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Future classic Alfas

9K views 40 replies 18 participants last post by  Top Down 
#1 ·
Hi people. I was wondering, which ones (if any) of the most recent generations Alfas will be sought after and considered a classic in many years from now. I think Giulia QV/GTA/GTAm is a surefire classic, as is the 8c and 4c. But what do you think about the Mito QV, Giulietta QV and Stelvio QV? Do you think these will these ever achieve classic car status or no ?
 
#2 ·
It’ll probably take 30 years from the day of first registration for them to become a true classic, as there’s lots of 20 year old Alfa’s that have not quite reach that stage yet.
By then will we be able to drive them, or just look at them? That’s the real question. If they can take away things now during lockdown that we take for granted who’s to say they won’t do the same with our internal combustion engines and the places that fuel them in 30 years time.
I say enjoy them whilst you can. How many have missing pulling their stored cars out of hibernation this year? Car shows the lot.

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#3 ·
I think they will all be seen as classic once they get old and rare enough.

People are starting to say that Austin Metros and Maestros are classics, and they were pretty awful cars. So if they can be classics then anything can given enough time.
 
#4 ·
‘Classics’ is an interesting term.

a Metro maybe considered shi5 from an automotive perspective, but it’s part - or was part - of popular culture. Arguably therefore, and irrespective of how god or bad it was as a car - it’ll be a classic.

In the U.K., I don’t think any Alfa has that same sort of ‘popular’ classic resonance; they’re too niche, too small volume and - don’t laugh - haven’t appeared in a recent popular film, pop video or TV series to have struck some sort of chord with Joe Bloggs; so an Alfa has to stand on its technical merits alone if it’s to become a classic.
 
#5 ·
I wonder too. I guess everything becomes a classic. The styling, etc of an older car makes it classic as it is just so different to anything that is current.

A valuable classic? That depends on how many people want a said classic and how many of them are available to buy.

I feel that for a car to become valuable it needs a strong fan base of children when it is first produced. When said children get older and have money, retire etc then they will look forward to buying that car that they once looked at so fondly when they were a child and could only dream.

I feel that Alfas for the most part are still plagued with negative connotations. Perhaps it will change as the children of today, not too aware of the issues of Alfas of the past look at the Alfas of today in awe and anticipation of owning a car like that in the future.
 
#6 ·
I find the classic Porsche market unbelievable as I read Motor magazine from when I was 9 years old and they never got good write ups back in the early 70s. They became better towards the late 70s but as these cars have risen in value earlier cars have become collectible. £250,000 for a ‘72 car in really good condition. They rusted really badly so that makes them rare I suppose but the write ups weren’t very good back then. The Alfasud had superb reviews but rusted too. Mercedes even has its own oldtimer sales from their museum.
 
#9 ·
Agreed. It seems to me that cars upon release are directly compared to their current competition and the quality of materials used is key whereas many decades later this comparison doesn't matter any more. So maybe when people see Mito QVs and Giulietta QVs in 30 years from now they will see distinct looking and curvy Alfa Romeo sporty hatchbacks with petrol engines which are fun to drive and pretty fast, which is the focal point of these cars, rather than all the other stuff that the motor press seems to constantly care for the most.
 
#11 ·
It’d be good if Fiat did what Mercedes , Porsche , Audi etc are doing and get some cars restored and even sell them from the museum. The museum has a new car showroom but I mean get some really nice 156, GT etc and display them with high prices on them!
 
#12 ·
It seemed to me that the N-Ring was just such a future classic, but it will be interesting to see happens to prices now that the GTA/m's are announced. Both the 156 and 147 GTA's are pretty cars with a 'classic' engine so I think those for sure, but the question was about the modern stuff.
 
#13 ·
People love a limited edition so the Nrings will surely remain valuable. The matte grey is a bit marmite though, and aside from the colour they don’t really have anything over the standard cars, where as the GTA(m) are a different animal altogether.


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#14 ·
Might this be strongly effected by whether it remains even possible to drive an ICE car?

If we're talking about them being considered classics in 40-50 years time.
 
#15 ·
Assuming electric cars and charging networks develop to the point that everyone adopts, I would imagine you’d be allowed to run a classic in the same way people still ride horses. You mightn’t be allowed in built up areas but I can’t see them being banned completely. That’s also assuming electric becomes the norm before fuel runs out, which seems fairly likely at the moment!


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#18 ·
Maybe but if the supermarkets and cut price suppliers pull out and leave only the likes of Shell then it could be a fair hike. The nearest Shell to Scunthorpe is 25 miles away and the only quality supplier in town (population 70,000) is Esso. If electric becomes the norm then I can see people running one of the very few ICE left having to make 50 mile round trips unless they live in a major conurbation.
 
#19 ·
Going to the petrol station would be an enjoyable driving experience and excuse to use the car though!

I often go for a drive just for the sake of it already though.
 
#21 ·
Greetings from the US. What do you mean by classic? Always turning heads, shooting up on value, or both? I would say the late 1990s and 2000s Spiders, GTV, and Brera if they are in good condition, would be or maybe are already considered classics. Even if they do not go up strongly in price, they will always turn heads and hearts when they are out and about. They are beautiful cars. I own a 1994 164 and get a lot of positive comments on it, including people who tell me not to sell it. So while it may be a classic from the 1990s, it will never be valuable. The Giulia to me stands out as a very beautiful design and shape, so that car might maintain a following, but will probably never shoot up in value because it is mass produced. Stelvio? Probably not considering its an SUV. Good discussion.

Cheers everyone.

Jeff
Dallas, Texas
 
#22 ·
Couple of things, both will have already been discussed. First, a newish car will right now probably still be losing value, however, take say a Giulia stepfront junior, back in the late 70's early 80's they would have been worth peanuts. There was a post recently on one of the forum where a guy sold a boat tail Spider for, I think it was £200 in the 80's! We all know how much they are worth now. So your 164 will not have great value right now, but in 20+ years time, it may well be fetching good money. That is the good news.

The problem with potential classics post 1980's is something which will be common problem for any car be it Ferrari or Alfa Romeo Mito and that will be any failing electronics with no replacement. If a ECU fails the replacements may well be hard to source and I doubt re-manufacturing would be viable cost wise. This is happening already. So, seriously complex, tech wise, cars of today will have a major challenge in 50 years time with the level of electronics in them, not to mention availability of petrol in 50 years time!
 
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#23 ·
The problem with potential classics post 1980's is something which will be common problem for any car be it Ferrari or Alfa Romeo Mito and that will be any failing electronics with no replacement. If a ECU fails the replacements may well be hard to source and I doubt re-manufacturing would be viable cost wise.
This is related to the cycle you referred to, where cars go down in value, and reach a point where they aren't "worth" the maintenance costs so numbers dwindle. Later, they become expensive rarities and money is spent manufacturing those unobtainable parts.

Back in the sixties, people replaced jewel-like Bugatti T35 engines with scrapyard Alvis motors, because repair was hopeless. By the late eighties, you could buy a complete brand new Bugatti T35, manufactured from scratch, with only the paperwork claiming it was vintage.
 
#25 ·
Efforts to identify racing car histories focus on the chassis owning the "identity." In the fifties, however, Alfa dismantled the cars after every race and piled up the parts. After refurbishment they'd assemble them and hope to end up with the same number of cars. (Maserati once failed at this). Alfa made new chassis plates for each race, with the model and race number shown, purely for customs purposes. What is a car? Just a heap of bits.

I could go on. (Oh, I just have...)
 
#28 ·
Bit harsh to slam EV drivers like that, there's probably a portion like that but not all of them are going to be hard line petrol bashers...

Many people over 30 have no car culture either also!

Perhaps the world is moving to a point where petrol cars, especially performance ones will be the reserve of museums and rich folk, might as well enjoy the time now if so.
 
#29 ·
Sorry, you guys won't change my mind in any possible way - I am "blessesed" with knowing pretty much only EV owners belonging to the "insufferable sanctimonious ********" category.

Are there EV drivers who use an electric car because it's convenient for them, but keep a combustion one for fun/all the other use cases where an EV is impractical or just plain impossible to use? Of course there are, but they aren't the ones vocal about it, nor the ones influencing the culture and discussion. They enjoy their cars and shut up.

The ones screaming the most are the ones making "dinosaur" jokes and act sanctimonious because they have an Ioniq. Working in a tech environment, it's a constant droning of this - people who never really had an interest in cars, don't know a shock absorber from a differential, salivate over some bubble-shaped Tesla and feel like they have a duty to constantly barge into conversations to push their silly arguments, such as "supercars killers!" and other nonsense.

Provided that current offerings are NOT the future and if stored power electric drive will take on in a definitive way, it'll be in a more refined form than today's, there are great chances that the legislators of the near future will listen to the second group and not the first. The only good thing, as Negativvv pointed out, is that realistically it'll be far out enough in the future that I'll either be dead or old enough to only have the bus as an option when this will happen.
 
#30 ·
No point ranting to us about it! Most if not everyone reading this is going to be a petrol head, if not a hard core Alfisti!

The whole moving towards EV thing is actually what persuaded me to keep my Busso V6 for so long and I might even still garage it and bring it out on high days and holidays, just because the like won't be seen ever again...

Part of me actually wants to put this on my car Greta Thunberg How Dare You Funny Car Window Sticker Vinyl Decal Drift JDM | eBay but the wife would object massively! Knocking around in a 300 odd co2 per KM car speaks louder than any trolling sticker however :censored:

Anyway a bit off topic now!!!!
 
#31 ·
No point ranting to us about it! Most if not everyone reading this is going to be a petrol head, if not a hard core Alfisti!
You're entirely correct at that. The whole thing was - "Future classic Alfas" - long term, probably none as driving them will be banned. So if you wanna keep one in the living room, yeah.

Take care of your Busso - garage it and keep it going as long as you can (well, with the rest of the car around it, possibly :D ). I'm in a bit of an evolving situation considering if to try to buy my own place or whatnot, and the temptation of getting a GTV V6 is something I don't know how long I'll be able to fend off !
 
#32 ·
My issue is I've got my place and a family now, had the Busso way before either and I honestly didn't expect it to still be around running so well...

Still split between selling it and modernising to a hot hatch of some sort (Golf GTI or GQV), or getting a $hit run around like a Grande Punto and getting the Busso out every few weeks.

I'd get a 3.0 GTV if I went Busso again, as I don't think the GT looks that nice plus the 3.0 is possibly more reliable than the 3.2.

And on topic, a Busso GTV is a definite classic right now.
 
#33 ·
Good God. Don't change from a Busso to a modern Golf GTi - possibly the most dull and uninspiring fast car of all time!
 
#34 ·
Need a modern practical family car 😕

Likely will get a GQV of some sort as I can't see myself owning a VW after th Busso no. Then again I'm seriously considering keeping it as long as it might live as my fun car...I already know nothing for the money will touch the Busso in drama either way.
 
#40 ·
Needs to be semi good on fuel as my job changed a bit so I drive more and don't get the train anymore... 4 cyl Turbo is prob the most i can stretch to :(

They have top tethers now? Isofix always seemed really secure to me.
Yes last 10 or so years, most cars have a 3rd hook at the top to stop the little darling's head jerking forward with the seat momentum behind it in a collision...
 
#38 ·
They have top tethers now? Isofix always seemed really secure to me.
 
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