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It's the Alfa Romeo Brennero after all

In an "X-Files" television episode called "Teliko," the show changed its usual tagline during the title sequence from "The truth is out there" to "Deceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate." Both taglines would apply to the mystery around the name of Alfa Romeo's coming subcompact SUV. For the longest while, based on information from unnamed sources, the urban runabout twinned with Europe's Jeep Avenger was expected to be named the Alfa Romeo Brennero, honoring Italy's Brennero Pass (Brenner Pass in English). Then automaker design head Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos said something to Autocar over the summer that led Autocar to write, "that name was ruled out by Mesonero-Romanos." Autocar didn't quote the designer's words used to dismiss the expected name, it only quoted what came next, Mesonero-Romanos saying, "The model name is now decided. it will be Italian and it will be beautiful. But more than that, I cannot say for now." Maybe we’ve known it all along.#AlfaRomeo pic.twitter.com/dE10xGYXwO — Alfa Romeo (@alfa_romeo) December 6, 2023 The decided, Italian, beautiful name is Brennero. That's what we get from an automaker post on X bearing the caption, "Maybe we've known it all along," and a 15-second animation flashing four GPS coordinates. One coordinate picks out Alfa RomeoÂ’s history museum, the Museo Storico, another the Balocco Proving Grounds, another the Stelvio Pass, and finally, the Brennero Pass. This post could be considered Alfa answering its own question from June of this year — a month before Mesonero-Romano's supposed denial — with the caption, "A game-changing #SportyUrbanVehicle is on the horizon. What will be the name of our new Alfa Romeo? Take a guess in the comments below." Speculation has gathered around a few hard points. The Brennero sits on the CMP/e-CMP platform utilized by the Avenger, the Fiat 600, the Peugeot 2008, and the DS 3 Crossback. In electric form, it fits the Avenger's 54-kWh battery and front axle e-motor making the same 154 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque, and will likely get around the same 248 miles on a charge on the WLTP cycle. As the new entry-level offering beneath the Tonale, if the Brennero adopts Avenger dimensions, the Brennero will be about 16 inches shorter than the Tonale, its roof about three inches lower. More speculative speculation supposes there could be a dual-motor all-wheel-drive Brennero evolved from the drivetrain in the Avenger 4x4 Concept.

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Alfa Romeo 164S

Even after Citroen, Fiat, Renault and Peugeot departed the United States (in 1975, 1983, 1988 and 1991, respectively, though Malcolm Bricklin continued to sell Fiat 124 Sport Spiders and X1/9s with Pininfarina and Bertone badges for a few more years), Alfa Romeo managed to hang on all the way through 1995. The final Alfa Romeo models available here (prior to the brand's return to our shores in 2009) were the old-school Spider Veloce sports car and the mean-looking 164 sedan. The 164 sold well enough here that I still see examples on the street now and then, and I find discarded ones in car graveyards as well. Today's Junkyard Gem is the top-of-the-line 164 available in 1992, the mighty S version, found in a Denver self-service yard last month. In 1992, American Alfa shoppers could spend $25,865 on the base 164, $29,456 on the more luxurious 164L, or $32,054 for the factory-hot-rod 164S (that's about $50,885, $57,950, and $63,060, respectively, in inflation-adjusted 2021 dollars). Comparing the numbers of the 164S against those of the BMW 535i for 1992 make the Alfa look like quite a deal. The big-engined 535i boasted 208 horsepower and had a $44,350 sticker price, while the monstrous M5 had 310 horses… but would set you back $58,600). That means the Alfa cost just under 75% as much as its Bavarian rival. Meanwhile, the Alfa 164S had this 3.0-liter V6 making 200 horsepower. That gave the 535i and 164S near-identical power-to-weight ratios (17.2 lb/hp for the BMW, 17.4 for the Alfa). Admittedly, the 164S's power went to the front wheels while the 535i had rear-wheel-drive, but the Alfa's 3.0 looked and sounded much better than the BMW's 3.4 (and it's nearly impossible to make a V6 sound better than a straight-six, as anyone who has endured the ailing-bovine groan of most 1990s Detroit V6s can affirm). You could get a four-speed ZF automatic on the 164 and 164L in 1992, but the 164S had just one transmission available: a five-speed manual. This car isn't rusty and the interior looked very nice for a near-30-year-old car in Colorado, but there are few with the mechanical skills and sheer bravery to take on one of these cars with nearly 200,000 miles on the clock. Its next stop shall be The Crusher. This Euro-market commercial is for the 164 with quad-cam "super" V6, available here only for the 1993 through 1995 model years, but you get the idea. In Europe, Alfa Romeo outsold both Honda and Saab! What better reason to buy a 164?

Mussolini-owned 1930 Alfa Romeo race car getting full restoration

One of Alfa Romeo's most controversial race cars is getting treated to a full, concours-level restoration. Modified, worn-out, and incomplete, this 1930 6C 1750 was purchased new and raced by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Wearing chassis number 6C312898, the 6C 1750 was delivered new to Mussolini on January 13, 1930, and there are several images (one pictured) showing him behind the wheel. He paid 60,000 Lire for it. He entered it in several races across Italy during the early 1930s but didn't keep it long -- his well-known love of Fascism and international invasions seemingly muted the gearhead in him. It then went through several owners before ending up in the hands of a man named Renato Tigillo in 1937. He took the 6C with him when he moved to Eritrea, a country that joined Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia in the Italian East Africa administrative territory in 1936. The 6C was far less significant in the 1930s than in the 2020s, so the different pilots who owned it didn't think twice about stripping it to shed weight. Dozens of parts were removed and likely thrown away to prepare it for a strenuous new career racing under the scorching African sun. Dents, flaking paint, and a little bit of rust suggest life was tough. Precisely when it retired from racing, and what happened to it during the subsequent decades, remains unknown. There's no word on who owns it, either. All we know is that it's about to get completely torn down and painstakingly rebuilt by one of the best names in the business. United Kingdom-based restoration shop Thornley Kelham will return the 6C 1750 to the configuration it was in when Mussolini raced it during the early 1930s. That's a Herculean task considering the list of parts missing from the car is long. The original headlights, fenders, and wire wheels are no longer on it. Simon Thornley, the garage's co-founder, admitted the 6C 1750 is likely the most challenging restoration he's ever taken on, especially considering period images of the Stabilimenti Farina-built body are few and far between. It's worth it, though. "Automotive history like this has to be preserved," he said in a statement. Mussolini wasn't the only dictator that loved cars. Adolf Hitler was an enthusiast, too, and several of his cars -- including a 1939 Mercedes-Benz 770k -- have been sold at auction in recent years. Related Video: