About Alfa Romeo Cars
 Alfa Romeo was founded in 1906 by the French car company of Alexandre Darracq and some Italian business men. It was called Societa Anonima Italiana Darracq, and initially located in Naples, but later moved to Milan. The French based cars did not sell well in Italy and so a group of investors founded another company Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, A.L.F.A. which produced it's first non Darracq car in 1910.
This first A.L.F.A. was designed by Giuseppe Merosi, and, unlike previous models, aimed directly at the Italian market. Sadly the outbreak of World War I in 1914 halted car production at A.L.F.A. for 3 years. However, in 1915 under the stewardship of Nicola Romeo, A.L.F.A. moved into munitions and spent the remainder of the war producing military hardware.
After the war Romeo had intended to concentrate on building locomotives for the railways, but changed his mind and in 1919 car production was resumed. In 1920 the company was renamed Alfa Romeo and the first car produced under this name was the Torpedo 20-30 HP. The famous logo of the serpent and the red cross is universally recognised and is taken in part from the coat of arms of the city of Milan.
Over the next few years Alfa continued to make successful road cars, but also moved into motor sport,and in 1920 Giuseppe Campari won at Mugello, the first of many such victories. However as the defence contracts ended, Alfa found things increasingly difficult and in 1928 Nicola Romeo left. Finally, in 1932 the company was taken over by the government. Alfa became a national emblem at the hands of Mussolini and was heavily bombed during World War II for its production of aeroplane engines.
At the end of the war Alfa found it hard to regain it's position as luxury cars were less popular, so they adapted with smaller, mass produced vehicles. However their success in motor sport was still without equal and they won the first ever Formula One World Championship in 1950, following it with a further victory in 1951.
Alfa continued to produce innovative car designs through the 1950's and 1960's, but by 1970 it was in trouble again and in 1986 Fiat came to the rescue and created a new company, Alfa Lancia Industriale. In 2005 Fiat also bought Maserati with the intention of making a luxury sports section based around the Maserati and Alfa Romeo brands.
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