Buy This Alfa Romeo Truck, Get a Fiat Topolino Free

Everybody knows that “buy one get one free” offers are merely a ploy to make you spend money on something you didn’t need in the first place, but sometimes a deal just looks too good to resist.

Take this Alfa Romeo A12, for instance. Even if you’re not familiar with the model name, you’ll have gleaned its significance from the images. Part of the confusingly named Romeo range of commercial vehicles—yes, that’s the Alfa Romeo Romeo—the A12 specifically was the light truck variant sold from 1967 to 1983, alongside the F12 van range.

A Perkins diesel was offered, but the truck on sale here through Italian car specialists DTR Sports Cars in the U.K., uses the other option, a 1290-cc twin-cam, which originally made around 52 hp through a four-speed manual gearbox. As you can imagine, that limits performance somewhat, and carrying a load would limit things even further.

You’ll notice this A12 is doing exactly that, however, with a cute little 1954 Fiat Topolino sitting behind the cab. But the Fiat is no mere prop—it’s included in the sale, meaning that if you buy the A12, you effectively get the Fiat thrown in for free.

Okay, so in reality the price tag of £35,000 (about $44,000) probably reflects the value of both vehicles, but it’s more fun to think of this as being the ultimate Italian BOGO. The Topolino really sells the look; it doesn’t take much effort to imagine similar scenes playing out all over Italy in the 1970s, as A12s helped rescue decades-old 500s from the roadside, perhaps squeezing a family of four into the Alfa’s passenger seat en route to a local garage.

The truck has had plenty of recent work, with bills totaling $50,000, according to the ad, including a rebuilt engine, a new clutch, new brakes, and fairly fresh tires, plus an electric winch and a set of ramps for loading small, light vehicles onto the back. The “12” in the name stands for the 1200 kg (2645 lb) you can, in theory, transport on the bed.

The Fiat is said to be in good running condition, and it looks smart enough in the photos. The absolute heaviest Topolinos barely stretched the scales at 1650 pounds, so you’d be a good half-ton under what the A12 is capable of shuttling around. In reality, you’d want a little leeway anyway to account for yourself and a passenger, but if you wanted to put the A12 to work moving little classics about, quite a few should come in under the weight limit. In fact, you’d likely be more limited by the length of the ramps.

If you’re interested, get bidding before it’s gone. It’s surely a better use of your time than getting duped into buying more baked beans or hoagie rolls in some other buy one, get one free offer . . .

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