Alfa Romeo GT 1600 Junior

If you’ve been religiously reading my articles and if you are an Italian car enthusiast, you would have noticed that there are very few Italian automobile articles here. Well, to follow my earlier article, ‘The History of Ferrari’ of which Enzo Ferrari was actually an employee of Alfa Romeo, I will be writing about an iconic 70s Alfa Romeo, the Alfa Romeo GT 1600 Junior.

The Alfa Romeo GT 1600 Junior was derived for the successful 105/115 Series coupes and there were many models in this series which included the famous GTV 2000 and the GTA models. It came with a 1.6 litre DOHC 4 cylinder engine and it had the impressive twin Weber carburettors that gave the car it’s roar and of course power. During it’s four year production period from 1972-1976, about 80,000 units were produced and this became the in-between model of the GT 1300 Junior and the bigger GTV 2000.

Several months back, I came across the GT 1600 Junior and I must admit Alfas were never favourites of mine although I’m a fan of Ferraris. This car was a decently kept one but needed some work on the body especially. Other than that, the car ran well with it’s reasonably well tuned Webers, the car was a joy to drive. Unfortunately, a good offer came and the car had to go hence I don’t have any pics to put up. Perhaps once the car is fully done up by the new owner, I’ll insert a few pics. I’ve included below a short photo video for you to enjoy.

MG TD 1950

Back to the British car theme, MGs have always been known for manufacturing iconic coupes/convertible compared to their sedans. Probably the most common and well known cars are the MGAs and the MGBs. Today I will be talking about the MG T Series and in particular the MG TD.

There were five models available in the T-Series, namely the MG TA, TB, TC, TD and finally the TF. The production years for these five models were from 1936 – 1955. All the models came with a 1.3 litre engine except for the MG TF which also came with a 1.5 litre engine as an option. My favourites will have to be the MG TA and the later MG TF but recently I came across a rather beautiful and well kept MG TD so I will be concentrating more on this car. During the MG TD production period of 1950 – 1953, there were about 30,000 units built.

Steel wheels with hub cap

The MG TD only came in the roadster variant and it was a car which had many firsts for this range of MGs. One distinct difference was it’s front grille which was slightly smaller and also slightly angled compared to it’s predecessor. It also came with 15 inch steel wheels which were coupled with a hub cap on top (pic above).

In Malaysia, the MG TD or shall I say the MG TD shape should be quite familiar as in the late 90s a Malaysian company actually got the rights to build a replica of it which was known as the TD2000. There are a number on the road and with modern technology in it, it’s quite an easy car to drive compared the it’s original 1950s counterparts.

Below I have attached some pics of the MG TD that I came across recently. It’s a reasonably well kept one I must say, though it was a little dusty when the pics were taken. And also, I’ve attached two videos as below, one a 1950 MG TD and the other a 1952 MG TD. And as always, if you are looking for more details on the car, you can always search for it online as if I’m going to get into details then this write up will end up being quite a long one :)

The videos

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The History of Ferrari

Ferrari… hhmmm… Well, I’m sure most of you guys get excited by just the mention of that name itself or your jaws would just drop when you see one of the road. Today, I’m going to be giving a brief history on this particular make which is always associated with speed or otherwise known as the prancing horse. The company’s story officially began in 1947 when the first Ferrari emerged from the historic factory entrance on Via Abetone Inferiore in Maranello. The 125 S, as it was known, embodied the passion and determination of the company’s founder, Enzo Ferrari.

Enzo Ferrari was born in Modena on February 18th 1898 and died on August 14th 1988. He devoted his entire life to designing and building sports cars and, of course, to the track. Having been made an official Alfa Romeo driver in 1924, within five years he had gone on to found the Scuderia Ferrari on Viale Trento Trieste in Modena which assisted mostly gentlemen drivers in racing their cars.In 1938, Enzo Ferrari was appointed head of Alfa Corse but quit the position in 1939 to set up his own company, Auto Avio Costruzioni, which operated out of the old Scuderia buildings.This new company produced the 1,500 cm³ 8-cylinder 815 spider, two of which were built for the Mille Miglia in 1940.

Enzo Ferrari

All racing activities ground to a halt, however, with the outbreak of the Second World War and, in late 1943, Auto Avio Costruzioni moved from Modena to Maranello. The end of the war saw Ferrari design and build the 1,500 cm³ 12-cylinder 125 S, which made its competitive debut in the hands of Franco Cortese at the Piacenza Circuit on May 11th 1947. On the 25th of the same month, it won the Rome Grand Prix at the city’s Terme di Caracalla Circuit. Since that fateful day, Ferrari has garnered over 5,000 victories on the world’s tracks and roads, becoming a modern-day legend in the process. In order to meet growing market demand, Enzo Ferrari sold the Fiat Group a 50% stake in the company in 1969, a figure that rose to 90% in 1988.

Ferrari’s share capital is currently divided as follows: 90% Fiat Group, 10% Piero Ferrari. After the founder passed away in the late 1980s, the shareholders decided to relaunch the struggling company, appointing Luca di Montezemolo as Chairman in 1991. Under the latter’s guidance, Ferrari returned to predominance in Formula 1, launched a string of new models and opened up new markets whilst still retaining the core values from its past. Ferrari also embarked upon Formula Uomo, a major renovation programme that puts employees firmly at the centre of company life by creating a bright, safe, innovative and eco-friendly working environment. Up to now Ferrari’s list of racing plaudits read as follows: 15 F1 Drivers’ World titles, 16 F1 Constructors’ World titles, 14 Sports Car Manufacturers’ World titles, 9 victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours, 8 in the Mille Miglia, 7 in the Targa Florio, and 216 in F1 grands prix.

Ferrari F1 cars from 1950 - 2010

The legendary symbol used by Ferrari has heroic origins. It was first adopted as a personal emblem by a highly decorated Italian World War I pilot, Francesco Baracca, who had it painted on the fuselage of his aircraft. At the end of the war, Baracca’s parents offered to allow Enzo Ferrari use the Cavallino Rampante (Prancing Horse) symbol. He adopted it as the logo for his racing Scuderia, placing it on a yellow shield in honour of his hometown of Modena and topping it with the Italian tricolour. The classic Ferrari red, however, was simply the colour assigned by the International Automobile Federation to Italian grand prix cars in the early years of the last century.

I’ve also attached a pic with a few of the famous models manufactured by Ferrari from the 1950s to the mid 2000s. I’ve also done write-ups before on some of my favourite Ferraris such as the Ferrari 308 and the Ferrari 360.

Famous Ferrari models from 1950 - mid 2000

Article source: auto.ferrari.com

Volvo 120 Series - 121/122S/123GT

If you’ve been following my articles right from the beginning you would have realised that I’m more into British and German cars. So obviously a Volvo write-up will be somewhat odd. Well, the truth is I was never and am still not a fan of Swedish cars which include Volvos and Saabs being the more prominent names. But there is one Swedish name that excites me which is none other than Koenigsegg who are a manufacturer of Super Cars. Well, let’s leave the Super Cars alone and concentrate on what is known to be an iconic series of Volvos after the P1800 series, which is none other than the 120 Series.

The Volvo 120 series consisted of the Volvo 121, the 122S and the rare 123GT. Better known as the Volvo Amazon in some parts of the world, the cars came in 3 different body types which include the two-door coupes, the four-door sedan and the station wagons. Close to 700,000 units were manufactured during it’s production period form 1956 – 1970 and there were three different engine variations available namely the B16 which was a 1.6 litre, the B18 a 1.8 litre and the B20 a 2 litre. Although most of the models had the manual transmission there were a few later models (1964 onwards) that came with the automatic transmission.

The Volvo 120 Series of cars were certainly beautifully designed cars compared to the later models Volvo came out with such as the 240, and the 940. In Malaysia, the 120 Series is probably one of the most collected classic in the country after the ever famous Volkswagen Beetle and the Mini. Of course not all are in the best of condition nevertheless parts are easily available be it new or used though I find them a little pricey. A decent Volvo 122S will cost in the region of RM 10,000-20,000 depending on the condition and the coupe models such as the 123GT naturally command a slightly higher value due to it’s rarity. 

The pictures attached are some of the well kept 120 Series models available in Malaysia covering all the models which include the sedan, coupe and the wagon. I've also attached a rather interesting video of a 1967 Volvo 122S coupe.