Alfa Romeo History
In 1907, the French industrialist Alexandre Darracq decided to start a plant in Italy for making 9-hp Taxi cars. He choose Portello in suburban Milan, and hoped to gain fortune in the crowded north Italian cities. However, he did not have much success, and in 1910 the plant was taken over by an Italian industry group called Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili - A.L.F.A. Translation would be "Car Factory of Lombardia", Lombardia being the name of a geographical region denoting northern Italy.
Nicola Romeo | 
Alexandre Darracq |
With Giuseppi Merosi, a 38 year old chief engineer from Bianchi and Fiat, A.L.F.A aimed to produce two cars with sporting potential. The two 1910 cars was equipped with 4 cylinder engines of 2.4 and 4 liters and 4 speed gearboxes. These were the first two Alfa's.
Giuseppi Merosi
In 1915 industrialist Nicola Romeo bought himself into the company. In 1920 he took over and added his name to the marquee, hence the firm became Alfa Romeo. He asked Merosi to begin work with a new engine to compete in "3000 Formula" racing.
This more dedicated racing efforts would eventually pay off in the late 20's, although the 3 liter engine Merosi designed quickly went out of production, the basic design would remain until the mass production cars of the early 50's.
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The years between the wars are when Alfa established itself as one of the truly great marquees producing exotic racing and famous sports cars. From the late 20's to the early 50's Alfa Romeo was the most prominent racing marquee throughout the world. Other brands came and went, but Alfa remained on the scene continuously.
Alfa ended this era with the magnificent victories on the worlds first Formula One championships in 1950 and 1951 with the Tipo 159. Alfa took the title both years.
In November 1986, after 13 years of straight losses and problems with the union, Alfa Romeo was bought by Fiat. Despite this (or maybe thanks to it...), the Alfa Romeo brand is today stronger than it has been for a long time, fostering its unique racing heritage with a truly great range of cars from the fresh 166, via the wonderful 156 (I'm a lucky owner of one) to the GTV/Spider sportcars. And of course the more modestly prized 145/146. Any brand that is still alive today is an automotive success, keeping in mind how many brands that have disappeared.
It was after the second world war that it became apparent that Alfa needed to enter the mass market in order to continue to exist. These pages are dedicated to those efforts and the cars it resulted in.
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