Elvira tells
Alfasud sprint, his early forties
5 APRIL, 2017

In September 1976, the Alfasud Sprint was presented in Baia Domizia, in the province of Caserta (sixty kilometers north of Naples, my hometown). Two months later it was also shown at the Turin Salon.

The bodywork was born from Giorgetto Giugiaro's pencil, while the mechanics, except for the increase in displacement, was the same as the saloon version(boxer engine mounted in longitudinal position and front wheel drive). The bodywork underwent zincrometal treatment against corrosion.

The colour range included: Capodimonte white, black, Alfa red, metallic Nisida grey, Posilipo blue, Cilento brown.

Dr. Marchetti also included me among the collaborators who were involved in this presentation to the Italian and foreign press. I had been missing from Naples for some time due to work and family commitments, so I was very happy to go and breathe some native air. I remember leaving for Naples a few days earlier with my two children who I left in the care of their paternal grandmother.

The hotel, the Marina Residence in Baia Domizia, a stone's throw from the sea, was very comfortable, it ate divinely and had a huge circular swimming pool around which every evening to entertain guests, costume dancers performed a series of dances characteristic of the place.

In the evening, when the journalists returned from the road test that took place on a path leading to the Sanctuary of Santa Maria dei Lattani (820 meters above sea level), dinner took place and immediately afterwards a musical entertainment began with the singer Marisa Rampin, whom I never imagined I would meet after so many years. At the beginning of October 2007, in a bakery in Saronno, I found a flyer advertising a series of cabaret meetings at a well-known restaurant in Saronno that happened to be attached to the former Alfa Romeo dealership. I was intrigued and was pleasantly surprised to see that an evening with Marisa Rampin was on the programme. I went there and brought with me a photo that portrayed us together on one of those evenings in Baia Domizia thinking I would do something nice for her. And so it was because she remembered Dr. Marchetti, me and all the Alfa staff.

Although it was presented to the international press, Alfasud Sprint was initially marketed only in Italy. Despite some defects in the bodywork that were later overcome (the best known was the entry of water into the cockpit), it was well received by the Alfisti and then established itself in European countries, France leading the way.

This coupé has had numerous versions for a total of 1,028,237 units produced:

1979, changes name to Alfasud Sprint Veloce

1982, the Audelta makes the Alfasud Sprint 6C, which remains prototype

1983, with the exit of the Alfasud sedan, the name will become only "Sprint".

1983, the Sprint 1.5 "Quadrifoglio Verde" version is introduced at the Geneva Motor Show.

1987, The Sprint Quadrifoglio Verde adopts the 33 Q.V. 1.7 engine.

The Alfasud Sprint has not lacked several special versions and versions for the foreign market:

Alfasud Sprint Fast 1.5 Plus (1981)

ALFASUD SPRINT FAST 1.5 TROPHY (1982)

Alfasud Sprint Special (1983)

Sprint 1.3 Trophy - x French market (1984)

Sprint 1.5 Quadrifoglio Verde Balocco - x French market (1984)

Sprint 1.5 Quadrifoglio Verde Gran Prix - x German market (1984)

Sprint 1.5 Quadrifoglio Verde Gran Prix - x French market (1986)

Sprint 1.5 Green Cloverleaf Salon de Genève '86 - by Swiss market (1986)

An occasion to remember a legendary story and all those who contributed to creating the Alfa myth but also to attract and motivate new generations to keep this myth alive in the years to come.