- Here’s a wonderful little Italian camper van, ideal for a slow-rolling holiday.
- Yes, Alfa Romeo did really once build vans. And isn’t “Autotutto” just fun to say?
- It won’t hit 50 mph, but taking it easy is the whole point.
Fancy a little Roman Holiday? Check out this vintage camper built by Alfa Romeo. It’s up for sale on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos). It will require a plane ticket and a bit of time off to properly enjoy, but we can’t imagine a more fitting way to meander through sun-kissed Mediterranean climes.
Alfa Romeo is better known as the marque that built the racing cars Enzo Ferrari cut his teeth on. This wonderfully green T10 Autotutto is one of Alfa’s often-overlooked commercial models, vans and small trucks that delivered fresh foccacia and olives and who knows what else through the streets of Rome and beyond. Starting out life as a conventional van, this example spent its early life in Sicily and then Modena, and was later converted to a camper and refurbished. We love the details, from the white piping on the green vinyl seats to the roof-mounted 16-inch spare tire it wears like a beret.
When new, the T10 could be optioned with a 750-cc engine shared with Alfa’s sedan range, or a small supercharged diesel inline twin. This camper has the latter, displacing 1158 cc, and it offers a very modest 31 horsepower. With a four-speed manual transmission, top speed is just 47 mph.
That’s not great for hammering down the autostrada, nor tackling the Alps. Instead, you’d simply have this little camper shipped down to Sardinia or Sicily, and spend a few weeks nosing around small towns on back roads, stopping in cafés and generally taking it easy. There’s a gas stove for cooking, a sink for cleaning up, and a picnic set for lunching in the shade of some gnarled olive tree.
Take along a vintage film camera to document the trip, and you’d complete the 1950s European holiday experience. La dolce vita is waiting.
The auction ends on February 27.
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
