Encountering the new Alfa 4C

[John Z Goriup]

We're 'enjoying' our first heat wave of the season in the Bay area, and to escape the heat my wife and I decided to take a leisurly drive along the coast on highway #1 today. Very near the Mt. Tamalpais cutoff near Stinson Beach i saw a couple of red cars parked in a turnout, and it took me a momnemt or two of mental recalibration to realize that we were looking at the new Alfa-Romeo 4C models.

Naturally I stopped to have a closer look, and to chat up the drivers, and snap a few shots, only to find out that these two cars were part of the initial shipment of 14 4Cs that arrived a couple of weeks ago and now are distributed all across the country doing final testing, PR appearances, dealer training, filming of commercials and appearances at various car-related events and Concours in the coming months, prioer to the official US introduction in September. The drivers were most complimentary of the handling, performance and in their general impressions of the car, and to head off sarcastic remarks about my expecting anything but enthusiastic endorsements by the drivers, they are not Alfa people, but are hired third-party professionals.

My better judgement tells me that this would be the perfect moment to just shut up and not engage in my customary opining and pontificating, rather, let the photos speak for themselves and let every one make up their own mind. Thank God I had my pocket Leica with me……….incidentally, the two cars are not the same color. One was a slightly pinkish pearl metallic cranberry red, and the other a darker, more traditional old Charro Rosso non-metallic marroonish red, which I found infinitely more attractive ( end of editorial ).

I hope you enjoy,

JZG

[John Z Goriup]

……and 5 more

[John Z Goriup]

The third set of photos.

[John Z Goriup]

…..and the final few.

Thanks for looking

JZG

[Olivier]

I have seen one in the street a couple of weeks ago.

The style is what it is, and is not 100% my cup of tea, BUT, for the price of a big diesel powered Audi or Mercedes Wagon, you can have a less than one ton car, rear engined 240hp, with a CARBON FIBER mono!

Hat off to Alfa! Would loooove to have one !

BTW great pictures!

Olivier.

[Flieger]

I'm glad they ditched the spider eyes for the US cars.

[Nine17]

Nice on paper, but that's a lot of coin for a cartoonish plastic toy. Do we really need another Lotus Elise? How many of that little flash-in-the-pan are still seen in regular use on the roads?

Make mine a Cayman. Bigger and heavier, but a real car...

-- David

[Louie]

The car really is gorgeous.

I am not sure how much of a home run its going to be for FIAT here in the good ole USA. Are there enough Alfa fans to buy enough of these little hotrods?
Maybe. So (like the Elise) they will sell well for a year or so. Then what? Special editions...more power...etc. In the fun, occasional toy car space there are a ton of great options if you want a NEW car. 2015 z06, new Z28....and the expected Porsches.

[Anatol]

Wow, how much better these headlights look compared to the insectuous mulit-beam lights of the Euro-version! Nice car, even though the first reviews are not as favorable as the looks would make you hope for!

But it might be worth a look in the used car market!

[steve shea]

I'll have a '59 spider veloce or superleggera sprint veloce. These look very busy.