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| Supposing for a minute that time travel were possible, 1973 might seem an unlikely destination. Here in America our misery in Vietnam was finally ending with a whimper even as the first rotten whiffs of Watergate began wafting through Washington. Not much relief on the radio; though disco was still a few years off , the waves were dominated with godawful dreck like Delta Dawn and [There’s Got to Be] The Morning After. Hollywood was in a dark mood too, judging by the release of Mean Streets, Badlands, The Exorcist, and The Poseidon Adventure. And, as if casting a shadow to our own dark days, 1973 was the year the WTC Twin Towers were completed. | | Not everything was depressing that year, though. For one thing, provided you had a spare 5 grand or so, you could still go down to your local Alfa Romeo dealer and buy a brand new 2000 GTV. For many of us the Bertone-styled GTV has come to represent the quintessential Alfa -- small, fast, beautiful, with a peerless racing pedigree, though not entirely without its share of maddening quirks that sometimes make Alfa ownership an act of devotion. By 1973 the GTV had been around for the better part of a decade. Alfa first unveiled the Giugiaro-penned prototype in 1963 at the new factory in Arese. Production of the Giulia Sprint GT, as it was then known, began in the second half of '64. It was powered by the 1570cc twincam used throughout Alfa's Giulia range. |
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