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Historic Alfa Romeo museum reopens for 105th birthday

1 July, 2015

Alfa Romeo have completed grand renovations to their ‘La macchina del tempo — Museo storico Alfa Romeo’ museum in Arese (near Milan), which reopened to the public on June 30.

Translating to ‘The time machine — Alfa Romeo historical museum’, the museum’s changes have resulted in it becoming one of Italy’s most stunning monuments to motoring. Depicting more than 100 years of history across its three floors, the museum will house 69 different Alfa Romeos. These range from their first-ever production car, the 24 HP, to various Formula 1 and sports cars, including a championship-winning Juan Manuel Fangio Alfetta 159.

In an aim to define Alfa Romeo, each floor represents a distinct element of the company’s heritage. Titled ‘Timeline’, the first floor features cars that are said to best embody the development of the marque. The ground floor, titled ‘Beauty’, will unsurprisingly focus on the most beautiful cars Alfa Romeo have built, as well as the various phases of design that have influenced the brand. And finally, the basement level of the building, titled ‘Speed’, will highlight their motorsport achievement via some of their most well-known race cars.

Built in 1976, the museum faced its first closure in 2009 after its supporting Arese production plant was decommissioned. It was briefly reopened in 2010 to celebrate the brand’s 100th birthday, but was once again closed in February 2011.

It has been a busy month for the Italians following their recent unveiling of the 2016 Giulia Quadrifoglio four-door performance sedan (check out our coverage and gallery here). The Giulia is also on display at the museum; this being the first time it will be seen in the metal by the public.

Along with the car displays and the supporting test track, the museum also includes a bookshop, cafe, and documentation centre.

ROTARY CHIC

6 September, 2024

Kerry Bowman readily describes himself as a dyed-in-the-wool Citroën fan and a keen Citroën Car Club member. His Auckland home holds some of the chic French cars and many parts. He has also owned a number of examples of the marque as daily drivers, but he now drives a Birotor GS. They are rare, even in France, and this is a car which was not supposed to see the light of day outside France’s borders, yet somehow this one escaped the buyback to be one of the few survivors out in the world.
It’s a special car Kerry first saw while overseas in the ’70s, indulging an interest sparked early on by his father’s keenness for Citroëns back home in Tauranga. He was keen to see one ‘in the flesh’.
“I got interested in this Birotor when I bought a GS in Paris in 1972. I got in contact with Citroën Cars in Slough, and they got me an invitation to the Earls Court Motor Show where they had the first Birotor prototype on display. I said to a guy on the stand, ‘I’d like one of these,’ and he said I wouldn’t be allowed to get one. Citroën were building them for their own market to test them, and they were only left-hand drive.”

Tradie’s Choice

30 August, 2024

Clint Wheeler purchased this 1962 Holden FJ Panelvan as an unfinished project, or as he says “a complete basket case”. Collected as nothing more than a bare shell, the rotisserie-mounted and primed shell travelled the length of the country from the Rangiora garage where it had sat dormant for six years to Clint’s Ruakaka workshop. “Mike, the previous owner, was awesome. He stacked the van and parts nicely. I was pretty excited to get the van up north. We cut the locks and got her out to enjoy the northland sun,” says Clint. “The panelvan also came with boxes of assorted parts, some good, some not so good, but they all helped.”