ALPHYSIS
A museum within everyone's reach
01 July, 2017

Maurizio Sala

Automotive vertical consultant, former Opel, Saab and Volvo dealer. Son of Enrico, Commercial Director at Alfa Romeo from 1955 to 1980, and grandson of Giuseppe Luraghi.

 

 

I remember when we went to visit Grandpa Giuseppe, if he was in a good mood and if we had been good, we came home with some... miniature treasures: in a closet in his study, well hidden, he kept some Alfa Romeo cars that now would make the happiness of more than a collector.
I remember the indestructible metal TOGI, a bit bigger than the others, in 1:23 scale that reproduced the latest market news, while the more delicate and ultra-finished RIO in metal and plastic instead represented the cars that had made Alfa history from the '20s to the '40s. Ah... the Alfa of the 60s and 70s of TOGI, painted with the same colours of the cars actually in production, with doors, bonnet and trunk that can be opened, and small details perfectly reproduced, even the suspensions! And to spend more time playing with satisfaction, there was also the key to dismantle the wheels...
Model Togi, founded by Lorenzin, former Alfa Romeo employee.

Yeah, back then none of us kids knew that those little cars that we used to play with for hours and hours in the yard and that we destroyed by making them run on improbable tracks traced in the gravel of the public gardens would become coveted and unobtainable collector's items! Don't worry! There is a craftsman from Milan who has been resisting since 1957 and still produces those splendid models: TOGI, founded by a former Alfa employee, Mr. Lorenzini. In the '60s my grandfather Giuseppe Luraghi always had some in his office, and once he gave a whole series of them to President Saragat on a visit to the Arese factory, then the pride of the whole country and now a sterile shopping center open 7 days a week to satisfy the compulsion to buy some frustrated.

"When a scoop of ice cream in the cone cost 20 Liras (1 euro cent), I remember that the coloured F1 plastic Politoys' plastic balls cost 100 Liras (5 euro cents)."
The passion for automotive history and vintage cars has deep roots all over the world, especially in England and the USA. In Italy, too, interest in vintage cars has been aroused in recent years: rallies, rallies and events are held almost everywhere. Even on television there are very popular programmes dedicated to the subject, such as "car hunting" and "4-wheeled business". However, not everyone can collect classic cars: passion is not enough, you also need financial skills, space and free time. You are passionate and would like to organize your museum but the means are... "on a small scale"? Don't worry, there is a possibility for everyone: do "on a small scale" the museum too!
It's not the same thing, all right, but do you want to put a hobby that allows you to sit on your stomach in the dining room of your home and polish the mini-series of your collection, thinking back - with a smile - to the hours spent as a child in front of the window of the housewares shop that once displayed the very little car that you now bought at the flea market at 10,000 times the original price? Yes: when a scoop of ice cream in the cone cost 20 Liras (1 euro cent), I remember that the coloured plastic F1 plastic Politoys' Penny F1 cars cost 100 Liras (5 euro cents), while the F1 Penny cars cost 250 Liras (12 euro cents...), but they were unattainable for the miserable finances of a primary school student! Not like now that they just need to ask (the children) that they are satisfied in everything and for everything! No, once upon a time a little car made you want it for weeks, and it had to last all summer! In this hobby you won't miss neither the choice of cars, nor the company: car collectors are spread all over the world; there are clubs, exhibitions, specialized magazines, dedicated websites... in short, everything you want! The industrial production of models was born in England (Dinky Toys, the owners of the Meccano), in Germany (Märklin, born in 1859) and in the USA where Tootsie Toys already produced toy cars in 1920. For many years Italy produced only toy cars. Then the miracle happened: Dugu and Rio for reproductions of antique cars; then Mercury, Politoys, Mebetoys, Ediltoys, Togi for modern car models.

Italian companies immediately took the first place in world production for quality, contending for supremacy with the French, even for that sense of beauty, that artisan touch - in the best sense of the word - which is also present in the great Italian industries.

Today there are companies that produce models that are perfect in every detail, such as NeoScale, Kess Model, Minichamps, M4, AutoArt and dozens of others, including mini-collections with excellent value for money that can be purchased at newsstands along with Alfa Romeo or Fiat and Ferrari history handouts.

But only the mythical reproductions of the '60s, '70s and '80s made by Norev, Dinky, Corgi, Politoys, Mercury, Penny (today almost all disappeared crushed by the crisis) can give strong emotions and increase the heartbeat, perhaps because they bring to mind the afternoons spent in the yard.

What about the RE-EL remote-controlled models that we find at Christmas under the tree (if we had behaved well), or the Wega's wire-guided models with which we made all our friends in the courtyard die of envy...

In 1968 you could also listen to the songs of the Equipe 84 with an AM/FM radio in the shape of an Alfa Romeo 33-2 Daytona, with a loudspeaker in the engine hood; objects now unobtainable, even in bric-à-brac markets.

Hey, kids, please stay away: these are not... toys, but if you want to see some beautiful little cars, wonderful models and reproductions of prototypes that made the history of that Alfa Romeo that we all love, then let your daddy take you to the Cozzi Cozzi Alfa Romeo Museum in Legnano where, in the Cozzi Lab, they keep an entire collection!

Greetings, everyone! Maurizio