Well, I'm back from Italy and the "Quest for the Italian Tiger". I'd
like to thank those who personally replied to my thread: Paul Burr and
his warnings about Italian driving. He was correct! Our native guide
Gulia (wow!) said that traffic signals and directions were "merely
suggestions"; Graeme Sutherland and his immediate recognition of "Guide
Book" Italian; Jeff Nichols for his reminder that my reference source
wasn't complete; Rich Atherton for correctly identifying William
Carroll's book as my quoted source; Ray McCrary for his healthy
skepticism (bogus?); and Stuart Brennan for his "Raiders of the Lost
Ark" quotations, but I think "The Last Crusade" and the search for the
Grail would probably be closer .
O.K., I didn't find it. That doesn't mean it's not there, as I didn't
see a Ferrari either. The trouble was not that the rumor wasn't
correct, it was just the wrong time period. It was the Alpine, not the
Tiger, that got the Italian body touch, and it was 1963. Carozzeria
Superleggera Touring, of Milan, designed the Alpine twin fuel tanks and
vertical spare in 1961. Rootes had arranged Italian manufacture
(asssembly) of the Alpine for 1963, and Touring designed a new rear end
treatment with vertical rear fenders and a single horizontal grille bar,
which was shown at the Turin Motor Show in 1963 and wound up as the Mk
IV when Rootes adopted the design and showed the car in Brussels Motor
show in 1964. They also designed a coupe' version of the Rootes Sceptre
for the Italian market called the Venezia (Venice?). Reference: Mike
Taylor, The Making of a Sports Car, pages 26-30.
So, could history have repeated itself a few years later? Couldn't
verify even though I asked all the bartenders and patrons at Harry's Bar
in Venice and the "name-alike" in Rome. I was at the Vatican, but
didn't ask!, however there were some areas of the Sistine Chapel ceiling
where Michaelangelo seems to have sketched a Da Vinci Tiger concept car,
it seemed to be right there amongst the tortured souls being dragged to
hell.
Anyway, I guess I'll just have to try again another time. Any
recommendations as to locale? Maybe the IRA stole it and it's somewhere
in Ireland, or secreted by Scotch Separatists in a distillery in Skye?
(;>
--
Steve Laifman < Find out what is most >
B9472289 < important in your life >
< and don't let it get away!>
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