Alfa Romeo 1750 Berlina

(Newspress)

Despite having been in the car-making business for half a century, Subaru has managed never, ever to have made anything that could be considered a classic. So instead, here is a classic Italian take on the dad car; the 1967 Alfa Romeo 1750 Berlina saloon. This square-cut, Lada-esque four door, with its deceptively simple, architectural lines echoing the Italian brutalist school, was based on one of my all-time favourite cars, the 1750GTV coupé, which meant that it came with the magical, free-revving 1779cc, twin-cam engine, fruity Alfa exhaust note, disc brakes all round and slick, five-speed gearbox. Some said the saloon handled even better than the coupé, but, as with all Italian cars of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and frankly, those from the 1980s and early 1990s too, the Berlina was not suited to life in climates north of Naples and the vast majority ended up as crumbling piles of ferrous oxide. Shame really, as Alfa's downfall neatly coincided with the rise of BMW as a manufacturer of supremely competent, if rather soulless, dad saloons.