Fell in love with Mezzabarba amps

[carlygtr]

So, how many fatal electrocutions so far?

 

[László]

Ha ha, good story Les, and seriously I don't want to bash Italians. I work in an Italian owned engineering company and my boss is Italian. I've worked fairly closely with them for the last 15 years or so. They have a different approach to engineering and beauty is very much at the forefront. Us Brits are very much cobble it together and make it work because the finance department won't give us enough money to do the job properly - so we have to be inventive, but beauty gets sacrificed for function.

I totally get it!

When my ancestors were living on the Steppes, in yurt-like tent dwellings, drinking god-knows-what-but-certainly-not-martinis, out of the skulls of their enemies and eating Filet of Yak, the Romans had a sophisticated, cultured civilization going. I take my Imperial Gallic helmet off to them for their advances made to the human condition!

On the other hand, I wouldn't buy this particular amp.

 

[László]

So, how many fatal electrocutions so far?

I wouldn't want to be the first to find out. But...

Step right up! Ya pays yer money, ya takes yer chances with the wheel of fortune!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

The crumple zones in my 1978 Alfa Romeo Spyder saved my life once. The car gave itself up for me when a steel hauling 18 wheeler truck ran a red light and crashed into my car. Not sure I'd have survived that one in the other cars I had during that era.

So I kinda like whatever it was that Italy did there.

Let's give Italy some credit:

Heck, the Pantheon in Rome is 2000 years old. You can still walk around inside it. Still looks nice. Even the dome still works. I've had to have my stinkin' USA roof replaced every ten years! I guarantee no one will be walking around in my condo in the year 4020.

Talk about engineering expertise, the ancient Romans invented concrete that cured underwater! Roman walls are still up where they didn't tear them down, after 2000 years, and the cisterns they built in Constantinople in 330 AD still work. Not to mention aqueducts!. I mean, those worked forever. People still use Roman bridges.

Europe still uses laws based on Justinian's Code.

The Romans had plumbing in their houses and in the Colosseum. They had glass windows in their apartment buildings, and paved roads when the rest of the world had mud cart roads and huts made of dung, sticks and straw.

So I'm all about Italy. But in this case, they forgot that QC thing...

Les, don’t forget those Ferraris. They are pretty nice… you know, for Italian cars.

 

[László]

Les, don’t forget those Ferraris. They are pretty nice… you know, for Italian cars.

Can't forget them - I helped a friend restore and reassemble a '58 Ferrari 250 Cabriolet in the '80s. Wine red with a tan leather interior. Beautiful car. But I've always had a soft spot for Alfas, and have had a couple of them.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Can't forget them - I helped a friend restore and reassemble a '58 Ferrari 250 Cabriolet in the '80s. Wine red with a tan leather interior. Beautiful car. But I've always had a soft spot for Alfas, and have had a couple of them.

I like Alpha Romeo. I had a Spider but only for a couple weeks.

Ferrari has always been my dream car. I'll never forget when the 308GTB was introduced. That car was my #1 for years after that. Still one of my all time favs.

 

[László]

I like Alpha Romeo. I had a Spider but only for a couple weeks.

Ferrari has always been my dream car. I'll never forget when the 308GTB was introduced. That car was my #1 for years after that. Still one of my all time favs.

My first Alfa was this ‘76 Alfetta GT. It was pretty rad for its time. Front engine, but gearbox was in the rear, so the car had 50/50 weight distribution, and handled incredibly well. All aluminum engine with dual OHC and sodium cooled valves, fuel injection, etc. The only downside was the rear deck lid started to rust literally the day I picked it up, brand new at the dealer! They were at least kind enough to keep fixing it.

In Europe, these sat lower to the ground. The springs were lengthened so US versions could meet the bumper height requirement, typical ‘70s import workaround. I always meant to get the European springs and lower the car, but I wound up wanting a convertible, and got one in ’78. But this is one of those cars I wish I still had.

Ive never been a blue car person, but these were very hard to come by in the US, and there was exactly one car available in the whole country. So I bought the blue car they had. I did install the Euro halogen headlights; the interior was a very nice shade of tan, and only needed a wooden Nardi wheel and a fancy shift knob to personalize the car and make it “mine.” It had A/C - in theory. But the A/C was typical of sports cars in the era.

Postwar Alfas always had kind of quirky styling, neither fish nor fowl starting in the late '40s and early '50s. This model was designed by Georgetto Giugiaro, who I think is one of the great automotive and industrial designers of all time (you probably know lots of his work, starting with the Bertone-bodied Ferrari 250 in 1959).

The 308 was one of my faves, too. J. Geils had one, and got active in their owner's association back in the day. I met him at an Italian Car Fest a friend held when I had the Alfetta. Super-nice guy, very laid back.

 

[László]

I like Alpha Romeo. I had a Spider but only for a couple weeks.

Ferrari has always been my dream car. I'll never forget when the 308GTB was introduced. That car was my #1 for years after that. Still one of my all time favs.

I forgot to mention that the Spider was essentially a 1963 car. Unlike the independently-sprung suspension on the Alfetta GT, and the rack-and-pinion steering, the Spyder had a solid rear axle and a recirculating ball steering mechanism.

Even in the '70s, the Spiders had a lot of wheel-hop on rough surfaces, and the steering wheel needed to be tended to more.

Alfa got rid of all that with the Alfetta GT. It's a proper, modern sports car in all the important ways. The suspension soaked up the bumps like any modern sports car. The only carryover from the older Alfas was its wonderful engine.

However, the Spider had the nicest feeling gearbox on any car I've ever owned. The shifter sat directly over the gearbox with no linkage to speak of. In comparison, the GT felt a little rubbery, owing to the long linkage to the rear transaxle.

Nonetheless, with the top thrown back, on a nice sunny day, the Spider was complete joy. It even had drain ports in the bottom of the footwells in case it rained and you forgot to put up the top!

My Spider was silver with a wine colored interior. It was a beautiful little machine. I was so depressed when it was totaled that I had to take my wife to France for a couple of weeks to get over the loss. For real.