I spotted this little Alfa across from an Italian restaurant and around the corner of the German battleship, in the trendy district of Clerkenwell. I was there to stake out a car made entirely from Play-Doh, but to no success. Clerkenwell is a small area, and a bright-blue Play-Doh car is hard to miss, so maybe the powers that be hid it from me in the most intricate manner (it’s in Thurrock this week, wherever that is). And I wasn’t even hungover, either. The sacrifices I make in the name of scientific curiosity (and for Hooniverse readers)!

 

Being the only car in the square that’s fire-engine red, this Alfa Romeo Giulietta is hard to miss. Seriously, every car around there was either white, silver, a darker silver, or dark blue, proving once and for all that Americans, Brits, and the Germans have all fallen under the evil spell of the monochrome.

This Nuova Giulietta features less sensuous curves than the first one, but certainly more power: this model features the 2.0-liter big block, pumping out 120 horsepower and a 0-60 of about 9 seconds. Later models could be had with turbo powah! and swanky Autodelta tuning, but it’s a rare beast: only 361 were produced, all with the same black exterior and bucket-o’-blood red seats. No Alfa red? Well, it was on the inside.

As long as you stayed away from the turbodiesel model, which moves to 60mph in about the same time it takes John Goodman to finish the 100-meter hurdles (19.4 seconds, or three days in normal time).

If any aspiring Don Drapers want to create an ad campaign for Italian cars, they could very well move this next to the Grey Lady around the corner. “Look how soul-less these other cars are!” some overly excited Italian man could shout. “And look at the Alfa! Such soul! Such passion! And such, etc, ad nauseaum.” I probably wouldn’t watch it, because I’d be too busy hunting down the Play-Doh car instead. It’s a way better adventure in advertising.