In the National Classic Research 2017 we look at the classic love of manufacturers and importers. Today: Alfa Romeo.

You can only be successful as a brand if you know where you come from and are proud of what you do. In the case of Alfa Romeo, that should not be that difficult. Jeremy Clarkson rumbles from the rooftops that you will only be a real car enthusiast once you have had an Alfa. And more importantly: Enzo Ferrari only dared to start his own sports car brand after he had learned the trick at Alfa. Moreover, that is by no means the only highlight in the more than 100-year history of the Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili.
Henry Ford recorded the following: "When I see an Alfa Romeo go by, I tip my hat." The first Formula 1 race? Won by an Alfa. The first Formula 1 world champion? Reed Alfa. In short: if we were to work at Alfa, we would cherish that wonderful history. After all, there are few brands that can match it.

Component supply

Nevertheless, Alfa drivers who took part in our classic survey find that the involvement of importer and manufacturer leaves something to be desired. 'I give a meager 5 for that,' says Dennis Jansen. 'I am a member of the SCARB, with the advantage that you get a discount at the dealer network. Sometimes that makes a difference in terms of parts, but the dealers often no longer have the expertise in-house for the more complex matter and diagnosis. ' Those parts must be available: for the parts supply of his 166, he gives a 3. That is what Arjan van den Brand also says: 'The parts supply is seriously insufficient!' Rik Jongen even took drastic measures: 'The parts supply was partly the reason that I got rid of my 916 GTV and 156 GTA, which were almost impossible to do as daily transport. The older generation of Alfas and especially the types from the 90s and early this century are a drama. Normally I had no problems with that, then I started working with the bike. But last year we moved out of town, in a village, and had a baby, so I couldn't afford to wait or look for parts anymore. Especially the GTV 3.0 from 1999, the 164 and the 156 GTA were terrible, because reasonably essential items such as engine mounts or shock absorbers are no longer available. '

Business cases

Spokesperson Toine Damo of importer FCA Netherlands: 'As a manufacturer, we have an obligation to supply parts for another ten years after production has ended. FCA generally supplies parts and service for much longer, but demand and business case are considered. The availability depends on the vehicle fleet that is still moving. For example, for an Alfa Romeo 147 and 159 all parts are still available, but for a GTV and Spider, not all parts are available anymore through FCA. '

Numbers

So it's time to take a look at those numbers. Of the 67.266 Alfas with a Dutch license plate, 22.576 were built before 1 January 2002. Almost a third of the Alfa's is therefore a young timer or classic. There are 7.560 Alfas in the Netherlands that were built for 1 January 1987 and there are also 19 pre-war Alfas. Strangely enough, however, there are many more 156s - for which, according to the owners, no more all parts are available - than 159s, for which the parts are still supplied as usual.

More about it National Classic Research 2017 you can read in the February issue of Auto Motor Klassiek. That is on 20 January with the subscribers and on 24 January in the store.