Il Quadrifoglio 1971
18 June, 2021
On 14 June, exactly 50 years ago, the first Hard Rock Café opened in London, the symbol of a generation and a true Mecca for fans of the hottest bands of the moment.
Welcome to 1971: the Seventies have begun and no one can stop them!
Once again this month, we take you by the hand through the shelves and archives of the Cozzi.Lab to leaf through the four issues of the alfista magazine, Il Quadrifoglio, dated 1971 and jealously preserved by our founder Pietro Cozzi.
"Throughout silent cinema, the car was used for stories of the beautiful world and as a pretext for the craziest gimmicks in comic films" Goffredo Fofi
"The need for an easy and pleasant means of contact and continuous information has become apparent, allowing us to be close to all our customers and to update them directly.
Giuseppe Luraghi about the magazine "Il Quadrifoglio".
CARS ARE FUNNY
We admit it: we have a weakness for the Quadrifoglio pages devoted to famous actors and actresses! In 1971, too, our weakness is satisfied with an article - by the well-known film critic Goffredo Fofi - on cars in comic films.
Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Fred McMurray and Buster Keaton appear among the photos of the four-leaf clover. The most hilarious shots are those given to us by the comic duo of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, true masters of laughter.
"Throughout silent cinema, the car was used for stories of the good life as a pretext for the craziest gags in comic films, where its destruction was the climax of the wildest gags and made people laugh to the limit precisely because few spectators owned cars and therefore did not suffer from seeing it so mistreated..."
THE WOMAN AND THE CAR
As we have already reported in previous issuestowards the end of the 1960s, the focus on the new audience of female buyers became increasingly important for car manufacturers.
Alfa Romeo is not to be outdone, and on the pages of the Quadrifoglio it is organising a round table with female participants to discuss preferences and critical issues. Practicality, power, aesthetics: how many valuable ideas came out of this round table!
In order to involve Quadrifoglio readers, the magazine for the first quarter of 1971 also included a questionnaire with a prize of one thousand litres of fuel.
ALFA ROMEO WINS
We dwell on this article not so much for its content as for the beauty and 1970s style of the accompanying illustrations.
The 1970 sporting year, says the piece, was marked by the debut of the 1750 GT AM which won first at Monza and then at Jarama (Madrid). What better excuse to share and publish the beautiful and colourful posters of the winning rallies?
Psychedelic!
SPIDER GOES TO... NEW YORK!
In fact, New York!
Beppe Zigoni takes us on this trip to the Big Apple with American photographer Cynthia Matthews in a midnight-blue Spider 1750, as blue as the sky above the city of new opportunities and illusions.
Cynthia, also pictured in front of the Guggenheim - design plus design, what more could you want - is ready to set off on a road trip to San Francisco via the Grand Canyon.
Go Cynthia!
THE TROPHY OF THE YEAR
As always, we also take a look at the trophy of the year for two reasons: first, our passion for design (not only of cars), and second, the presence of Alfa trophies in the Cozzi.Lab collection!
1971 was the year of Marcello Mascherini, an artist from Udine who was chosen to forge the statuette awarded to the year's winning drivers.
"Victory is for me a dry laurel branch, bearing a solitary fruit and enlivened by a wing hovering in the wind". Marcello Mascherini
Of course, this trophy is also part of the Museum's permanent collection!
