2011 HCOTY Nominee: The Romeo 33 Stradale

On the face of it, the for this nomination should be This is a breathtakingly gorgeous It has curves that defy

It is built for performance, it is built for and it is built for pure … It was designed to be Alfa Romeo#8217;s across the bow at Ferrari, and it achieved of these goals with But the Hooniversal Car of the Year is not just being an awesome car; it be much more than

But let#8217;s come back to Let#8217;s talk about the car for a moment. This car was a road-going of the Tipo 33 race car, a powerplant unlike anything in the Alfa lineup. It used a V8, with fuel injection, 16 plugs and chain-driven dual cams, producing 260 horsepower, and a redline of 10,000 RPM.

In 1968. It was mid-engined, with a transaxle, and a 0-60 time in the 5 range. Again, in 1968.

It just 1500 lbs, was largely of magnesium alloys to weight, and cost over To put that in perspective, the average in 1968 cost about the average annual income was $7,000, and the average car cost $2,800. In the world before supercars, this was the prototype.

built 18 of them.

But even at you have to think it was worth it. Its simply cannot be overstated. It is the Rabbit of cars.

Exaggerated almost cartoonish in proportion, but real substance under the it is the sort of car young car guys of, and carmakers aspire to.

But still, for all its why is it worthy of being the Hooniversal Car of the After all, despite all its curves, it is just another old

Meet the Alfa Romeo 4C This is the car that is expected to Alfa Romeo#8217;s return to the American market. With just less than a Boxster or Audi TT-S, it pack a 2.0L direct-injected engine in the 260 horsepower range, and a time in the sub-5 second

And, even with all the safety equipment required for a car, it#8217;s still to weigh only 1800

To say this new car was inspired by the 33 Stradale is in fact, the designers were the task of breathing some new into the tired and flagging Romeo brand, of building a between the phenomenal 8C Competizione and the of the Alfa lineup. And the 33 Stradale is the they grasped to launch revolution.

In many ways, Romeo had become the Chrysler of They produced nice They were attractive, and in ways were pleasant to drive. But in reality, nobody one.

Their reputation for quality or was tarnished, just like They had lost their They were priced to a BMW or an Audi, but they lacked the of the Germans.

They didn#8217;t as well as the Germans. They have the features or the engineering of the But hey, they had soul, if saying so would cost you a few in the jar.

Sadly, in recent they had even lost They were a brand a direction, without an identity. like most of the offerings the FIAT Group, in fact.

So Marchionne set them the task of their mojo. And in seeking it is the 33 Stradale that jump-started hearts, and reminded them of an Alfa should be: gorgeous, fun, gorgeous, fast, and with just a tiny of full-out bat-… crazy.

It#8217;s worth noting the designers were only a very tiny window of to create the car. If they do it in the allotted time, the project be scrapped #8212; and, it was Alfa Romeo would be lock-stock-and-barrel, to Volkswagen who had privately that they would be to acquire a brand they FIAT was squandering.

This had to do with any financial urgency, with Marchionne#8217;s desire to his staff, to see if they had the ability. The timeframe meant that simply wasn#8217;t the possibility of the getting mired in committees and politics. The number-crunchers could set restraints, but they couldn#8217;t attempting to penny-pinch the passion out of the

The goal was met, and their for a successful concept was that gave the car the green light, allowing the committees and number-crunchers to it. Sure, some tweaks needed, but all sources report the finished concept is almost the production car we will see on the road.

This is exciting, but it#8217;s all the since Marchionne has indicated clearly that this be the strategy used to reboot all the in the FIAT household #8212; Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep. will be given a very task, even a direct and a very tight timeline to up with a viable product. And the whose job it is to design these will be trusted to do their without micro-management and hand-holding.

If can#8217;t do it, they will be replaced with people who

So, in a way, the Alfa Romeo 33 could very well be the car brings about the return of Romeo to North American with a product we might be willing to buy, and even new life into the flagging brands. Of course, it#8217;s too to tell, but to be perfectly honest, for the being it doesn#8217;t even Suddenly, we have a car returning the old to the car industry.

A car reaching through time to us across our discouraged, disenfranchised A car that reminds us, forcefully, of a when automobiles were of raw, unbridled passion, of of a sheer love of the automotive

Will it succeed? Only will tell. Maybe fallen too far, maybe sinned too badly to be redeemed. But breathtaking swirl of colour, and barely-restrained … appeal 30-odd years ago is doing it can to reignite our love of the automobile. It may be our hope of salvation.

If that#8217;s not enough to give it the nod for our Car of the Year, perhaps we aren#8217;t worth