These Are Your Favorite Italian Cars

After asking you to share your favorite French cars a few weeks ago, earlier this week I asked you to tell me about your favorite Italian cars, prompted by me attending the latest Macchinissima show in Los Angeles. My example was the Lancia Delta S4, the roadgoing version of the marque’s turbocharged and supercharged mid-engined Group B rally car. While not particularly beautiful as most Italian cars usually are, the wild Delta S4 is an excellent example of why we love Italian cars — their designs, innovative engineering and overall interestingness.

Thankfully you all responded with lots of excellent examples, from small family cars to expensive supercars and all sorts of weird stuff in between. Like with the French car roundup, I’m picking out your answers that I personally like the most, or at least think are the thought-provoking choices. So don’t get mad just because you said the Ferrari 250 GT0 and I didn’t include it in this roundup. Without further ado, keep reading to see what your fellow Jalops picked as their favorite Italian cars.

1960 Ferrari 250 GT Pinin Farina Coupe, because… You’re kidding, right?

Suggested by: Jimboy Junio

I think all of the best Ferraris are the big front-engine ones.

Ferrari 550 Maranello. I love the long hood/short deck design, V12 grand tourer with a wonderful interior, 6 speed manual and styling that is absolute perfection. Even the wheels show how a restrained design can be beautiful on a modern car, not everything has to be angles, spoilers, vents, etc.

Suggested by: cintocrunch1

As I was just saying…

Alfa Romeo C52 Disco Volante spider.

Goodness gracious so, so many possibilities. The Lancia Stratos is probably the answer, but I’ll go with the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante C52, either Coupé or Spider. The bulging wings, the light weight – pretty zippy and beautiful and bonkers all at once. And, lest we forget, it was called the Disco Volante!

Suggested by: Bossrday, BB

Absolutely stunning and with probably the best name of all time.

LM002. The Rambo Lambo is the flame to my inner automotive moth. It is Italian madness given form. Nothing about it makes sense, and yet I am inexorably drawn to it. I don’t think I could ever own one, much less manage to maintain one. But as a pure thought experiment, it’s gotta be my favorite. I’m a scientist. Data is my life. I know how objectively not-good and illogical this thing is, and yet I am powerless to resist.

Truly a car for crazy people or, in the case of the boat engine, even crazier people.

This was my answer as well. It was the first of the super SUVs. Only Lamborghini – at the time – would’ve thought of stuffing a racing V12 into a military grade off-roader. It was bonkers. I love these things. They were true Italian madness. You could have the V12 from the Countach or if you were insane you could have the marine racing V12.

In a world of red supercars, these are still revolutionary stand-outs.

Suggested by: Give Me Tacos or Give Me Death, JohnnyWasASchoolBoy

Best Lamborghini ever.

It’s hard to say, but the Alfa Duetto Spider definitely helped launch my gear head fantasies as a kid.

1967 Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto. My Dad bought one when I was in junior high. It was a beautiful pale yellow with a black interior.

I never got to drive it, but I did sit in it in the garage and make engine noises. It will always be Italian motoring to me.

My grandfather and I rebuilt a 1983 Spider Veloci I think the year before the rubber tails. It was so much fun to drive with a Five speed no overdrive.

I clicked on Replies to say this but you beat me to it. Saw the one in The Graduate and I always wanted one.

Definitely the top pick. Just a gorgeous car.

The one in my garage!! Currently 1974 Spider 2000

Suggested by Matt Pipes, Stillnotatony, Not Me, mnmrosen, Lost in my Land, Nick Sq

When you look up “Italian car” in the dictionary, I think the photo is of a Duetto.

I am not a huge fan of Ferrari in general, but the 288 GTO ticked all of the boxes. It is, in my mind, exactly what an Italian supercar should look like and how it should perform. I know, I know, the F40, and I agree that it’s likely one of the best performance cars ever made, which also happens to be Italian. However, the 288 GTO is always my sweet spot for modern, mid-engined super Ferraris.

Ferrari 288 GTO, full stop. That said, if I was spending my own money I could be talked into an Alfa GTV 6.

Suggested by: potbellyjoe, BuddyS

I’ve always thought the 288 GTO is a lot cooler than the F40.

Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale for me. Art on wheels

I have alot of favorites, but from a beauty standpoint, I’m going to have to go with the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. Beauty that rivals even the E-Type Jag, simply smooth, simple, elegant, but full of personality with a slight grin on it’s face. cars in general are missing these elements.

Alfa Romeo Tipo 33

The one from the 1960s, not the horrid new thing they are asking millions for today.

Without a doubt, the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. The most iconic car that define the Alfa brand, in my opinion.

Suggested by: Robert Winter, Agon Targeryan, Featherlite, Luc Desaulniers (minardi)

Truly one of the most beautiful cars of all time.

My all-time favorite is the 288 GTO, but I also have a fond childhood love with the ’76 Fiat Lancia Scorpion. My father ran a body shop out of a large building in our back yard when I was in high school. A friend of his collected cars (he was actually blind) and we stored his ’76 Fiat Lancia Scorpion at our house for about a year. It was in great shape, but the motor was seized from sitting so long. I really wanted to buy it, but my father said absolutely not given how hard parts were to source and the reliability concerns. It was a very unique car though and I would spend hours looking at it. The soft roll back top was probably my favorite feature.

Suggested by: Chad Raskovich

I just saw a really well modified Scorpion the other day!

my first car was a used fiat x 1/9. sapped most of my savings and that thing had mechanical issues. but when it ran it was a dream to drive. it cornered so well.

when i got a more reliable car for college, my mom guilted me into lending it to a work friend who needed a second car so both she and her husband to get to work when their shifts intersected. i remember taking him for a quick drive to explain the…intricacies of driving the car. he always redlined the thing before shifting. i tried to explain teh shift points, but to no avail. and he would keep pressure on the accelerator when shifting, so you could hear the engine rev even higher. made me really uncomfortable. when he drove away i had a feeling i would never see her again.

two weeks later i heard it almost broke their marriage because he was driving it around town and not telling her where he was going.

one week after that i got a call some kids tried to rip the poptop off to steal the radio.

three week later i got a call from my mom that “the clutch went out.” i couldnt get verification if it was the clutch or the entire transmission, but i was heartbroken. they didnt offer to pay anything to fix it, either. my mom said, “well, they paid to have it towed.”

“to where? how much will it cost to fix?”

“we figured it was just gone, so we had it towed to a junkyard. they said theyll give you $300 for it.”

“i think its worth more than that!”

“well, we already sold it to them.”

i saw it driving around three times that summer

Looks over at the one owned since I was 18, at 340K miles. What mechanical issues is it people always speak of???

Kick a little asphalt. All X1/9s need to be driven in anger on a road course or autocross.

Suggested by: two_wheel_four_wheels, Frank C.

The X1/9 is cool as hell.

Qvale Mangusta. As a kid, I would occasionally see one advertised in the newspaper classifieds with no picture. I was like “Huh, what is that?”. We had no internet at the time so one day, I randomly Googled it at the local library and it was so weird and bizarre. To this day, I just love the uniqueness and obscurity of it.

Suggested by: Giantsgiants

I was obsessed with these as a kid, and I still get excited every time I see one.

Somewhat of a sleeper, and overshadowed by it better endowed body panel mate, the Bora, I have always liked the idea of a Maserati Merak SS as a potential daily driver. I was two test drives into almost buying one, but ended up keeping the venerable 63 Mercedes W111 that I was driving at the time.

Masterpiece by Giugiaro. I have to go with the Bora though . . .

Suggested by: redseca2, Jake

I always flip-flop on which of these two I like more. Today I think it’s the Merak.

Aside from the exotics for everyday driving an Alfa Romeo GTV coupe. The last version produced from 95-04 which we didn’t get in the states but can be available due to the 25 year import rule. Yeah it’s FWD but with the 3.0-L Busso it sings. 

Suggested by: Merrill Frank

I adore these. 

Is this a fantasy list or more down to earth? People orbiting the Abarth and Fiat world will remember Al Costentino. The man lived not too far from me before he passed away. Somehow, that man was able to import a Lancia Rally 037 in the country back in the late 80s or early 90s. I saw it a few times on the streets of Thousand Oaks, CA. Beautiful beast, with the rear clamshell exposing all of the mechanicals. 

I know who you speak of. He was supplier of Italian speed equipment and parts during the 70s and 80s. I was going to school in the area at the time, and saw a flyer for a car show. I grabbed the GF at the time and made my way to the Santa Barbara Polo Club, which was holding the car show on its lawn. He was there, running a retail booth selling all kinds of crap, and had a red 037 with him. It stopped me dead in my tracks when I came around the corner of the booth.

Suggested by: Frank C., Rick C.

The 037 was almost my original choice, they are just completely fabulous and so absurd.

Obligatory Fiat 500 Abarth.

I started out with a 500 Pop (2015 to 2018) and have since upgrade to a 500 Abarth (2021 to present) that has been my “stage rally” project car since the work-from-home days of the pandemic. (One of those things in engineering where the last 10% takes 90% of the time, it seems)

Suggested by: StalePhish

The 500 Abarth is one of my favorite cars of all time, I wish I bought them during the pandemic when they were like three dollars.

Ferrari F430 GT. Most kids in 2006 were introduced to racing with a red animated stock car with a #95 on the side. My TV was tuned to the SPEED channel watching the ALMS and watching a red Italian car from a dealership in Texas with a #62 on the side dominating against the Flying Lizard Porsches. It all came to a head at the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring in one of the greatest racing finishes of all time. 

Suggested by: Silver Fox

Yes yes yes yes yes.

Alfa Romeo Milano Verde. Is it the best looking Italian car? No. The fastest? No. Steeped in racing history? Not really.

For me, it’s the one I own. As a person with fairly humble beginnings, I never really thought I would have the opportunity to own a real Italian machine. It took 6 years to get it back on the road after sitting in a field for 20. Now it’s my daily driver.

It makes the right noises, has the right badge, and feels every bit as special as I’d hoped (now almost ten years later).

Suggested by: Jeff Shinrock

There’s a pretty good amount of these in LA, I always enjoy seeing them.

So many to choose from but, cannoli to my head, I’d have to go with the 105 Alfa Giulia sedan, which brought sporting Italian flair to the masses. Like a baby Ferrari with room for 4-5 and a huge trunk. Here we are in Yellowstone on a 4,000-mile road trip. Never missed a beat.

Nice! My dad had a 67 Super from new so I literally grew up in that car. Some nearly 30 years later I purchased my own and drove it daily for over a year. I sold it to get a GTV6 as I had GTV in the garage too.

Cool! Ours is a 1970 1300TI imported from Holland in 2012 and the first task was to install rear seat belts and a baby seat for my daughter. It’s got a 2.0 engine from a later Alfa and 4.10 gears, plus that ’66 grille to fool everyone. I’ve also had a slightly crusty ’74 Spider for 22 years. That car is a blast around town but the Giulia is a better all-arounder. And is there a prettier car than the GTV? I may be a bit biased…

Nicely upgraded!! The Giulia Sedans are really great cars. I recall going to Florida from NJ in ours when me and my brother were little. No AC! I’ve had 3 GTV’s so I am probably the wrong one to ask about bias.

Suggested by: Green_Meanie, monstrodiavel

One of Alfa’s best designs ever, I think.