Over the journey dating back 30 years, your CarShowroom correspondent has owned four Alfa Romeos featuring the ‘Quadrifoglio Verde’ badge – indeed we have one in our garage now. In fact we still recall a visit many years ago to Autodelta – Alfa Romeo’s iconic motorsports department.
Now the ‘Quadrifoglio Verde’ (QV) – green four leaf clover – the symbol of Alfa Romeo’s racing and high-performance models is celebrating its 90th birthday.
Even ‘Alfistis’ can’t determine the exact origins of the QV logo but it is part of the coat of arms of the Italian Air Force and was on the flag which distinguished the aeroplanes of the 10th Caproni Bomber Squadron in the Great War.
The QV logo first adorned an Alfa Romeo race car in 1923 – Ugo Sivocci’s RL which won the 14th edition of the Targa Florio that year.
Today, Australian high performance buyers can choose from two Alfa Romeo QV models – the MiTo QV and Giulietta QV.
Personally, we just regret letting that European Touring Car Championship Alfa Romeo GTAm race car (with its QV badge in sticker form to save weight!) slip through our fingers – a pristine example sold for a six-figure sum at a recent auction in London.
