When he bought his 1969 Alfa Romeo Giulia, Dorian Valenzuela often got stopped on the street by people asking how he liked his Datsun.

That was seven years ago. These days, onlookers are more likely to ask where they can find an Alfa of their own.

“Popularity-wise, they are higher than ever,” Valenzuela said this week near his restoration shop in Los Angeles. “They’re really nimble to drive. They’re peppy. People are starting to realize that they’re a blast.”

That increased awareness of Alfa cars has been helped by the company’s reentry into the U.S. this year after a decades-long hiatus. Whereas it used to sell nothing stateside, and then only the small 4C, now it sells the Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV as well. (Just don’t ask brand leadership about sales goals or development budgets.)

It has also boosted the market for the classics. Valenzuela said business at his Montebello, Calif.-based hotrod and restoration shop has increased 400 percent since it opened two years ago; attendance at the rallies and races he likes to participate in on the weekends now includes millennial and hipster types mixed in with the semi-retirees who have long populated that front.

“Alfas have always been kind of a hip kid car anyway—kind of like the Lotus,” Valenzuela said. “You outgrow your Vespa, and you get into your Alfa. The cars have a usefulness to them that is attractive to the kids out there.”

Italian Flair

Alfa Romeo’s Series 2 Spiders are the four-cylinder, 132-horsepower, five-speed convertibles made in the 1970s and 1980s. Drivers loved them for their refreshingly neutral handling and stylish Veglia instruments and gauges along the dashboard and central console. The cars arrived, notably, as the follow-up to the 1966 Alfa Romeo Series 1 Spider that Dustin Hoffman made famous in the 1967 film The Graduate.

In fact, the Series 2 is an ideal vintage car to buy for something fun to drive, relatively simple mechanically, affordable, and different from the norm. (It was updated most noticeably over Series 1 with a more powerful engine and shorter rear end.) While the massive collecting gaze is focused on Porsche 911s from the 1970s and 1980s, those who want to stand out might consider an Alfa.

“They have real character,” said Jonathan Klinger, a spokesman for the classic car insurer Hagerty. “From a value standpoint, they’re not an overly valuable car, but they will more than hold their value, and they’re fun to drive, so it’s a great car for someone to get into. It’s an excellent example of a first-time collectible.”

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