The NEW Quadrifoglio 1991
10 May, 2022
"Hello, who is this?"
On 1 July 1991, the world was about to become what we know today: the first GSM-based commercial telephone service was created on that day, and on 6 August of the same year, a certain Tim Berners Lee put the first website online: the World Wide Web, Internet let's say, was born.
Not only communication: 1991 is also the year of the end of the Soviet Union - an unfortunately very topical issue - of the first major refugee landings in Italy from Albania and the end of the Gulf War.
It is also the year of Freddie Mercury's death.
The great thing about having a well-stocked archive like the Cozzi.Lab is that it allows us to literally travel through history through the newspapers preserved over the years by Pietro Cozzi, founder of the museum.
So let's dive into the pages of the New Quadrifoglio 1991.
Ready, set, go!
"If we sent them to weight, you would see that the real Super Lightweights are mine!" Zagato quoted by Angelo Tito Anselmi
"we will do it with a light hand, i.e. giving fantasy and image predominant roles'.
ettore massacesi, talking about the rebirth of il quadrifoglio".
THE INTOXICATION OF SALT
The first issue of the Alfista quarterly opens with a super surprise for us Cozzi Brothers Museum fans.
Gianni Marin takes us, in fact, to the Bonneville Salt Lake (Utah) where in the autumn of 1990 the Alfa 164 Sport set a new class speed record.
Why do these pages excite us?
Because on the same lake, in 1992, a specially modified Alfa 155 Q4 boosted to 365 hp took the speed record for the G/PS category by speeding across the salt lake at almost 300 km/h.
That's right: the same 155 Q4 that you find in our Museum! Also driven by Marin, then editor of Gente Motori magazine.
SHAPED BY MAN
Today we are practically surrounded by objects made of plastic or similar materials, and in the 1990s society in this respect was not so different.
Enrico Castruccio's article, however, focuses on 'vintage' plastics, i.e. the first objects made of synthetic materials (Bakelite, acrylic, urea resin) that have now become modern and cult objects.
Some are really beautiful!
ALFA ROMEO COACHBUILDERS OF THE PAST
Also by Angelo Tito Anselmi is the article dedicated to the historical Alfa Romeo coachworks and in particular the bodies that dressed the cars of the House of Portello .
In 1991, the article is dedicated to the Superleggera Touring, with a nice sentence attributed to Ugo Zagato:
"If we sent them to weight you would see that the real Superlight is mine!"
According to Anselmi, Zagato felt some jealousy as almost all of Alfa Romeo's Mille Miglia victories between 1932 and 1947 were won by cars with Touring bodies.
METAMORPHOSIS OF THE FAN
For the 'costume' section, since it is hot, we chose to talk about the article that deals with the metamorphosis of the fan, from the first models of the late 19th century to the more modern and functional ones of the late 20th century.
Our favourite detail? The vintage advertisements!
THE SHORT FLIGHT OF THE THICK WING
If we say 'thick wing', what do you think of?
We're talking about the special version of the 6C 2500 designed for the straights of the Libyan Littoral and later becoming an 'experimental car' for an advanced fuel injection system.
If you are really passionate you might have seen it in some photographs of the 1940 Mille Miglia!
That's it for this month too: the next appointment will take us straight into 1992!
