Right, and all that

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

In AD7-074 Les Singh writes "All Alfas were built with the steering on the
right hand side (John) until ... the ?30's"

I think Les understates the case. To the best of my knowledge (or opinion, if
you prefer) the 1900 was the first Alfa to be generally available with the
steering on the left. There may have been individual prewar Alfa Romeos built
with left steer, but I can't recall having ever seen a photo of one. The
wartime prototypes, the tipo 163 Berlinetta da Corsa, the Gazella, were RHD;
the postwar evolutions of the 6C 2500 were also. Even after the 1900 was
developed the 6C 2500 Competizione, 6C 3000 C50, 1900 C 52 Disco Volante, 6C
3000 CM, 6C 3000 PR, and 2000 Sportiva of 1954-55 were all right (correct)
side steer. Why they put it on the goofy side for the 1900 is a mystery. With
the Giulietta and the 105/115 cars there is the rationale that there is more
foot room over there, but the 1900 was symmetrical. 

Just checked Fusi to see if he listed any correct-side 1900s, and he doesn't,
nor for the ironblock 2000. Guida destra reappears on the closely related 2600
in 1962 (one car) and 1963 (a second) before the floodgates opened for a total
of eight hundred, three-quarters of them the smooth-nose Giugiaro Sprint which
preceded its stepnosed little brother. For the Giulietta the guida destra
appeared in the seventh year of production, eventually totalling almost as
many (780, all T.I.s) as the 2600, though a much smaller proportion of the
total production, less than one half of one percent. One knows that there were
Giulietta Spiders converted by the importers- probably Sprints also- but they
do not show up in the production figures.

John

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