Guido Goldi, who had worked with Alfa Romeo in Italy and was a friend of Pietro Tripoldi who owned Alpino, moved to Argentina. In 1955 his Edelweiss company began importing and assembling Alpino motorcycles. To promote the marque he began entering machines in competition, with oustanding results.
Vaifro Meo took world records on an Alpino streamliner in Buenos Aires, and in 1952 a faired prototype of the Alpino 75 ridden by Andrea Bottigelli achieved 128 km/h in the flying kilometer class, and other records were won by the Perales team in Argentina.
Say It With Flowers
Early in 1956 the company presented motorcycles of 48, 75 and 125 cc, and were well received. The name Edelweiss Alpino was used in advertising.
The range extended over the following years, but competition was fierce with numerous established Italian brands entering the market along with several locally produced machines.
By the early 60s Alpino AR was struggling, and management was taken over by one of their distributors, Braulio Mortera of Rosario.
The Italian company was also having problems, and these were reflected in their somewhat haphazard deliveries to Argentina. In the last 11 shipments which Braulio Mortera received, instead of finding crates of motorcycles to be assembled there were boxes of wheels, and boxes of fuel tanks. Havoc ensued, and only a few machines were created during his tenure.
As a result, the Argentinian company was unable to pay for the material it had been sent. Argentina sales amounted to one third of the Italian firm's total output, and the lack of finance sent the firm under in 1962.
The Italian version of events is somewhat different. See Alpino of Italy
Sources: motosalpino.com.ar, OTTW
N.B. Several sites quote an article from Revista Informoto, N° 301 - Mayo 1998. (Informoto Magazine)
