The Alfa 164 is a truly beautiful car.
Produced from 1987 to 1998 it was a 4 door saloon that was designed by
Alfa Romeo to go head to head with traditional German executive saloons
like the BMW 5 series and the Meredes Benz W124 series. Of course, being
an Alfa Romeo, it was drop dead beautiful. I spotted a beautiful
example earlier today, an 164 3.0 in full Cloverleaf specification -
bodykit and 17 inch telephone dial wheels. I thought I'd say a few words
about it.
The 164 was based on something called the Type Four platform. The 'Type
Four' came from the fact that development of the chassis was shared
between Alfa Romeo (164), Fiat (Croma), Lancia (Thema) and Saab (900).
According to legend, the 164 had the most variation when it came to
chassis design and had a special front suspension setup compared to the
rest.
Anyway, of the four, the Alfa Romeo 164 was the best looking. It had a
body designed by Pininfarina. An it looked stunning, especially with the
bodykit and telephone dial wheels (I had to say it again). At an era
where BMW and Mercedes Benz had stately and traditional lines the 164
was unique. It also came with a rorty sounding twin spark plug 2.0liter
4 cylinder engine and the most beautiful looking 3.0liter v6 in the
world which sang as if it were angels trumpeting. You couldn't get
better than this when it came to engines. Of course, when it came to
everything else other than looks and performance, things started to go
slightly downhill.
It was Front Wheel Drive. To some this wasn't traditional enough. But
the 1980s was an era where almost every car manufacturer started using
front wheel drive. It was quite a handler even though it had it wheels
driven by the ones in the 'wrong' place. The steering was sharp and the
car felt smaller than what it was. For left hand drive markets there was
the all-wheel drive 164 QV which added all weather grip and abit more
'cred' to its specifications.
It also suffered from the typical Alfa Romeo reliability issues
especially in humid Malaysia. Electrical gremlins and slightly
underbuilt controls like the ones that controlled the air conditioning
broke. Spares were slightly expensive as not many people wanted to cater
for Alfa Romeo here. So the car was sold to local Alfistis and a
smattering of people who were curious and wanted to know why were there
grown men going 'ga'ga' over the brand. This basically caused Alfa Romeo
second hand values to be lower compared to other brands. Of course,
this benefited Alfa Romeo enthusiasts who couldn't afford splurging the
required RM215,000 or thereabouts for the 3.0 v6 in the early 1990s.
Anyway, the 164 (also called 168 in Feng Shui sensitive countries) was,
and is a fabulous car. Typically Alfa Romeo with its idiosyncrasies,
flaws and all (if it were a Proton it'll be thrown into the drain,
nuked and covered up in a landfill) yet still wanted and yearned by
many.
So now if you wanted one and scoured the local wanted ads, like this one
plucked from mudah.my, you could be the owner of an Alfa Romeo 164 for
about RM13,500.00 for the 164 3.0 Super pictured below or even cheaper
(below RM10,000). And the prices are negotiable too. Of course, you
could be digging your own grave buying one and may be a frequent visitor
to the workshop. The boss of the workshop will be your best friend and
he will be on your speed dial. But it isn't all too bad. You would be
owning a fantastically beautiful modern classic of a car.
