UK’s rarest cars: 1974 Alfa Romeo Alfetta 1.8, one of only four left on British roads
While the classic car press often lauds Italian coupés of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, their four-door parent models remain comparatively neglected. One prime example is the Alfa Romeo Alfetta, which not only spawned the rakish GTV coupé but is also the company’s last independently designed saloon. Today Vernon Marston’s 1974 example is believed to be one of only four remaining on the road, and the sole remaining official UK import.
Alfa Romeo began work on the Tipo 116 in 1967 to bridge the gulf between the Giulia coupé and the 2000 Berlina saloon. It had first used the Alfetta (meaning little Alfa) name on its all-conquering 158 and 159 Formula 1 cars of 1950 and 1951.
Power was from a light-alloy, 1,779cc double overhead camshaft engine, combined with a five-speed gearbox and a De Dion rear axle. The clutch and gearbox were also mounted in the rear axle for improved weight distribution.
The company initially planned a 1971 launch but moved the date to May 1972. One reason was to avoid a clash with the debut of the radical (for Alfa) new Alfasud front-drive hatchback, although another was industrial disputes. Production began in the middle of 1973, with UK sales commencing in early 1974.
At £2,548.98, the Alfetta cost in excess of £300 more than a Triumph Dolomite Sprint, but 48 years ago many suburbanites regarded an Alfa Romeo as impossibly exotic (many still do). Here was a car associated with sunshades and a fair amount of posing outside fashionable wine bars.
However, no one could ever accuse the Alfetta of flamboyance, aside from the wood-rimmed steering wheel and very 1970s cloth upholstery. There was no need for a vinyl roof or “go-faster” stripes in an Alfa Romeo saloon with a 112mph top speed. According to the British market advertisements, it allowed the owner to “Become a real driver again” and follow in the footsteps of renowned Alfa racing drivers such as Ascari and Fangio.
This newspaper enjoyed the engine’s torque and “marvellously fluent handling”. Unfortunately, the writer also found his test car to be temperamental; strikes in Italy had resulted in poor build quality. However, Autosport seemed more impressed: “The Alfetta brings the silence and refinement of large and expensive cars into the under 2.0-litre class and excels most of them for roadholding and ride.”
The Giugiaro-styled GT/GTV coupé (not to be confused with the earlier, Tipo 105-based GTV) was introduced in 1974, while Alfa introduced an entry-level 1.6 saloon in 1975. The 2000 followed two years later, joined by a turbodiesel in 1979. The line-up received a final facelift in 1983 before production ceased in 1984 after 472,868 units.
A decade later, the Alfetta was already a rare sight due in part to less-than-stellar factory rustproofing. Marston acquired his example in March 2016, remarking: “I’d been looking for a more practical sporting classic car to join my small collection of a 1966 Lotus Elan and a 1989 Westfield 7SE. The very sophisticated technical specification for the early 70s drew me to the Alfetta.”
His is one of the earliest British market cars, leaving the factory in July 1974 and registered five months later. Marston regards it as vastly underrated in this country, saying: “In Italy, the Alfetta – particularly the Berlina [saloon] rather than the GT [coupé] – has a large, enthusiastic following. It also seems to be much admired in Germany and the Netherlands, but British imports often suffered from incorrectly set-up suspension. This greatly affects the handling, and I think it was maybe a bit advanced for UK dealers.”
Happily, this Alfetta does not suffer from these issues, and Marston reports: “It is fantastic to drive, the handling balance is quite remarkable. It is very ‘Italian’ in that it responds to being driven with vigour. Sadly, the driving position is also Italian, so you need long arms and short legs.”
Somewhat inevitability, Marston finds that very few members of the public know what his car is. He says: “It receives admiring comments because of its condition, but they are often accompanied by ‘what on earth is that?’.”
But in 1974, Car magazine favourably compared it with the much larger Mercedes-Benz S-Class: “And in case you have not got the message, that puts the Alfetta on the same rung as the best saloon in the world.”
