Alfa Romeo 4C Test Mule Spotted - Portland Oregon

"LuczOr" (LuczOr) 04/17/2014 at 19:28 • Filed to: None

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Well it looks like Alfas are testing in the USA, but why Portland?

This is one of two cars that I have seen in the past month (the other is white with nice paint, but as dirty as a Dakar Rally car) but this is the first time I got an opportunity to photo one. This car looks like it used to have quite a bit of cladding taped onto it to hide some of the features. Also, it had a race car style fire suppression system handle in the dash. I'm not surprised to see mules testing, but I didn't really have an idea why it would be in Portland. I did some thinking and it might all make sense.

The car was spotted near where I work on Swan Island. I work for Daimler Trucks North America (Freightliner and Western Star). Obviously, we no longer have ties to Chrysler company, but Chrysler is now owned by Fiat who owns Alfa. I thought Chrysler may have some left over assets around Swan Island and they may be basing these test mules from there.

However, my senior engineer said that the building that it was parked in front of is the Roush building. It turns out that Roush has a division of test fleet drivers which we use for our continuous on-road testing. It only made sense that Roush would grab up a small office building nearby since we typically have an on-road testing fleet of 50+ trucks. I guess it's not too far fetched that Alfa would seek out a company of professional test drivers to drive their test mules around.

twinturbobmw > LuczOr 04/17/2014 at 19:29

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In Portland!? I need to see this!

Brian Silvestro > LuczOr 04/17/2014 at 19:30

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Goddammit I want this car so bad. How is it that even the test mules are so beautiful?

They also might be testing it's waterproofing because of that rain you guys seem to get a lot of.

Decay buys too many beaters > LuczOr 04/17/2014 at 19:33

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At least the fat USA-bound version still looks good, and I'm told by a few of my friends that it sounds quite good as well! I might have to go stake out the northern part of Portland and see if I can catch a glimpse of one.

WarShrike > LuczOr 04/17/2014 at 19:34

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Those tiny pipes. Need to open that exhaust up more and let it howl!

desertdog5051 > LuczOr 04/17/2014 at 20:50

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Probably wet climate.

Goggles Pizzano > desertdog5051 04/17/2014 at 22:14

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You can never be too sure with Alfa electronics.

hethoughtofcars > LuczOr 04/21/2014 at 21:02

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Not really an explanation but we have a Ferrari/Maserati dealership in Portland. It's also literally a "port" you could ship to...