Alfa Romeo 156 GTA AM Autodelta’s Magic Ingredients PDF Manual

This is the story of three men and a T car. It’s a tale to warm the heart of every true Alfista, and that means all those who don’t secretly long for a Ferrari with every fibre of their being. Let us begin with Luciano Cappiello. After all, it is his car. A native of Sorrento he’s now domiciled in Southport. Both seaside resorts begin with the letter ‘S’ but, I’d wager, have absolutely nothing else in common. Luciano has twin passions – apart from his very beautiful wife, of course – and they are food and cars. Food is his business and business is good.

So when we met in his busy ristorante – always a good sign when every table’s taken on a Tuesday – we drank, we ate and we talked, for hours, about cars. Time to meet the second character in our story. Craig Aspin is a car salesman. He works at the Caledonia Alfa Romeo dealership in Preston (and was keen for me to point out his title is actually Brand Manager. Which I just did). Like Luciano, Craig is a passionate man – most car salesmen are. The crucial difference is that Craig isn’t obsessed with the size of his desk, the proximity of his parking space to the front door or even his golf swing. He is that rare individual: a car salesman who actually likes cars. Unveiled to a suitably impressed public at the Bologna Motorshow back in 2002, the 156 GTA AM promised 3.5 litres of ripsnortin’ V6 and 300bhp through the front wheels. To get the power down it was equipped with whopping 19in alloy wheels and high-performance rubber fatter than one of the guests on an American daytime television show entitled Help! I’m 350 pounds… and gaining! The ever-so-deep front splitter gave it the look of a predatory shark and wouldn’t have lasted five minutes on the pothole-strewn streets of Milan or Manchester but wasn’t a problem in the air-conditioned halls of the Geneva Salon where it made its second appearance. For maximum impact it was painted in Batmobile black.

Luciano Cappiello wanted one. It was now down to Craig to try to secure a 156 GTA AM from what was rumoured to be a total production run of just 1000 cars. Perhaps. He tried Alfa here in the UK and got a non-committal answer. Undeterred, he took his enquiry to the Italians. Of course he then discovered that in Italy the non-committal answer is an art form. A couple of months passed. Everyone got a bit older. Craig kept on talking to people who told him that the car would certainly, almost definitely in fact, be put into – strictly limited – production but wouldn’t actually take an order or cash deposit for it. Most car salesmen would have given up by now; after all, it’s only one car and one customer. But then, like I’ve already explained, Craig is no ordinary car salesman. He called Luciano: “I’ve got good news and bad news. The bad news is that Alfa Romeo isn’t going to build the156 GTA AM. The good news? I know a man who can.” And so do you, probably, because the man was Jano Djelalian, of Autodelta. Now that the factory race team is back under the Autodelta banner this can cause some confusion. So let’s just say that the Autodelta we’re talking about here is the one which has been making Alfas stronger and faster and even better to look at for the past 20 years, from its premises in North London. Over the next six months the car took shape. And what a shape. It was never just a question of Luciano writing a big cheque and collecting his car when they decided it was ready. And it was never about producing a replica Alfa show car. There was plenty of collaboration and consultation with ideas and drawings flying in both directions. For a start this one is quite a bit more powerful with the engine opened out to 3.7, rather than 3.5, litres. It has 330bhp.

The last thing Jano wanted was to lose the outstanding features that made the factory 156 GTA such a great car; namely the immediate and flexible nature of the engine and the enormous poise of a chassis and suspension that manages to deliver an exciting and involving driving experience for the enthusiast – allied to a sumptuous level of comfort. To find out if he’d succeeded we all made the trek to Auto Italia’s test track. With Luciano sitting next to me exuding good humour I wasn’t about to alter his mood with a clutch-frying tyre- shredding test of performance that Autodelta claims is five seconds 0-60mph and a top speed of 175mph. Also Luciano and Jano are both big fans of the Selespeed style of switching gear ratios. I’m not, at least not in a road car. I can see how it shaves tenths off lap times but for me it sacrifices too much of the engagement with the car. So it took me a couple of laps to get back into the groove of changing up and down the six- speed ‘box PlayStation-style. A couple of laps and I was really starting to enjoy a car that, although not supercar fast, offers a level of performance considerably different from that offered by the factory. While the character of a V6 engine that has seduced so many of us down the years is entirely intact – responsive, gutsy and sonorous – it is the sophistication of this car that leaves a lasting impression.

If I told you what Jano had to say about the standard Brembo braking equipment that arrests the progress of the factory-spec GTA, then a lot of people at Alfa Romeo would be very upset. Mind you, he wouldn’t be the first to point out that while a GTA has very little problem going, it’s the stopping that’s been less than marvellous. Jano’s solution was to bin the Brembos and grip substantially bigger discs with six-pot calipers from those lovely and talented people at AP Racing. Too many times, though, I’ve driven cars with this level of enhanced performance that have ended up with the ride and handling characteristics of a frightened donkey. Not this one. Jano persuaded Luciano to forego the considerable visual impact of 19in alloys and go for 18s instead. As Jano explains, “The 18s offer better tyre choice, they preserve steering feedback and they’re actually made to fit on an Alfa.” And they look damn sexy, if you like that sort of thing. And I do.

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