreme car enthusiast).

Post-war Italian cinema is replete with Alfa Romeo's, often as a result of police dramas were Alfa's are official vehicles (and remain so to this day), as well as contemporary comedies and romances, where Alfa's are taxis, and 'playboy' character vehicles.[citation needed]

In American cinema and television, where characters find themselves in Italy, Alfa Romeos, particularly the Spider (due to The Graduate, see below), dominate. Other models have featured, though sporadically.

Most on-screen appearances of Alfa Romeo's have tended towards popularly considered 'beautiful' models (such as the Spider), and 'handsome' types (such as the 116 Giulia, and Alfetta Sedan).[citation needed]

The Graduate

Certainly the most famous appearance and presence on screen of any Alfa must be the 1967's hit film The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross and Anne Bancroft. It gave worldwide celebrity to the "Spider". The Spider depicted on screen had its engine note accurately recorded, and electrical foibles (the non-functional fuel gauge) reproduced. On the strength of the Spider's appeal, Alfa Romeo continued sales of the Spider into the 1990s, and a special edition named the Alfa Graduate was available in the United States in the 1980s.

The entire set of scenes featuring the Spider in the Graduate were replicated in satire by Mike Myers in his comedy, Wayne's World 2. The Spider here cuts out Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" when passing under a bridge (implying music being played on a radio), but still has a non-functional fuel gauge - causing it to ultimately grind to halt (fortunately at the correct church!)

The Spider was designed by Pininfarina; derived from several design studies dating back to the late 1950s, the Spider is believed to be the last design on which Battista Farina personally worked.

The Italian Job

Alfa Romeo Giulia 'Panthers' appear as Polizia cars in the 1969 movie The Italian Job. During the chase in Turin each suffers an unpleasant, yet humorous demise. Memorable 'deaths' include breaking down on top the roof of a gently sloping building dome, and being washed away by the flow of water from a weir while chasing a Mini.

James Bond

Alfas have featured on-screen in three James Bond films.

Blue Polizia Alfettas are seen in For Your Eyes Only, haring up a snowy mountainside in one shot.

One of the most prominent roles was when James Bond (Roger Moore) stole and then drove a graphite GTV6 in 1983's Octopussy. In the scene it is pursued by two Bavarian BMW 5-series police cars.

A pair of black Alfa Romeo 159 Ti cars appeared in the opening scenes of the 2008 James Bond film Quantum of Solace. They featured in the car chase with James Bond's Aston Martin DBS V12 around Lake Garda, Italy. Noteworthy attention was paid to the auditory qualities of the Alfa's, which have the characteristic 'Big V-6' sound on-screen. The same film also features a Carabineri Alfa 156. Rene Mathis also has an Alfa, a white 2600 GT coupe.

Other films
  • Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in The Godfather drove a black Alfa Romeo 6C while in exile in Sicily. This was actually the car that was booby-trapped and explodes with Apollonia, his Sicilian wife, in it. Mary Corleone (Sophia Coppola) drove a red spider in "The Godfather, Part III".
Other television shows
  • In the television crime film series Ein Fall für Zwei ("a case for two", over 250 episodes made so far), the leading actor Claus Theo Gärtner, who plays the role of the private detective Josef Matula, has always been driving Alfa Romeo, starting from Giulia Super to the latest Alfa Romeo models.
Top Gear

In recent times, the BBC Series 'Top Gear' has had the strongest effect on the popular conception of the Alfa Romeo. Presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May insist that nobody can call themselves a true petrolhead until they have owned one. Numerous Alfas have had screentime devoted to them over the course of the TV program's run so far. Highlights include:

Literature

In the first printing of Dan Brown's novel Angels & Demons, the members of the Swiss Guard all drive Alfa Romeo sedans (albeit inaccurately referred to as 'Alpha Romeos' throughout the book).

In the Ian Fleming novel Moonraker, James Bond becomes involved in an impromptu race with a young man driving an Alfa Romeo while he pursues Hugo Drax. This scene in the novel results in the death of the young man, the destruction of his car, and the eventual destruction of Bond's Bentley Mark IV.

Top Gear

The Top Gear comment that "nobody can call themselves a true petrolhead until they have owned an Alfa Romeo" is due to the notion that a person who buys an Alfa is doing it because they love the styling and the sporty images, and are prepared to accept the unreliability and the depreciation for the pleasure of the looks - which is the definition of a car geek or petrolhead. Most people buy cars because they are practical. Petrolheads buy cars for the love of cars - even when the purchase does not make sense. If there are no reliable sources which sum that up for us, we have to take care how and if we incorporate Top Gear's Alfa Romeo comments. Quoting directly from a WP:Primary source out of context is inappropriate. It would be worth searching carefully for a RS source which comments on Top Gear's Alfa Romeo-petrolhead theory. SilkTork *YES! 23:03, 14 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The term "petrolhead" is not related to an alleged high consume of gasoline by the car? I don't know the Alfa Romeo cars, but i thought the meaning was related to a low mileage/liters. GustoBLSJP (talk) 22:57, 12 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I believe Jeremy Clarkson's comment of "nobody can call themselves a true petrolhead until they have owned one" is a bit tongue-in-cheek. In the episode of Top Gear where they put three different Alfas (a Spider, a GTV non-Spider, and a 75) through a series of challenges, I'm not sure any of the three hosts of the show is going out of their way to show any positive feelings toward their cars. I think somehow this needs to be mentioned in the article or the bit of Jeremy's quote needs to be removed, as I'm pretty sure the quote is sarcasm at best. Figment79 (talk) 11:33, 10 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Henry Ford

The Henry Ford quote is featured prominently but it only rests on Ugo Gobbato's say-so, which makes it not very reliable. Statements of the kind are a topos in autobiographies. The phrase hardly sounds like Henry Ford. Why should he have said it? Was he wanting to grease up Gobbato? I suggest that instead of giving it such a prominent position it ought to go in the body of the text and be prefaced by "according to Gobbato himself Henry Ford said ... The quotation rests solely on Gobbato's testimony, for what it is worth." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Campolongo (talk • contribs) 17:50, 12 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

So you think that he is telling lies? come on. The whole story is here you can read it http://www.afra.it/english/storia6.asp there is also reason for that saying -->Typ932 T·C 19:27, 12 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, on the whole I really think he was telling lies, also known as drawing the long bow. The site you refer me to rather confirms my opinion. The Ford motor company calls the story “implausible and apocryphal”, which is a polite way of saying they regard it as a whopper. It’s certainly very uncharacteristic of Henry Ford. The site you refer us to – apparently a promotional site selling Alfa Romeo parts – only tells us we have the word of Gobbato Senior and Gobbato Junior for this tale, and the latter got it from the former. So what does that prove? Then remember this is meant to be an encyclopedia, written by people who are rational and realistic and not as gullible as all hell. In fact since it's unconfirmed I think if we use it as all it should be put in the body of the text and it should be said the only source for this statement was Gobbato himself, and the Ford company called it "apocryphal", if we can source that statement. As I say, this is meant to be an encyclopedia. Not a promotional mag.Campolongo (talk) 11:53, 13 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Of course Ford is saying that, what else they could say than denying. I think that its reliable source, you have to believe something, there isnt such thing as 100% sure thing. Just use google and find other references, its also said in the Borgeson Alfa Romeo book, I think thats enough to keep it on the article -->Typ932 T·C 15:21, 14 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The head of Alfa Romeo, Gobbato comes back from America where he met Henry Ford among others and announces "Henry Ford says whenever he sees one of the cars made by my company he tips his hat.” Should we believe him? Here are three reasons for skepticism. 1) It’s unsubstantiated – Gobbato is the only source for the story. 2) It’s self-serving. Who benefits by the quote? Gobbato. Who vouches for its truth? Gobbato. 3) It’s hardly characteristic of Ford in its humility, as the Ford company apparently stated. Of course you can’t prove Ford said it or didn’t, but skepticism is definitely called for in an encyclopedia. The very fact that people contacted the Ford company asking for verification shows doubts existed - they wanted confirmation. Keep it by all means, as you say, but don’t stick it up there, outside the text, as if it were a verified quote, something Ford said in a book, a letter or in conversation with some disinterested person who could be relied on to report it accurately. Use it in the body of the text but with the usual caveat ("unconfirmed, possibly apocryphal"). That’s how an encyclopedia works.Campolongo (talk) 07:29, 15 June 2012 (UTC) I propose to remove it from its present conspicuous position, put it in the body of the text with a brief comment that the Ford motor company said the comment was "apocyrphal". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Campolongo (talk • contribs) 13:01, 16 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Alfa Romeo Company

Alfa Romeo is still a registered company as mentioned in the article? On alfaromeo.com I could not find any reference about that.--Yammilly (talk) 19:46, 4 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a link, which clearly shows that Alfa is rather a division of Fiat. http://www.alfaromeo.com/com/#/copyright--Yammilly (talk) 19:54, 4 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Cant see that link, there has been no press release any company changes lately. The company was last restructured in 2007 as you see in the Fiat Spa article. "The Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A. companies include: Abarth & C. S.p.A., Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A., Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., Fiat Professional and Lancia Automobiles S.p.A.. Ferrari S.p.A. is 90% owned by the Fiat Group.[1]" -->Typ932 T·C 03:05, 12 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Right. It's not a division of Fiat, it's a company of the Fiat Group. There's a difference. Dino246 (talk) 08:55, 14 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

AR should NOT be characterised as a maker of 'expensive sports cars'. Entirely inaccurate.

Near the start of this article it says that Alfa Romeo 'has a reputation for building expensive sports cars'. This is nonsense, even if it might be referenced. Alfa has always produced sedans as well as sports cars, and many or most of the sports cars it's produced are NOT and were not expensive, at least in relative terms. Some of the most famous Alfa models have been mass-market sedans such as the Alfasud. It is simply inaccurate to characterise the company in this way. This statement should be removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.176.96.14 (talk) 10:46, 4 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Article trivia

The section under the title Media and public profile on this article basically seems a collection of trivia and pop-culture references. The WikiProject Cars convention about this says: "(...) mention of pop-culture references should be strictly limited to cases where the fact of that reference influenced the sales, design or other tangible aspect of the vehicle. It is not sufficient to note that the vehicle had a major influence on its owner or some movie or TV show—such facts belong in the article about the owner, movie or TV show." By this convention, I think most of the section content is either misplaced or it simply has not a place in Wikipedia. I see there was a previous attempt to reduce the section, but it is still oversized and plenty of pointless content. I propose trimming the content to meet Wikipedia guidelines. Thoughts? --Urbanoc (talk) 11:42, 30 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Honestly I'd remove the section entirely, save for the Graduate part which I'd move to the Spider page. Maybe a quick reference to Octopussy on the GTV's page too.
A well-written section on Alfa Romeos in films would be nice (dealing with their role in poliziotteschi etc.) but as it is this list of appearances simply does not belong here. —Cloverleaf II (talk) 14:29, 30 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I tend to agree. I will wait until tomorrow to allow more input on the issue. --Urbanoc (talk) 18:45, 30 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Luxury cars maker

I undid a revision by an IP that removed the "luxury vehicles" bit in the infobox. I consider that, at least by now, Alfa Romeo is intended as a luxury car manufacturer, aimed at competing with the likes of Audi and BMW as part of Marchionne's market offensive (see, for example, here). --Urbanoc (talk) 12:20, 30 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Quite a trivial part the one regarding the Police cars!

I am Italian, and really fond of Alfas. I have never heard this thing of the nickname "inseguimento". Ever. Google doesn’t help either. it’s not referenced it, so it can only be made up information, and for this reason I deleted it. If anybody wants to read the Italian section, it doesn’t say anything about it either: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo#Le_Alfa_Romeo_in_dotazione_alle_forze_dell.27ordine — Preceding unsigned comment added by Look-aa (talk • contribs) 19:10, 8 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

[ˈalfa roˈmɛːo])

Can someone look at this pronunciation? I don't think this is right. This shows a stress on the ro'. It should be on the me:. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Longinus876 (talk • contribs) 16:07, 13 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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  1. ^ "Group Structure". Fiat. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
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