Alfa Romeo Alfasud Price Guide

The Alfasud was one of the most talented and tragic cars of the 1970s. Rudolf Hruska and Karl Ludvigsen designed a front-wheel-drive saloon with a flat-four boxer engine, all-disc brakes, and handling that embarrassed everything in its class. Then it rusted to pieces in front of its owners’ eyes.

The Car

Built from 1972 to 1984 at a purpose-built factory in Pomigliano d’Arci near Naples — a politically motivated location intended to bring industry to southern Italy — the Alfasud used a water-cooled boxer four-cylinder in 1.2 to 1.5-litre form. The engine sat low and flat ahead of the front axle, giving the car a low centre of gravity and precise, balanced handling that road testers compared to the BMW 2002. The Ti and Ti Green Cloverleaf versions offered genuine hot hatch performance before the genre existed.

The Rust

Recycled Soviet steel, a damp factory with inadequate ventilation, and poor-quality rustproofing combined to create cars that corroded from new. Alfasuds were rusting on dealers’ forecourts. The reputation was so severe that it dragged the entire Alfa Romeo brand down in the UK market. Surviving cars have either been comprehensively restored or have led sheltered lives. There is no in-between.

The Alfasud spawned the sporty Alfasud Sprint coupe by Giorgetto Giugiaro, which used the same boxer engine in a more attractive body and has survived in larger numbers thanks to better care from enthusiast owners.