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Junkyard Gem: 1979 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce

During the middle-to-late 1970s, things got pretty grim for American car shoppers wishing to drive a (non-exotic) new European two-seat convertible. British Leyland would sell you a 1979 MGB, Spitfire, or TR7 at a good price, but you got only 67.5, 52.5, or 88.5 horsepower, respectively, in those cars (yes, BL claimed the half-horse in official ratings, because that's how the Malaise Era was) plus the Prince of Darkness riding shotgun. Fiat offered the 124 Sport Spider for a bit more than those British machines in '79, but that car had a mere 86 horses under the hood. That's where the Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce came in; for a bit more money, you got 111 fuel-injected horsepower and a car that still looked futuristic more than a decade after its introduction. Alfa Spider prices have gone way up in the last decade, so I don't see many of these cars in the self-service car graveyards I frequent. That makes today's Junkyard Gem, found in a yard near Denver, a fairly rare find. Someone yanked the cylinder head off, probably years ago, and then never finished whatever engine work had been planned. This is a common sight with vintage sports cars in junkyards. The 1994 Colorado State Parks pass shows that at least this Alfa was running 28 years back. Inside, there are many receipts for extensive mechanical work done during the 1980s. These cars were better-built than their British Leyland and Fiat rivals, but that doesn't mean they were easy to work on. How about getting a head-gasket job plus a bunch of other work done for just over 500 bucks? Even with inflation, that's a deal! At some point, someone sliced up the factory radio faceplate to install this 1980s Blaupunkt cassette deck. This looks like a CR-2001, which was high-end factory equipment in Porsches and BMWs around the time this Spider was new. The interior has some parts that look nice enough to be worth buying, so let's hope that some Front Range Alfa Romeo enthusiasts show up and score some nice pieces for their project cars. The MSRP on this car was $11,195, or about $45,700 today. The Fiat 124 Sport Spider went for $7,090, while the TR7 convertible cost $9,235. Meanwhile, a new 1979 Chevy Corvette with the optional L82 engine listed at $11,425 and had 225 horsepower; it also weighed 917 pounds more than the Alfa and had much more ponderous handling.

Dodge Charger to slim down and run turbo four in next generation

The current Dodge Charger is getting long in the tooth. It was originally introduced in 2005 as a 2006 model. In car terms, that's an eternity, though it's been refreshed twice. Still, FCA US will keep the LX-generation car going, reportedly facelifting it one last time for 2019. After that, there are some bigger changes in store . Automotive News is reporting that the follower to the current LX Charger will lose almost 500 pounds and will once again offer a turbo four-cylinder. You might remember the front-wheel-drive four-banger Charger of the early '80s. The recharged sedan will be twin-turbo and it's going to use the 300-horsepower four-cylinder engine currently under development for the 2018 Jeep Wrangler, AN says. The target weight for the future car is around 3,500 lbs, while the current car has a curb weight of nearly 4,000 lbs. Look for it to arrive in the early 2020s. The new platform will have a touch of Italian flair instead of the Daimler-Benz flavor embedded deep inside the LX cars. It will be built on an extended version of the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia's "Giorgio" platform, according to AN. Dealers were already shown a styling-buck almost a year ago. Related News: Featured Gallery 2015 Dodge Charger R/T View 42 Photos News Source: Automotive NewsImage Credit: AOL Alfa Romeo Dodge Future Vehicles Sedan FCA

It only took 2.5 years to create the Alfa Romeo Giulia

Automakers are capable of some remarkable things. Take Alfa Romeo, for example. A new vehicle generally takes four to five years to go from conception to production, but with the stunning new Giulia, the iconic Italian brand allegedly did it in less than three years. That's according Chief Engineer Philippe Krief, who spoke to Car about the, um, car. "You ask every carmaker: doing a car in two years, everyone will tell you it's not possible," Krief told Car. "The industry standard says four, the longest say five years, everywhere in the world. We had to do it in two and a half years. [Sergio] Marchionne said – and he's right – the only way to achieve that is to be different." Remarkably, this was done with just 11 people, handpicked by Krief. This so-called Skunkworks approach allowed for fast decision making and brainstorming, and consequently, stuff like the torque-vectoring system and active aerodynamics on the Quadrifoglio. While we love talking about Alfa's notorious Cloverleaf trim, Krief also let some details slip on additional members of the Giulia family, beyond the 510-horsepower, 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 model. We can expect to see those in a few months time, at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. And yes, that could include a four-cylinder model and a diesel V6. "Probably," Krief said, when asked about a four-cylinder model. "And we are package-protected for V6 diesel, we can install it in the car and after we can decide whether to put it in or not." So there you are. While the big news remains the Quadrifoglio, Alfa is set to expand the Giulia's engine range, and it'll do so very soon. Stay tuned. Related Video: