Milano leg room

["Gary Krumian" <gkrumian@domain.elided>]

<<The standard old-style Italian driving position with
arms fully stretched out is perhaps "neat looking" in
the vintage racing photos but is not at all good for
proper driving technique.>>

I've never understood why there is a misconception that the classic Italian
driving style is "arms fully stretched out".  Even reputable car magazines
talk about the ape-like driving position of Italian cars, as if Italians
have short legs and long arms.

To me, the correct way to drive any car is not to hold the wheel at 9/3 or
10/2.  I like to hold the wheel with one hand most of the time, usually at
the 8 o'clock or 4 o'clock position.  This is the classic Italian driving
position.  I'm 6'2" so the Milano is not a very comfortable car for me, but
I prefer its seating position to any of my other cars.  In fact, though the
steering wheel angles are not optimum, I drive the BMW and the Porsche with
one hand at the lower corner of the steering wheel most of the time as well.
The new water-cooled Porsches are not very good for this type of driving
though because the steering wheel is too vertical.

So every time I hear that Alfa, Fiat, Maserati or Ferrari has adopted a more
"normal" driving position, I'm not too happy.  I guess most people prefer
this "normal" position, but I think Ferrari knew what it was getting into by
altering angles.  What they came up with on the 550 Maranello is an
adjustable angle steering wheel.  This is different than the typical
tilt/telescope systems seen on most cars.  I wonder if most purchasers of
the 550 know about the feature, and if so, which angle is being used.

Totally unrelated, I still have a couple sets of Repco and Axxis MetalMaster
pads left over from 20 years of Alfas.  All are new.  Spider, Milano,
Alfetta, and 164.  Most for $20 a set.  Thanks.

Gary Krumian

--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided