And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
I always see places like that and think what a flaming pain in the ass it must have been to introduce electricity and indoor plumbing. I'll bet it was also hideous to behold.
Pain in the ass, yes, hideous, absolutely not. We stayed in a number of buildings in Italy that looked like this on the outside and were utterly gorgeous, luxurious even, on the inside.
Tax collectors, don'cha know. If it looks good it attracts unwanted attention from tax collectors. That's where the US is going, so get used to dumpy looking exteriors sheltering palaces.
My sister had one like that model, it was a true beater, dented-rusted, seats ripped, worn door locks and window tracks, rattled like crazy, couple hundred thousand miles on it, figured it got passed to many owners before my sister got it, but it ran well and handled excellent, I borrowed it a lot, just to drive it for the pleasure of a great road car that was a gas to drive hard up around North Conway NH area, like it ran on tracks, sensitive to tire pressures, not even in the same league handling wise of any US car i ever drove then or since, a great time and experience, plus my sister was very generous letting me drive the heck out if it, thanks Sis! Buddy had a great little economy model Fiat sedan which actually handled pretty close to the Alfa, pretty little car, very very light, the Alfa was a lot heavier, but with gobs more power-big power curve in comparison, interesting contrasts, both left me a lasting impression, especially into how different the Euro cars against US where back then, took two such different driving styles to go fast cornering, where a good US vehicle you got to load the F out of them on entry into your corner in order to get a proper apex, diff roll centers mushy suspension, too much front weight bias, though they did awesome with the Ford GT's in that respect. The Pontiac Fiero, stock, was pretty decent though.
Came close to buying a GTV6 but was stunt broke back in the late 70s. Later on managed to go through 3 Fiat 131 Mirafiori. Hella lots of fun to drive and pick up speed . Mowed most all the back streets and lawns of S buffalo back in the day.street racing wanna be big block US cars.
Interesting (to me) story: A friend was stationed in Italy and ended up marrying an Italian lady who was an architect. She had been in the business for quite some time. They moved to the US, and she said that she had to be retrained in American "architecture." That is, in America, we take old buildings and tear them down and rebuild (usually) a lesser building. In most of Europe, they take an ancient building, gut it and rebuild it inside, leaving the ancient structure intact.
Yes, that pavement *is* nice.
ReplyDeleteAlfa Romeo 105 Giulia, 2,200lbs of fun on four wheels.
ReplyDeleteAl_in_Ottawa
I always see places like that and think what a flaming pain in the ass it must have been to introduce electricity and indoor plumbing. I'll bet it was also hideous to behold.
ReplyDeletePain in the ass, yes, hideous, absolutely not. We stayed in a number of buildings in Italy that looked like this on the outside and were utterly gorgeous, luxurious even, on the inside.
DeleteTax collectors, don'cha know. If it looks good it attracts unwanted attention from tax collectors. That's where the US is going, so get used to dumpy looking exteriors sheltering palaces.
That model of Alfa, and some of its brethren, are on my wish list.
ReplyDeleteMy sister had one like that model, it was a true beater, dented-rusted, seats ripped, worn door locks and window tracks, rattled like crazy, couple hundred thousand miles on it, figured it got passed to many owners before my sister got it, but it ran well and handled excellent, I borrowed it a lot, just to drive it for the pleasure of a great road car that was a gas to drive hard up around North Conway NH area, like it ran on tracks, sensitive to tire pressures, not even in the same league handling wise of any US car i ever drove then or since, a great time and experience, plus my sister was very generous letting me drive the heck out if it, thanks Sis! Buddy had a great little economy model Fiat sedan which actually handled pretty close to the Alfa, pretty little car, very very light, the Alfa was a lot heavier, but with gobs more power-big power curve in comparison, interesting contrasts, both left me a lasting impression, especially into how different the Euro cars against US where back then, took two such different driving styles to go fast cornering, where a good US vehicle you got to load the F out of them on entry into your corner in order to get a proper apex, diff roll centers mushy suspension, too much front weight bias, though they did awesome with the Ford GT's in that respect. The Pontiac Fiero, stock, was pretty decent though.
ReplyDeleteCame close to buying a GTV6 but was stunt broke back in the late 70s. Later on managed to go through 3 Fiat 131 Mirafiori. Hella lots of fun to drive and pick up speed . Mowed most all the back streets and lawns of S buffalo back in the day.street racing wanna be big block US cars.
ReplyDeleteInteresting (to me) story: A friend was stationed in Italy and ended up marrying an Italian lady who was an architect. She had been in the business for quite some time. They moved to the US, and she said that she had to be retrained in American "architecture." That is, in America, we take old buildings and tear them down and rebuild (usually) a lesser building. In most of Europe, they take an ancient building, gut it and rebuild it inside, leaving the ancient structure intact.
ReplyDeleteYa know, I reckon it's a great automobile, but it still looks like an econo-box.
ReplyDelete