enough already?

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

Brian Shorey writes:
"perhaps john's gtv was modified (raised) by the dealer, as part of the
recall (sorry i missed the dates of the recall, which may or may not have
happened before john picked up his '71 gtv).  the fact that six months after
delivery his gtv sat higher in the front could mean that the spacers were
put in at the factory, or it could have been done by the dealer, no?"

"Could", yes, that is possible, if John's 1971 was sold new in 1972 or later.
The recall notice sent to owners was dated March 1, 1972 while the Recall
Campaign Bulletin sent to dealers about that letter was dated March 2, 1973.
Since both referred to the same campaign (86 10 07 on the letter, 861007 on
the Bulletin) I assume that one date or the other was mistyped. I have, but
have not checked the postmark date on, the envelope my notice came in. The
owner notice and Dealer Bulletin are from ARI publication 8696, 1988, covering
recalls from June 1970 along with a list of non-current recalls from 10
January 1968, so I believe no other front suspension height recall occurred
affecting these cars. 

The Recall Campaign Bulletin sent to dealers listed Vehicles Affected as Model
Year 1971, Model 105.51, Name 1750 GT Veloce (USA) and required inspection of
both "Vehicles in Stock" and "Vehicles in Use (Retailed)", which fits Brian's
hypothesis that perhaps "john's gtv was modified (raised) by the dealer, as
part of the recall (sorry i missed the dates of the recall, which may or may
not have happened before john picked up his '71 gtv)." 

John Justus had referred to the nose-high attitude of GT Veloces from 1969 on.
Since the Recall Campaign Bulletin identifies " Vehicles Affected" as 1971s,
and the recall notice sent to owners says "it is possible that when your 1750
GTV was new it did not meet the requirements for headlamp minimum height
required by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 for new vehicles" I
infer that the requirement did not affect prior model years.

Quite apart from all that, if John's (or any other) 1750 and his friend's (or
any other) 1967 Giulia Sprint GT had both been taken to an authorized dealer
with instructions to set both the front ends to factory specs for those model
years as published in the shop manual prior to the 1972 amendment they would
have emerged with the 1750's front ten millimeters lower than the 1967 car's.
If they were taken in with the same instructions after the 1972 amendment was
received by the dealer they would have come out at identical heights, which
would have been the same as that of the 1972 2000. Recall or no, at no time
before or after recall did factory specs put the 1750 nose higher than the
factory specs for both earlier and later cars. 

I'm not trying to quarrel with John Justus, I don't question what he observed
about his particular car and/or any other particular car, and as far as I am
concerned the topic should be over, the data is on the table, anyone who wants
to look at the factory specs and recall dates can, and anyone who wants to
believe that the shop manual specs and other documents are wrong is welcome to
do so. 

Cordially,

John H.

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