Welly 1:24 Alfa Romeo 8C Compeitizone

Alfa Romeo has made a return to the U.S. with the 4C sports car and soon the Giulia sedan and Stevio SUV, but the true first vehicle in Alfa's return was the 8C coupe.  Let's see how this Welly version stacks up despite finding this one at a drug store with one mirror broke off (I broke off the other one to make the car look more streamline).

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The 8C Competizone was born as a concept car in 2004 and went into production in 2008.  The 8C pays homage to the Alfa Romeo racing car of the same name in the 1930's.  This was the first Alfa to turn away from the decades use of tri-headlights returning to the round units, yet the V-shaped grille still remained.  Strangely it is based on the Maserati GranTurismo, yet it looks smaller thanks to the wheels that are pushed out to the corners.  The engine is a 4.7L DOHC V8 that is shared with Ferrari and Maserati that produces 450 horsepower through a six-speed automated manual transmission (compared to the non-automated unit of the concept).  Since there was no Alfa dealers in the U.S. at the time Maserati dealerships were used to service and sell the vehicle, which 500 of them were made split between the coupe and spider roadster.

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The metallic red paint and sexy curves of the body is what draws your attention first to this casting.  It is nicely done despite lacking mirrors (frankly it looks better without them).  The front has low beam and high beam headlights and signal lights inside dark round housings, while the silver V-shape grille has the Alfa logo and gracefully connects the V-shaped hood.  To the sides are additional grilles with foglights.  On the sides you can see the graceful curve of the beltline along the fenders and the teardrop side window shapes.  Front fender vents have integrated signal lights and Pinninfarina badges just below.  At the rear are round taillights with Alfa badge and 8C plate in the center.  Just below is a mesh diffuser between the exhaust tips that shows a little bit of the exhaust and additional brake lights.  With today's cars the underbody is well covered off so in this case you can see some of the drivetrain and suspension components, but not a whole lot.

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The 5-spoke wheels are nicely done, but since this is an earlier Welly casting that uses pin axles instead of individual spinning wheels it lacks proper brake rotor details that the newer Welly models have.  Another nitpick is the engine bay: Yes it has the proper engine block, intake, Alfa badge on the intake, resovoirs, and even a nice twin kidney underhood pad, but the engine block should be red!  To make matters worse this is not an easy casting to take apart: the four screws that hold the base to the body are hidden behind the wheels and the tight fender gap prevents any screwdriver from accessing the screws.  So with the hood open I carefully painted the valve covers red.  Now the engine bay has that proper look.  Inside you are greeted by supportive bucket seats and a silver sill trim that says 8C Compeitzone.  The 3-spoke steering wheel is affixed and have large paddle shifters in silver trim accent.  A lot more of the dashboard has silver trim accents that I did not add to the vehicle.  Kudos!  The gauges are nicely done, the controls are in the center with the HVAC controls on top, and below in the console is the controls for the automated manual transmission.  Heck, even the passenger gets a footrest in silver.

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Even with missing mirrors nothing can prevent me fron enjoying one of the most gorgeous cars of all time, and once again despite a few shortcomings Welly pulls through on this one.  (If you want more proper detailing then get Welly's 1:18 scale version of the Alfa 8C).

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