Battista “Pinin” Farina founded an artisan workshop for wealthy private clients. Pininfarina celebrated its 80th anniversary at the Palexpo in Geneva unveiling the quizzically named 2uettottanta concept car designed for Alfa Romeo in homage to the Duetto of the 1960s, “proving how a 2-seater spider could evolve into the third millennium,” as the company chairman, Paolo Pininfarina, explained.
A sporty two passenger convertible with plenty of trunk space, the Allanté made its world debut at the 1986 Paris Motor Show with its simplicity of lines, harmony of proportions, and the Cadillac identity as American made. Originally high-priced, many of these vehicles have fallen into disrepair, have maintenance issues, or have never had the brakes or coolant flushed without community encouragement and prompting.
Purchasing any older car with no known history can open the door to problems such as speakers, top of dash discoloration, coolant leak, oil pressure issues, brake problems, restarting the air conditioning compressor, parking brake, or spark plug issues.
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Yet, the Allanté-specific problems and issues, such as soft top noise, hard top conversion, Northstar overheat, 1993 driver’s seat problems, wind coming between windshield and ragtop, or the trunk pull-down motor, make the value of Allanté technicians proportionate to collective Allanté pride. Rare parts may be lower elsewhere, but if we support those who have a continued passion, the pride in our cars will not buckle to market pressure. We witness that pride when a car passes from one club member to another or by the sharing of knowledge and efforts to help other members.
Artisanal Allantés were made to be driven. Maintenance records and parts purchasing histories add to the value. But owner integrity and pride, as evidenced by a community such as AllantéNet, allows a cooperative effort to force that pride to be built into the market for the greater good of the group. The Allanté Club of America exists to document pride of ownership in this specialty Pininfarina-designed sportster.
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