Alfa ARNA TI carrozzeria Martino Minardi

Alfa_Japan · #1 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 06:57 AM

Forum members. About 4 years ago I accidentaly ran ito a sales brochure of the Alfa Romeo ARNA TI with a body of designer Martino Minardi. This obscure Alfa made as a one-off has remained a mystery to me ever since. Searching the web hasn't brought any result. Does anybody on this forum have additional information to share? The sales brochure (even though this car was never for sale) is the only thing I could find so far. Does this car still exist, if so where? Does anybody have some clear pictures of this car?

Dinky Boy · #2 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 08:17 AM

I found the address of a Carrozzeria Minardi:

Carrozzeria Minardi
V.le Luigi Bodio 32/3
20158 Milano MI

t: 0226412379

Maybe they can help?

BTW: I also found an astonishing Estonian Arna...
Unfortunately without the Alfa 'scudo'...

gtv2000 · #3 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alfa_Japan

Alfa Romeo ARNA TI

Craig_m67 · #4 (**permalink**) 09-13-2006, 04:12 AM

The Arna was a Nissan 'pulsar' [in australia] with the boxer engine in it wasn't it ... it never came to Aust.
...And, there is a minari on uk ebay at the moment ..

http://http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Minari-...QQcmdZViewItem

looks to be based on a Sprint, horrific looking thing, i'd want to restore it back personally

francz67 · #5 (**permalink**) 09-18-2006, 02:35 PM

Hello,
I was living in Italy from 1980 to 1995, and I remember when the ARNA was presented in 1980 (Alfa Romeo Nissan Automible) which was a Nissan Pulsar coupled to an Alfa Boxer, the car was a disaster us Alsfisti could not stand it sold very little and it was scrapped after 2 years or so, Minardi is a high performance builder he had a F1 team don't know if he still builds F1 engines. Don't know of any ARNA Minardi projects unless minardi decided to do something on their own using the Arna

**tubut** · #6 (**permalink**) 09-18-2006, 02:57 PM

An Alfa collector I know still has an Arna TI. He says the car is wonderful to drive -- if I recall correctly, he compared the driving behavior and cornering ability to the Junior Z.
The only thing he doesn't like about it that when you pull up top a red light or a stop sign in the city, and got to see a reflection of the car in a store window, he usually thought "what an ugly car" before realizing he was actually looking at his own car...

py105 · #7 (**permalink**) 09-19-2006, 06:43 AM

There are still heaps of the Pulsars they were based on here in Aus.. Everytime I see one I think "ooh look an Arna"

alfavirusnz · #8 (**permalink**) 09-30-2006, 06:41 PM

The Arna In Nissan form was sold as a Nissan Milano in Japan. We used to see the odd one over here as used Jap imports.

Richard J
`69 GTJ, `74 GTV , `77 Alfetta GTV, `81 Alfasud Ti, `84 GTV6, `88 33 1.7QV, `90 164 3.0 auto

kribensis · #9 (**permalink**) 10-01-2006, 09:15 AM

I remember them in england......they kind of arrived from nowhere... no-one really new if they were a fish or a foul...never considered to be "real" alfas ...hardly surprising when hardcore alfisti were still looking down their noses at the alfasuds.

Dinky Boy · #10 (**permalink**) 10-02-2006, 03:15 AM

This thread wasn't about Arnas in general, Alfa_Japan was looking for information about a special bodied version.

Could this be the one?

I found the picture in the gallery of the German www.alfisti.net forum. The car (Austrian license plates) was owned by the mother of one of the members. Maybe he has more information.

gtv2000 · #11 (**permalink**) 10-02-2006, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtv2000

I somehow fail to feel sorry I don't know the car...

Alfaman75 · #12 (**permalink**) 01-03-2009, 06:56 AM

I'm also looking for more information/pictures about this car.

Dinky Boy · #13 (**permalink**) 01-03-2009, 07:04 AM

Amazing pic...

Where does it come from?

**biz5300** · #14 (**permalink**) 01-03-2009, 08:53 AM

The Alfa Arna was in fact a Nissan Cherry built in Italy at the Napoli plant I believe. Alfa engined however, at this time no japanese cars were sold in Italy due to Italian legislation, I believe that it was only destined for the Italian domestic market and if you look closely they have the same ody the Cherry and the Arna... The Arna TI oictured below looks rather south american in appearence.. Never seen that one before..

Nik.. biz5300

**tubut** · #15 (**permalink**) 01-03-2009, 10:59 AM

The car in post #12 is very interesting. I wonder if this is the Carrozzeria Minardi car mentioned in post #1.

Arnas were not sold only within Italy. Below is a picture that shows the Arnas at the Alfa Blue Team. The car on the left is a "TI" (with tainted glass) that I was told was originally delivered to Switzerland while the car on the right is an "L" that I presume was delivered to Italy. The "L" was never available in Switzerland (only the TI). So, it is possible that the "L" was only for the Italian market.