I was a teen-ager in the first half of '70
Here,in North East Italy,many guys were "ALFISTI"
...but how to translate this word in english?...i think ALFAHOLICS should be correct :)
..after some searches, i found also a site of Alfa Romeo's fanatics:
http://www.alfaholics.com/
being an Alfaholic here was much more than a simple fanatic-supporter of Alfas (we use to say just Alfa,leaving out Romeo)
i was surrounded by them,and believe me,more or less all them had same behavior:cool,tough,strong...
what they expected to have from an Alfa?..more speed..more power?..some more:RESPECT !
An owner of Alfa got respect,it doesn't matter if he drive fast or slow...
This is the celebration of Alfa and his golden age:60-70's (sad days came later..)
Henry Ford in 1939 said:hats off when i see an AlfaRomeo,and Enzo Ferrari grew inside Alfa until 1937
In the sixties they did the Queen of all GT's : the GT JUNIOR 1300 c.c. than GTA "Scalino" (step on the bonnet)
Alfa is engine:pain for all mechanics when opened the bonnet:narrow spaces to work..lot of lubricating oil to fill
always same engine sound that seems to choke on..supply excess flood (hope the translation is correct)
please listen here the background sound leaving out when driver step on the gas
they also tried to mount two spark-plugs per cylinder to have more power to burn :)
another classic feature was the displacement:usually that time all did 1300-1600-2000 c.c. only Alfa did 1750c.c.
here engine with the impressive oil-sump
let's go to model these versions of GT-1750,using the brand new function-LOFT TO POINT-
i used to draw a cage of profile splines to get a raw network surface,then extract iso-curves and rebuild leaving just few points,than use these splines for loft
workflow is to have two surfaces than trim and blend G2 together.This technique could be handly for that kind of cars where are well "squared" like GT's of '70
now trim main volume with green surface then blend together
if everything was correct union give a solid volume,easy now to do booleans for subtracting and carving
Here the GTA "Scalino"
and final GT 1750
Jump again in the legend:
Alfa stopped competitions in 1951,few years after two engineers decided to leave motherhouse and found a private factory
under permission by Alfa to do research maintaining privacy.It was 1963 and they called it AUTODELTA.
First base was just few kilometers from my home :) than moved in Milan's belt.
Autodelta was then the official race-department of Alfa and here their main creature: the GT-AM (Alleggerita=lighter, Maggiorata=enlarged)
fenders are enlarged to mount large Firestone wheels then riveted on the car
I trimmed the car and used same technique i did for 500 Abarth's fenders(i did a Video on Vimeo)
after extracting isocurves i did a network and rivets placed following the edge of the fender
Being a separate part of the car,like in the real one,i don't have problem to mantain curvature-continuity at 100%
Alfa got a musem and this render and so long post want to be a tribute to his legend(more renders on the gallery)
Nowadays still exist a brand "so called" Alfa....but have nothing to do with the good-old ones
Mauro
