The Morning Call and Mcall.com's view

Driving an Alfa Romeo Graduate is like having your nostalgia and sampling it too. If ever a car earned that cliched title of a living legend, this is it. Not only does it come from the past, it is the past.

The Pininfarina design on this two-passenger, convertible sports car has been around longer than some of the current best selling car companies. Except for a very minor face-lift a couple of years ago, this is basically the same body style that appeared on the market almost 20 years ago. The amazing thing about it is it still looks good.

The running gear is also just about the same. The engine is a little bigger since the early days, there is now electronic fuel injection and ignition to make life more pleasant on cold winter mornings, and there have been some general refinements and minor changes over the years but nothing that distracts from the original design or purpose of this car.

In an age of instant update, the Alfa Romeo sports car (test car supplied by J.H. Bennett Inc., 2300 Hanover Ave., Allentown) may seem somewhat of an anachronism. And, indeed, it is. But it is such a great anachronism that one might not even notice it. Another anachronism is the Graduate nameplate. Except for students of the cinema and those with long memories, one may not remember or connect that this model was named for the Dustin Hoffman movie in which, with the help of a Simon and Garfunkel score, he drove in pursuit of Mrs. Robinson and/or her daughter in his red Alfa Romeo Spider.

It is somewhat sad to think that the Graduate (along with the Spider Veloce, the more expensive version) is the last of the old-fashioned two-passenger open sports cars. Oh where have you gone Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio? Times and taste may have changed, but fortunately here is a survivor for those who enjoy driving a car and not just riding in it.

Although Alfa Romeo is not exactly a household word, this Italian automaker has been building serious driving machines for the track and road since 1910. Through the years the company has developed many engineering innovations that we take for granted these days. Some of these include double overhead camshaft engines, turbochargers, superchargers, disc brakes and adjustable shock absorbers, all items that are currently being used in many cars.

The car’s 2-liter/121-cubic-inch, double overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder, four-cylinder engine sounds like one of the new breed of engines but this type of engine configuration has been in this model since its introduction. The 2-liter is rated at 115 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 110.4 foot pounds torque at 2,750 rpm. Although this may not sound like the end of the world for a car weighing 2,548 pounds, performance is surprisingly brisk.

Helping the engine to use everyone of those horses to its best advantage is a smooth-shifting close-ratio five-speed manual transmission and low (high num erically) rear end ratio of 4.1:1. Everything just seems to click together. The engine, featuring Bosch L-Jetronic multi-point fuel injection and Bosch digital electronic ignition, runs very smoothly and is very quiet at idle and in motion at any speed. Although the engine is quiet, the exhaust is somewhat noisy, though not in the least bit unpleasant.

Operating the five-speed box is not difficult but it isn’t a clutch/ transmission to learn on. The gear selector is somewhat unusual in that it doesn’t come up from a center console but rather sticks out from the dash. Shifting is sort of like shaking hands. The foot controls are closely spaced and those with big, wide feet have to be careful so as not to overlap pedals.

But if you do everything right and don’t abuse it too much, fuel mileage could be good. The test car averaged 16 miles per gallon for city driving and 28 mpg over the highway.

Instruments are located right in front of the driver and a e easy to see and easy to interpret. The tachometer, speedometer, oil pressure, voltage, heat and fuel gauges are the old-time Jaeger units so familiar in sports cars of the past. They have large numbers and heavy lines and tell it all at a glance.

Entering the Alfa takes the old sports car fling yourself-in approach but once inside and seated, the interior is quite comfortable and surprisingly roomy. The Graduate has leatherette-covered seats that almost feel like leather. But if you want the real leather (and other upgraded trim items), you have to buy the Spider Veloce.

With a wheelbase of 88.6 inches, overall length of 167.3 inches, width of 64.2 inches and height of 55.9 inches, the Graduate, obviously, isn’t a big car. But there is a decent-sized trunk that can hold a couple of soft bags and some behind the seat storage. Those who do extended traveling, usually add a trunk deck rack.

Putting the fun into driving the Graduate, whether in town or on trips, is folding down the top and allowing the fresh air to blow through your hair. So, you may be breathing in diesel fumes and the road is usually dirty. Or you’re sitting in one of the area’s construction gridlocks under the blazing high sun. The top, itself, is manually operated and even a prize klutz should have no trouble folding it down and fitting on the boot cover.

The most rewarding experienced of driving the Graduate, though, is, well, driving it. It is one sweet handling car. Even in an age of good handling cars, the Graduate/Spider Veloce still offers a little more. Again, we are going back to older times and more of driving by the seat of the pants. There is just a feeling about taking an Alfa over the back roads that is not difficult to describe but should be experienced to be appreciated.

The suspension system of this car is not overly complicated and may sound a little dated but it does work and, again, very well at that. The frontend features coil springs, unequal-length transverse control arms, direct-acting shock absorbers and stabilizer bar, while in the rear there is a live axle with trailing arms, coil springs, coaxial shock absorbers, stabilizer bar and torque reaction bar. Steering uses a ZF worm and roller system and power four-wheel disc brakes as well as a limited slip differential are standard. High performance 185/70HR14 tires round out the chassis equipment.

For what it offers, the Graduate has to be one of the better buys of today. The full price on the test car was $15,910, which included a mechanical prep charge of $160 and a delivery charge of $350. In addition to items already mentioned, standard equipment includes a full-size spare, intermittent windshield wipers, courtesy lights, timed interior lights, bronze tinted glass, power outside mirrors, integral rear fog lights and manual side vent windows (another blast from the past). The test car did not have a radio or air conditioner, so if you want these, you pay some more.

The car is covered by a three-year/36,000-mile warranty and a 6-year/ 60,000-mile rust perforation warranty.