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Junkyard Gem: 1992 Alfa Romeo 164S

Even after Citroen, Fiat, Renault and Peugeot departed the United States (in 1975, 1983, 1988 and 1991, respectively, though Malcolm Bricklin continued to sell Fiat 124 Sport Spiders and X1/9s with Pininfarina and Bertone badges for a few more years), Alfa Romeo managed to hang on all the way through 1995. The final Alfa Romeo models available here (prior to the brand's return to our shores in 2009) were the old-school Spider Veloce sports car and the mean-looking 164 sedan. The 164 sold well enough here that I still see examples on the street now and then, and I find discarded ones in car graveyards as well. Today's Junkyard Gem is the top-of-the-line 164 available in 1992, the mighty S version, found in a Denver self-service yard last month. In 1992, American Alfa shoppers could spend $25,865 on the base 164, $29,456 on the more luxurious 164L, or $32,054 for the factory-hot-rod 164S (that's about $50,885, $57,950, and $63,060, respectively, in inflation-adjusted 2021 dollars). Comparing the numbers of the 164S against those of the BMW 535i for 1992 make the Alfa look like quite a deal. The big-engined 535i boasted 208 horsepower and had a $44,350 sticker price, while the monstrous M5 had 310 horses… but would set you back $58,600). That means the Alfa cost just under 75% as much as its Bavarian rival. Meanwhile, the Alfa 164S had this 3.0-liter V6 making 200 horsepower. That gave the 535i and 164S near-identical power-to-weight ratios (17.2 lb/hp for the BMW, 17.4 for the Alfa). Admittedly, the 164S's power went to the front wheels while the 535i had rear-wheel-drive, but the Alfa's 3.0 looked and sounded much better than the BMW's 3.4 (and it's nearly impossible to make a V6 sound better than a straight-six, as anyone who has endured the ailing-bovine groan of most 1990s Detroit V6s can affirm). You could get a four-speed ZF automatic on the 164 and 164L in 1992, but the 164S had just one transmission available: a five-speed manual. This car isn't rusty and the interior looked very nice for a near-30-year-old car in Colorado, but there are few with the mechanical skills and sheer bravery to take on one of these cars with nearly 200,000 miles on the clock. Its next stop shall be The Crusher. This Euro-market commercial is for the 164 with quad-cam "super" V6, available here only for the 1993 through 1995 model years, but you get the idea. In Europe, Alfa Romeo outsold both Honda and Saab! What better reason to buy a 164?

Dodge Hornet supposedly snapped inside Alfa Romeo Tonale factory

It appears that someone in Stellantis' Pomigliano d’Arco Assembly Plant in Italy couldn't keep their cellphone to themselves. Video uploaded to the Alfa Romeo Club Italia Facebook page, then quickly removed, purports to show Dodge's brand-engineered version of the Alfa Romeo Tonale in the same factory where the Alfa will be built. The Dodge is expected to be called the Hornet, and there are a few differences between it and and Alfa Romeo, which is understandable. But if the screenshots on Twitter are accurate, then the Dodge looks a lot closer to the Alfa Romeo than perhaps anyone expected. The front fascia and hood fall in line with Dodge's design language. The Alfa grille is replaced by a narrow, stepped upper grille, and the hood is one of the vented units similar to those available for Dodge's R/T performance trims. And as Mopar Insiders noticed, the silhouette of this car's front end matches a vehicle silhouette Dodge showed during Stellantis' 2021 EV Day.   Inside, the Italian brand's crest in the steering wheel center cap is replaced by Dodge's twin slashes, and the steering wheel has been stripped of the large, curved paddle shifters the Tonale showed on its debut. There's still a start/stop button on the steering wheel, but where the Tonale has a driving mode dial on its dash, this supposed Hornet has another start/stop button. Dodge's push-to-start buttons are usually on the instrument panel, so our guess is that the wheel is a holdover for testing. On the center tunnel, the parking alert buttons and Italian Tricolore flag on the Alfa Romeo are replaced by three different buttons.   We've known Dodge has two electrified vehicles on the way, and the Hornet name has been low-key buzzing for two years. Fiat Chrysler applied to trademark the name in the U.S. in March 2020; at the time, it was thought a vehicle with that name could replace the Journey. In 2021, a July rumor out of Italy was the first whisper of the Hornet name being attached to the Alfa Romeo Tonale. In August, when Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said Dodge would get a PHEV in 2024, watchers pegged that model as the Hornet. That hybrid powertrain would show a year after the vehicle's launch, the Hornet anticipated as a 2023 model with the Tonale's turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder. That engine could get the same 256 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque as the Tonale, or be boosted to satisfy Dodge's performance credentials.

Scrapyard Gem: 2011 Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Alfa Romeo first applied the Giulietta name to its cars in 1954, producing that legendary generation through 1965. The name was revived on a wild-looking sedan for the 1977-1985 period, just before Fiat bought the company, and then returned on a compact hatchback for the 2011 model year. Today's Junkyard Scrapyard Find is one of those first-year third-gen Giuliettas, found in a self-service yard in Yorkshire, England. Copart-owned U-Pull-It has two stores in Great Britain, one in England and the other in Scotland. I have documented quite a few not-available-on-our-side-of-the-water vehicles found during my trip over there, including a 2005 Smart ForFour, a 2002 BMW 320td, a 2005 Vauxhall Tigra TwinTop, a 2008 Mitsubishi i, a 2007 Mitsubishi Colt, a 2006 Peugeot 307 CC, a 2006 Hyundai Matrix, a 2006 Ford StreetKa, a 2000 Honda HR-V, a 1994 Rover 620 Si, a 2010 Peugeot Bipper, a 2009 Alfa Romeo Brera S, a 2010 Citroen C4 Picasso, a 2005 MG ZT 190 and a 1963 Bentley S3. This generation of Giulietta stayed in production through 2020, after which it was replaced by a Jeep Compass-related crossover that you can buy in the United States today. This car's closest U.S.-market relative was the 2013-2016 Dodge Dart, which was built on a widened version of the Giulietta platform; the 2015-2017 Chrysler 200 lived on a longer-wheelbase variation. The current Chrysler Pacifica still rides on a descendant of that chassis. Alfa Romeo managed to get the Giulietta into a starring role in Fast & Furious 6, back in 2013. There was talk in the early 2010s that the new Giulietta might be sold in the United States, but those tales turned out to lead nowhere. Instead, the 4C ended up being the first new Alfa Romeo available here since the last Spider Veloces and 164s were sold as 1995 models. I couldn't get the bonnet open on this car, quickly losing patience thanks to fingers frozen solid by Yorkshire January weather, so we'll just have to speculate about the engine beneath. Giulietta shoppers in the U.K. market could get the '11 with one of eight engine choices, ranging from the base 1.4 MultiAir straight-four petrol-burner and its 120 horsepower all the way up to a screaming 1.75-liter straight-four with 235 horses. Fiat Multijet diesels in 1.6- and 2.0-liter form were available as well. This one has the base six-speed manual, which Dart buyers could get bolted into their cars (few did so).