Alfetta tow-car duty

[<JHertzman@xxxxxxx>]

In AD7-043 Dana Loomis, commenting on his advice (against!) to Joe Chan about
the suitability of using an Alfetta as a tow-car, wrote "I do know of people
who have towed lightweight caravans with various Alfa sedans, if not with
Alfetta coupes. I would be interested if anyone who has done this would care
to comment on their experience.  I'm especially curious about much this kind
of trailer weighs, what kind of modifications, if any, were made to the car,
and whether there were any advserse consequences from towing."

I have mentioned my experience a couple of times in the digest, not writing so
much about the load as about the design of the hitch, but I will try to
address the load part. I don't have the figures for the weights, but I can
draw the context.

In 1969-1971 my wife and I spent a bit less than two full years in Europe on
the 'serious' business of researching my dissertation and the 'frivolous'
business of having a ball. We had a bit over $10,000 (US) available for the
two years, so we did decide we would have to do it camping. Our car was a 1967
Giulia Super with just a bit over 50,000 miles when we left. My high opinion
of the Super, my prior experience moving intercity with U-Haul rental trailers
behind an MG TD and an MG1100 with home-made hitches, and our limited finances
all persuaded me that the Alfa would be up to it. (Had to be, no options.) The
caravan was a 13' (nominal, inside length, x 6'wide and 6' tall) Fairholme (!)
built by Caravans International, a British company - perhaps some GB lister
can provide a ballpark figure on empty weight. Since we were going to be
wintering we took an adequate wardrobe. Extra equipment on the trailer
included stuff to make it a bit more livable than the average summer camper:
recirculating chemical toilet, gas heater, LPG tank, Electrolux refrigerator,
Trippelite power converter to run the radio (a Drake SW4), tape recorder,
electric typewriter, (Olivetti) lights, etc and an extra battery to run the
Trippelite. We also had more flatware, dishes, pots, pans, cookbooks etcetera
than the average two-week camper might. Two Nikons, six lenses, a Durst
enlarger, photo-processing equipment, polyglot dictionaries, basic reference
books for my field, (& more on microfilm, of course), files of notes, quite a
bit of photocopied material- folding chairs to relieve claustrophobia in a
smaller apartment than we were used to - and so forth.

No, I don't have the weight. The caravan was down on the bump-stops full time
for two years, effectively sprung by its tires alone. Based on other
experience flat-towing parts cars I am fairly sure that its loaded weight was
considerably more than an Alfa sedan. 

Dana was concerned "that the engine (even with turbo) and drivetrain wouldn't
be able to put enough torque on the ground to move the trailer from a dead
stop." I had felt that the Alfa driveline was appreciably overstructured
compared to, say, a Ford Cortina, and that the direct-fourth took care of
appropriate gearing, at least on the level. I was somewhat concerned about the
clutch, particularly in stop-and-go driving over Alpine passes, but the clutch
(replaced at the start of the trip) was in good shape at the end, aided by
using tire-slippage in place of clutch slippage where appropriate. (155-15s
helped here.) We did have to replace the three-year old exhaust system at mid-
trip, but that could hardly be blamed on the rigors of towing.

We used a Reese compensating hitch, a fairly brutal device which, when locked
down, effectively converts car+trailer into an articulated long-wheelbase six-
wheeler at the expense of some peculiar loads on the car structure. (Reese
used to demonstrate the hitch by towing an Airstream behind an FWD Olds
Toronado with the rear wheels removed.) Structural analysis was semi-informed
guess + prayer, recognizing that in the end I might be trashing the middle-
aged car, but the hull survived with no ill effects.

The hitch structure I built on the car took as much of the load as possible
into the hull at the base of the hump over the rear axle. The transom at the
rear of the hull had to take vertical loads into the rear quarters, but not
the torsional loads one would have if the hitch structure did not tun forward
to the front of the trunk.

Needless to say I drove as gently as I felt was appropriate, and the car
survived. Dana's advice, to "buy a cheap used vehicle with a frame, V8 and
automatic tranny" as a tow car is irreproachable, if Joe Chan has the funds,
the space, and the inclination. Dana's concerns about the engine and drive
train would not worry me; the giubos, gears, clutch and the engine itself,
treated with respect, should not experience anything like the punishment the
car would receive in a day at the track. Dana is also concerned that that the
rear springs would be too soft; if they were, I might explore alternate rear
springs, air-lifts or a light compensating hitch, or even self-levelers, but
again prudent towing should not be as brutal as track time on an "interesting"
circuit with dips and thank-you-ma'ms. Dana's concern that the rear structure
of the Alfetta coupe would not be able to handle the weight of the trailer is
legitimate; the coupe structure is not nearly as rational as the 116 sedans
(also the case, certainly, with 105/115 coupes and sedans) but I would not
hesitate to use the coupe, if I had better things to do with my money than
buying a dedicated tow-car. Pussyfooting around with an overload is light duty
compared to what the cars are designed to take.

John

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End of alfa-digest V7 #44
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