[alfavirusnz]

In the `60`s reading as a boy car magazines like Australian Sports Car World, Modern Motor, Wheels where they loved Alfa Romeo and being Italian cars with a huge successful motorsport history and a romantic exotic name which few in New Zealand could pronounce properly Alfa Romeo were really in a different world. Those that owned them were wealthy enthusiasts (they were very very dear in NZ) who had often brought them back with them from a trip overseas in the days when overseas travel itself was pretty exotic and expensive in a world before the internet etc (Remember the rest of you we are 12000miles away from Europe at the bottom of the world with a strong British, not European influence). The fact that the dealers brought in mainly coupes because they could charge more for them and buyers saw the coupes as more sporty helped that sporty glamous perception of the brand in Australasia.
Alfas, Maseratis, Lancias,Ferrari`s, Porsches were all seen as expensive exotica and were seen and valued quite a bit differently to Europe & North America. Only us older Kiwis and Aussies would appreciate this perception and maybe answers why we are a little more precious about them.