Today, an article appeared in the National Post's Auto section featuring President Tersini's Berlina complete with picture.
Here's the link:
Babying beloved Berlina
or read it here
Babying beloved Berlina
Fred Langan, National Post
Published: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
The last owner called it Alfie. Now the Alfa Romeo 1750 Berlina belongs to Anthony Tersigni, who doesn't have the time to give it a nickname. Tersigni is a serious Alfa nut. This is Alfa number four in his garage in Richmond Hill, Ont., and he is president of the Alfa Romeo Club of Canada.
"This Berlina is a European model, and it's much faster than the one ... brought into Canada and the U. S.," says Tersigni, who bought the car in early June.
He points out that the car's gauges are in Italian: olio for the oil pressure and benzina on the fuel gauge. On the rear deck is the 1750 nomenclature beside the Alfa Romeo badge. In the same spot on the North American model is Inienzione for fuel injection. That fuel injection may be more modern, but Tersigni says it is just one more thing that slows down the version that was imported into Canada and the United States.
"[My] car has two Weber carburetors," says Tersigni. "When you step on it, it goes. The other car was de-tuned for the American pollution rules and that really slowed it down."
He isn't kidding. Tersigni's Berlina may have only 132 horsepower, but we're doing 110 kilometres an hour in no time. The Alfa makes a great sound as it's puts through its paces.
The first thing that catches one's eye about Tersigni's Alfa is the mint paint job. The 30-year-old car is painted burgundy, an original colour, and the interior looks almost new. The car might well be a bargain, considering the previous owner had it stripped down to the bare metal and professionally restored. But a lot of collectors think this four-door sedan is pretty boring. Sports Car Market Magazine described the 1750 Berlina as "the least interesting model of Alfa saloon ever imported to the United States."
Tersigni disagrees as he shifts the five-speed transmission on a dead-end road near his house. He says the magazine is talking about the U. S. version. Tersigni travels to Alfa Romeo shows across North America and he says he has never seen another European model of his car. "It's certainly the only European Berlina in Canada," he assures me.
Tersigni's obsession with Alfa Romeos extends beyond restoring and driving them. On a trip to Italy, he made a special pilgrimage to the Alfa Romeo museum in Milan. During the driving months of spring, summer and fall, he and his fellow members of the Toronto chapter of the Alfa Romeo Club (
www.alfaclub.ca)have regular meets, and he goes to Alfa events from Florida to Nevada. That's why he's pretty sure his car is unique. His other Alfas include a 1976 Spider 2.0-litre, a white two-door convertible in mint shape. The garage it is sitting in is so neat one would never know people actually work on cars here. Apart from the drivable cars, the body of an old Alfa Romeo Guilia Spider 1600 hangs on the garage wall.
Beside his white Spider is a "round tail," the name for the Alfa Spider Junior 1300. Tersigni and his father, Joe -- who learned to work on Alfa Romeos in his native Italy -- are nowhere near finishing this restoration. But the Junior is one of the most famous of Alfas, all because of a movie.
"It's the one Dustin Hoffman drove in The Graduate. It's car that he drives off with the girl at the end of the movie," says Tersigni.
After our spin in the Berlina, we sit in the kitchen and Tersigni brings out some of his Alfa books. He loves his own cars, but what type of Alfa would he buy if he won the lottery?
Without hesitation, he says he would get the 1967 Stradale, although he adds that he might have a hard time choosing between the gull-wing and the convertible. But for now he'll just baby his Berlina.
-30-
Ciao
Ken
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