Alfa Romeo 2000 / Officina, Italy

This dusty blue Alfa Romeo 2000 is locked up in an old abandoned garage in Italy. Clearly, it had been left here a long time and has seemingly been forgotten. The car is lifted up on metal stands at the front, evidently in the middle of maintenance. Sitting and waiting for the owner to finish some important mechanical work, so they can get right back out on the road! Every year that passes this seems less and less likely. Nevertheless, the car sits and waits patiently for that promise of one more summer drive. These cars are popular with collectors, so perhaps it is just a matter of time before one discovers and saves this little car.

The car is in good visual condition, apart from a broken windscreen (which sadly has appeared fairly recently). The car stands neatly on some old racking, stacked with spare tyres and some other tools/parts. A splash of colour, some bright green algae, brightens the off-white walls behind the car.

I visited this location during the Italy 2021 Tour. A brief stop-and-shoot, which broke the journey nicely! This location is also sometimes called “officina,” meaning “official.”

Alfa Romeo 2000 Berlina (1958–1962)

The Alfa Romeo 2000, also known as the Tipo 102/Type 102, was in production between 1958 and 1962. The design was unveiled in 1957 at the Turin Motor Show. The Alfa Romeo 2000 was available as a 4-door 6 seater saloon (Berlina) and 2/2+2 seater convertible (Spider). Additionally, a one-off coupe version was shown at the 1960 Turin Motor Show but never went into production. All these production models were rear wheel drive, with a 2 litre engine and five speed manual gearbox.

This model is the Berlina, one of 2799 produced. The car has a 104 horsepower engine, and was capable of a top speed of 161km/h (100 mph). The Spider convertible has slightly sportier specifications, and could reach 177km/h (110mph).