http://www.machinewarriors.com?from=7
hi guys, I’ve found this clip on the net…finally Fiat have done something not so “squared”, check it out and gimme your impressions!
pretty intense little vid, a bit cheese, but that never hurts.
Alchi_ nice site, impressive work.
pretty intense little vid,
A quick google ‘image’ search turned up several pages of Brera images … curiously many of them will not up load here, but their URLs will bring up the image.
The rear window is expecially pleasing, IMHO. Six headlights … ? One set may be ‘driving light’ Where have they placed the turn indicators?
Being a California resident, I can’t help but 
for what our front license plate requirement will do to the appearance of this vehicle.
Kinda makes me yearn for my old 124 Spyder … but just kinda.
if I designed one of the best looking cars on the planet, that Alfa would be it. It’s perfect.
I had a Fiat 124 too! A 1972 Syder convertible. It was a cool little car, twin OHC, 5-speed, 4 wheel disc brakes, the top went up-and-down single-handed, and the seats really held you in place. One of it’s most impressive features was the great exhaust note it had, due in part to the dual exhaust system I fitted it with. The only thing they could have done to make it prettier would have been to leave off the bumpers. But hey, it was 1972.
Trouble was, it was underpowered, way underpowered; in '72 it was a 1600. We’re talking strictly stalk-and-pounce when it came to passing other vehicles. Downhill was another story entirely; a great handling road car that would seriously stress an inexperienced 911 driver (which was most of them at the time).
But I digress…
Allowing that the Brera might actually be one of the most beautiful cars ever built, do you think GM/Fiat can get over the “it’s-not-a-corvette” issue and build it for North American comsumption? And what engine; a V8, a Turbo 6; American built or Italian? Better be Italian, or GM will have demonstrated that it doesn’t undertand it’s customers.
And then there is the Fix It Again Tony reputation that FIAT has worked long and hard to develop. I loved my 124, but it left high and dry more than once. At the age of 24 I didn’t care, but at 50+ I’m not interested in paying $40K+ for a vehicle with reliability issues.
GM gifted Fiat a profit in the third quarter last year by swapping back their stock plus a cash penalty for pulling out of the deal. Supposedly, Fiat was thinking of using a clause in the GM contract to force GM to buy them out. If that wouldn’t have bankrupt GM, I don’t know what would have.
interesting point about the California lic. plate problem. There must be a list ten reams pf paper long about the requirements for front end design and legal bs that a designer has to go through.
With the current government requirements does it sour the attitude and desire for young car designers? I would be pissed if I went to four years of school and only had the opportunity to redesign the same jelly-bean looking car for 30 years.
I like the fiat. If they come here I guess Gm dealerships would handle the distribution.
Actually, the regulations in the US that effect design are relatively few.
The crash tests are the biggest factor that effect design, although this has become a smaller factor with engineering improvements. Typically, an engineer wants as a big an overhang as possible to have an adequate crumple zone. I think the Canadian bumper regulations have led to the larger North American bumpers too as compared to European cars (a Euro Focus is 4 inches shorter than the US, all in the bumpers).
The other regulations have to do with having lighting, but are pretty liberal about where the lights are located. That’s why sportscar drivers complain about SUVs blinding them.
Of course, all of these regs are for manufacturers only. The end consumer can and does change all of this. I took the side turn signals off of my 914 when I was in highschool. It’s popular for people to change the colors of their turn signals and headlights. etc.
About the only thing you can’t do is take that front plate and toss it in the trash. Too bad.
I had to sell my '68 Karmann Ghia last year Sweet little car with 200K+ on the odometer. The car was dead stock, except for Konis, heavy bars, and the 1800 stroker that hid under the engine cover. I kept the original engine on a pallet in my shop; it would get ‘re-installed’ (temporarily) every two years to pass ‘smog’ testing, and then it was back onto the pallet.
It had the original black’n’yellow California tags on it. Well, it had the REAR tag on it anyway. The front tag was so ‘sand blasted’ and corroded by bug juices, that it was generally illegible. So I took it off many years ago.
I bought the car in '77 and had only two ‘occassions’ to speak with Officers of the Law (something about excessive velocity); my lack of a front tag was never even mentioned. If they had asked, I carried it in the trunk, and would have said that it recently fell off … But thanks for asking Ossifer.
I’ve seen quite a few new 'Vettes running out here without their front tag. Gee Ossifer, I guess I forgot to put it on … honest.
Still, front tags are required, and as such constitue an legitimate design requirement (constraint). European plates being proportioned as they are, one might fit under the grill opening on Brera
Front tags are assine. What function do they serve? If you’re speeding chances are that the CHP is going to overtake you, not pick you up in their rearview mirror. Maybe the front tags make it easier for meter maids (they don’t have to walk all the way to the ear of your vehicle to get your #).