I have been blessed. When I was young and in school I longed for a Maserati Merak SS. I knew the Dino was rated higher but the look of the Merak just floored me. I consumed all of the articles I could and the inevitable comparison tests between the 308, the Merak and the Urracco. Years later I bought my 1980 Merak SS and had great fun with it over the 15 years I have owned it. I put on about 55,000 miles and many long trips. Great fun!
But after 15 years or so I decided it was time for a change. For years I have yearned for an Alfa Giulia. I love the upright small sedan with a great green house and the visibility combined with the sports car mechanical specs. So, I have sold my Merak and have recently bought a 1969 Giulia! Yay Me! another dream car attained! Of course, not being a purist I think it can be ..."warmed over" a bit. ........ I'll keep you posted!
So, what's your dream car? ....
stan
UltraDork
8/23/16 9:47 a.m.
Congratulations maseratiguy (now "alfaguy"??).
I've always wanted a 911 or maybe a 914/6.
Been close a couple of times, but still waiting...
Congrats! As long time Alfa guy, those are awesome! I'm biased of course, but I find them a lot more appealing than say a 2002 would be. They have a lower CG than their looks would indicate too.
I've been fortunate to have many of my dream cars, but right now, I want a Europa or an early Cooper S.
Congrats on the recent acquisition. My dream car is a Dodge Viper, the early ones that are scary and known to kill you with oversteer.
Indy-Guy wrote:
Congrats on the recent acquisition. My dream car is a Dodge Viper, the early ones that are scary and known to kill you with oversteer.
I drove one at a Viper track day once, and found it to be pretty easy really. It didn't do anything stupid. Now you could break the back end loose under power on slow speed corners, but it wasn't bad at all.
The later Vipers drive like big Miatas though! 
If I had the budget.....well lets' just say Jay Leno is my idol!
It's anarchy, Maserati guy driving an Alfa, what's next AlfaDriver in a Porsche!
RacerDave600 I instructed at some Viper Club events ages ago and drove one of those 700HP Venom versions. Same deal I found it easy to drive if you weren't a mallet head. The one thing about them is they are big cars on wide tires and when they go there is a good bit of momentum.
Maserati guy congrats an the Alfa it's a good pick. As for your question on dream car my first response is Lancia 037 but it's not particularly realistic. For ages I wanted a 356 but then I had a student with one, it was well prepared, over steered in the same manner that my 1200 does, had about the same power and they weighed the same but lap time was the 1200 was likely faster. Back in the 90s I thought when I finally made some decent money I'd buy a 2.0 911 keep the motor in streetable trim and race some SCCA regionals and some vintage events. P car prices have in my opinion gotten silly so those are out.
Of late I want a Mallock clubman car with Datsun power or Mazda Rotary power but then I think it would be nice to have a car that I could use for track days, autocross, vintage races and occasionally street drive. I've also finally admitted I really like front engine rear drive cars on threaded tires. This leaves me with some type of Lotus 7 or an Exocet. Blakely Bantum would work as well because my fabricator is a Ford Guy.
Very cool. We need to write a bit more about these cars as well.
Anti-sway bars, dampers and better brakes always make the car more fun. Even though I now finish ahead of them on track I'll admit to being jealous of the look and sound of Alfas. I also prefer the coupes/sedans to the spiders. You should have lots of fun with this.
Tom
Tom1200 wrote:
It's anarchy, Maserati guy driving an Alfa, what's next AlfaDriver in a Porsche!
I have a cousin who has a nice, late 80's 911. Drove it just once.
"I have a cousin who has a nice, late 80's 911. Drove it just once."
It's official its anarchy...........great now I'll have to buy a pre WWI Fiat and change my name to Tom12000!
Congratulations on the purchase! I love hearing about people living their dreams.
wspohn
HalfDork
9/25/16 12:25 p.m.
I had always lusted after a 1960s Italian super car, one of the trio of Ferrari Daytona, Maserati Ghibli, or Lamborghini Islero. To my surprise, I ended up with the rarest - the Islero.
I'll likely never own my dream car, but if a fortune suddenly falls into my lap, among my first purchases will be a Ferrari 288GTO. I've lusted after that car since I was a teenager.
You can start with a smaller dream. There a LOT of really cool cars that aren't a lot of $$$'s Triumph Spitfire's, MG's, Fiats, Early Japanese stuff, Volvo 140 series, etc. Many of these also have a lot of performance upgrades which to personalize to your taste or in some cases make them livable in modern traffic.
In reply to maseratiguy: I've considered it. I have a weakness for Fiat's. I spent 2 wonderful years in Sicly in the late 80's. While there I owned a lot of Italian and German cars, usually for just a few weeks as I'd "flip" them for sale to fellow American servicemen. Far and away my favorite was a beat up 1974 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. It wasn't pretty, but that 1,756cc twincam 4 was awesome. I fitted it with twin Weber 44 IFDF carbs off a 124 Spider Abarth, dropped in some hotter cams and made a few other tweaks. Such a sweet little motor, and the sound.......... It was a great little car for bombing around those mountain roads. I owned faster and more refined cars while I was over there, but none that were as much pure fun to drive. Not a car for anyone who minds constant maintenance and fiddling, but fun for sure. If I could find one of those stateside I'd probably buy it, but they are as rare as hen's teeth on this side of the Atlantic.
I tried to buy a new Giulia in '76. The local dealer wouldn't let me fly to Houston to pick up the car and drive it home. So I did what I wanted to do in the first place and bought a new Europa. I want to say I'll have a Giulia yet.
