I went to there and thinking I would please her I took with me a picture which portrayed us together in one of those evenings in Baia Domizia. And so it was because she remembered Dr. Marchetti, myself and all the Alfa’s staff, we lived again such good times and exchanged our phone numbers, by promising we would keep in touch.
During the period in which I was involved in the presentation, I had the chance to see again a couple of times the Alfa’s President, Dr. Gaetano Cortesi, who did not take me for a supplier any more…
Although it had been introduced to the international press, the Alfasud Sprint was marketed in Italy only. Despite some bodywork defects later overcome (the best known was the entry of water into the cockpit), this car was well received by the alfisti and then also gained a hold upon the European countries.
In that same month of September, the North and South design divisions were joined together. In Pomigliano, as a matter of fact, an office was in operation to perform a connection between the main design centre in Arese: the new design division was made up in this way by staff sufficient to follow the current product range and to design new models.
Some months before, precisely on July 3, Alfa Romeo had presented, not competing, a cab prototype designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro to the Taxi Project exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Among the submitted projects, such a cab was certainly the most functional and even form an aesthetic viewpoint the most beautiful. Built on the body of “F12” van, it has got a front-wheel drive and mounts a 1300-cc petrol engine. One can enter the cabin through a wide sliding door, whose opening is controlled by the driver, whereas a platform extractable from the underlying plane allows the access to wheel-chairs for disabled people and to prams. A really innovative project for the times, nevertheless it had no follow-ups and now it makes a fine display at the Arese Museum.

The financial position of Alfa at the end of 1976, after three years of negative balance sheets, reflected either the losses on the Arese-Portello production and the losses which originated from the Alfasud, of which Alfa owned the 51%, losses which were covered half by IRI and half by Alfa which had to get even more into debt with the banks. To heal Alfa meant to produce without losing. It was absurd that Alfa had to live at the expenses of the community, absurd because Alfa was basically sound, thanks to a great prestige name, fruit of labour of two generations of workers, it had valid products which were sold, it had adequate plants which only needed to be kept in working order, it had staff who could design and build cars. In his interviews to press organs, Cortesi had often singled out in workers the reason of the critical firm situation, by specifying that such a situation was a reflection of a disease of the Country which also took root in Alfa. In the report of the 1975 balance sheet one can read: «…the goal of break even financial management for Alfa can only be conceived if also in our Country one come back to work in ways and with yields which reasonably stand comparison with our direct competitors, inside and outside the community. Our “conditioning problem” looks therefore as to work with continuity the hours provided for the work agreement, without paralyzing couldn’t-care-less attitudes».

In 1976, 201.145 in all (North+South) cars were produced and 194.360 were sold thereof. The cars got out from Portello, Arese and Pomigliano represented, each time, the reality of Alfa Romeo in the respective periods, but they also marked the product evolution and leaved a sign like in the case of Alfasud which had raised discussions for several reasons, for instance, because for the first time a car would have been built in the South and because the alfisti did not ever like so much the Alfasud name. The Alfasud indeed, conceived with original criteria and with an architecture which was the leader of a school, gave origin to an epoch-making change in Alfa Romeo.