Re: goodbye Arese! NOT

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

on 7/9/02 6:01 AM, alfa-digest at owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided wrote:

> Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2002 10:16:36 +0200
> From: MARCANTONIO Sandro Giulio <sandrogiulio.marcantonio@domain.elided>
> Subject: goodbye Arese! NOT
> 
> To further explain what is happening at Arese.
> 
> 1)the only part of the old factory leased to an external company is the old
> 164/gtv/spider assembly part of the factory. The Alfa V6 factory is still in
> use today as is the assembly area for the Multipla bi-power and go power.
> The engineering and testing offices still remain as well as the old
> administration offices and old finished vehicle building which is labeled
> with the famous Alfa Romeo Script in Red letters. This is also the site of
> the Alfa Museum. The centro stile Alfa is also still on the premises as
> well.  Rumors of Arese's demise are much exaggerated and just frankly are
> not the truth. It is sad however that no Alfa Romeos are currently assembled
> there but rumors of this changing are not as impossible as one thinks.
> 
> I would say that the leased out part of Arese is only about 20 percent of
> the total area. For more info go to.  www.alfabp.it
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Sandro Marcantonio
> Resp. Integrated Factory Operations
> Iveco, Business Unit Light
> Valladolid Turbo Daily Factory.
> Spain.
> 
> 1999 166 2.4 JTD
> 1988 Milano 75 3.0 (USA)


I hope you are right about this, because it would be a crying shame to let
the complex 'go' as it is such a piece of history. I remember well the first
time I drove-in from the Malpensa airport, heading toward Milano. As I
approached the Rho exit off of the A-8, I saw, on my right, a huge pair of
interlaced arches with a round bulding at their base. This was the first
Autogrille I had ever seen. Being somewhat tired and thirsty after my long
flight I stopped to get a cold drink. As I emerged from the building with a
Coke in my hand, and started for the car, I happened to look across the
street and my heart leapt into my mouth and I gasped audibly (so my friend
who was travelling with me, told me). There 'floating' above the tree line
on the other side of the autostrada was a huge red sign in that famous
script which said "Alfa Romeo." Little did I know, at the time, that the
dun-colored modern building behind the fence directly across from where I
was parked that morning was the back of the Museo Storico. That revelation
would have to wait until another trip to Italy.

But now that Fiat has "spun" Alfa off as an autonomous business group (like
Ferrari), there is little reason for Fiats and Alfas to built on the same
assembly 


lines anymore, Maybe they will fire Arese up again. It would be nice.

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