Curbsideclassic provided the inspiration for this short post. The article provides a nice run-down on these wonderful cars.
When I think of romance and cars I tend to think of certain marques: Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Rover (to some extent), and perhaps some Ferraris. And that’s really it. Is it perhaps not uncoincidental that these brands are not in the best of health or, these days, not very romantic in their expression?
There might be an underlying factor operating here. Whatever the engineers might have felt, these vehicles turned out as machines with a more passionate character than is normal. You can argue that Rover is anything but romantic, as romantic as a tweed jacket. I’d say there is a British version, a sentimentality if you like (and I don’t mean that in a negative way) that allows me to make parallels with the way Romance was expressed in the Italian vehicles. You could call it a form of idealism.
I’m tempted to think of a Venn diagram here, with three circles overlapping. Some Lancias, Alfas and Rovers were far from romantic and were rather ordinary or aggressive. Enough of them are not, which is why I feel justified in presenting Lancia (among the three) as a Romantic car and this one, it simply commands one to think of a summer time drive, a picnic and a quiet time in the countryside.
Driven To Write 