Following from discussions about the 'beauty' or otherwise of the 4C, and more generally of modern automotive design, I got to thinking.......
So, what do you consider to be the most sensuous (or sensual) part of your Alfa? For the purposes of this thread lets leave aural pleasures out of the equation and consider that if you were blind, couldn't drive your car, but could only wash/polish/wax it, which part(s) of the bodywork would you find the most interesting, organic, sensual, appealing etc etc.
I'll start with:
Alfetta GTV-steel bumper versions. The flared front guards, and the beaver tail around the tail lights (a section hidden on the Nuova/GTV6s).
Duetto. The endless compound curve of the boot lid
164. The drop nose section of the bonnet, around the heart, and the full width tail-light section
Giulia Super. All of it ! It continued to surprise and engage me until the day I sold it (and beyond)
On the Sud (don't laugh) it's always been the swage line that draws your eye through the middle of the car from the headlights back, with the line of the top of the front guard meeting the A-pillar, and the rear side window line having a little kick up at the rear. Every time I see that I think about the hours of knife work on modelling clay that must have taken.
Nice topic, thanks.
Steel bumper Alfetta GTV: leading edge of bonnet and front fenders as they wrap around the headlights clusters and radiator grille
See the Top Gear 1500 pound challenge and see what Clarkson said about the front of a 1998 GTV! I have to agree.
Cheers 86
The 159 front grill and headlight array floats my boat. It just reeks of style like the front wedge and grill array of the alfetta coupes as mentioned above. My father in law says the 159 just looks like it can go.
The 105 1750GTV dash - sensuous, organic, functional.
Chris
Ever put your hand around that lip on the back end of a Super?.... A box with curves. Awesome.
montreal instrument cluster
3.2L V6 intake runners
Montreal headlights. Bedroom eyes on a car.
Steve
Adelaide
Quote from: Derek Entesano on March 14, 2013, 10:52:05 AM
Ever put your hand around that lip on the back end of a Super?.... A box with curves. Awesome.
That's beautiful Derek. Looks to be cast in pure porcelain!
And its one of the great things about the Siuper, it's a box at first glance, but living with one you realise there are more curves, twists, turns and hidden gems in that design than most sleek 2-doors.
Even though the body is steel, it looks as though it would give under your grasp like a cherubs.....um.....cheek...? ;)
Not quite sure whether this thread makes us sound a bit weird, but I will put my 5c in anyway.
I am clearly biased, as a 156 owner, but I have to say its the way the Series One 156 grille is sort of punched into the bumper. It was actually the one thing that originally put me off about the 156 but now its the bit I like the most - the classic thing about true beauty being flawed and growing on you, I guess. Its also a bit like buying a hit single but then liking the B side much better ...
It really is something that makes you look at the car twice - and most people either love it or hate it.
I reckon it makes the 156 look kind of pugnacious (how tough did they look in touring car guise?), which I think has been polished out and lost in the smoother lines of the 159 (no offence to anyone with a 159 - I still reckon they look great)
My childhood fave model was the GTV6 but sadly I don't know it well enough to have a favourite bit.
poohbah
... on my Duetto ?
the delicate filigree lacework created by natures steamy salty breath.
It is hard not to include the Giulia Sprint/1750/2000GTV rear quarter. particulaly the top of the gaurd.
But I think pictures are important in this thread and I vote for the heart.
The whole of our 159 Ti Sportwagon. When you wash it by hand your hands slide over the curves. I have been told that Giugaro used a clay model in the design process and it certainly feels like the designers shaped it by hand.
Lets hope our long suffering wives and partners don't hear us talking like this!!!!
I suspect they kind of have given up on us already, in sufferance. Well I know mine has, somehow she doesn't get this Alfa thing we seem to have been infected with.
Oh and for the record, I am with Derek re the rear end of the Super, simply sensual. I kind of really like the feel/detail of the door handle of my 156 and the side profile of the front guards/swage line on it as well.
Ditto I adore sitting in the flying buttress seats staring out the front, the overall feel of the lines on my 1750 GTV, especially the shape of the top of the front guards melds into the bonnet, and the curvaciousness of the rear guards, 3/4 on from front or rear, they just seem perfect.
Quote from: Davidm1750 on April 12, 2013, 01:26:55 PM
I suspect they kind of have given up on us already, in sufferance. Well I know mine has, somehow she doesn't get this Alfa thing we seem to have been infected with.
Fortunately my wife does get the Alfa thing. She liked driving the 164 as her daily driver and enjoys occasionally driving my Potenziata. In the past, she liked driving the 33s as well. She fell in love with 159s when she first sat in one at the Carnevale here in Adelaide and is overjoyed to now be able to drive one every day. She loves that car. We are an Alfa family. Our daughter has just bought a lovely 156 Twin Spark to replace her 1981 GTV and our son has my first 3 litre 75.