Story and photography provided by Franck Galiffi
Hello, my name is Franck Galiffi, and I drive a 1975 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT in Nice, France. Like many of you, I can thank my father for getting me keen on cars from an impressionable age. He was the first to introduce me to the non-utilitarian side of motoring However, as we know, not everything we are exposed to early on sticks with us as we grow up—there needs to also be an inherent interest for that to happen.
And while it was my father that sparked my enthusiasm for cars in general, my uncle is the one responsible for my fixation with this particular one. He lived in Paris, and though we had visited before, a certain trip to see him stands out more than the rest, for that was the first time I saw the Alfetta.
I was 14 years old, and we were on the way to his garage to look at his collection of interesting cars; he was a very passionate driver and collector, and he must have had more than 15 vehicles parked inside the off-site space. The light grey Alfa was the one for me though, that was it. I fell in love with it immediately. It’s elegant but bold, I love the sound of the eager inline-four even if it isn’t the fastest car in the world, and I was already sold on having something vintage for my first car. I had been saving everything I could for a while at that point, and so I gathered up all that I had, and with a family discount of course, I became the owner of this Alfetta when I was 14, barely a teenager.
In France you couldn’t drive legally until you’d been around the sun 18 times though, so I had to enjoy my first car for the first four years from the passenger seat. My father seemed to enjoy it plenty during those years though, and I was happy enough to be riding alongside him. Now almost a decade after those times, I am living across the Atlantic in Montreal, but I still have the Alfetta stored back home for when I return to Europe for work and visits, and I drive it daily during those times, still charmed by it’s rare blend of vintage character and reliability.
Of course, it’s great fun too, not just something to count on for A to B purposes. My favorite drives in this car always seem to involve the French Riviera coastal roads for the unbeatable views on one side the car, and on the other is the carved-out cliff face you’re driving along. It’s hard to not be spoiled by drives like this.
Even when I’m not behind the wheel though I am thinking of the Alfetta. I am biased, an Alfafanatic, but I truly love so many things about this car. Its practicality, its ability to be a family car and a fun car at the same time, and among so many other things the simple fact that it was my first car. I know it’s one I plan to keep for a long time to come.
