Alfetta, 75, 90 etc

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

I made two earlier starts at participation in the Alfetta/Giulietta/90/75/164
discussion and deleted both- too many ulcers floating around on the digest
already. But-

I assume Tony is correct that the 90 did *not* come have an automatic
transmission option. D'Amico-Tabucchi, which aspires to be considered
definitive, does not mention an automatic for the 90, but it doesn't for the
75 either, which certainly had an automatic on two of the USA versions. D'A-T
does list it for the Alfetta 2000, so the book is not necessarily consistent
in leaving it off. Keith writes that there was automatic version of the Alfa 6
also; again, I have not heard of it, it is not mentioned in the little sales
literature I have and it is not mentioned in d'Amico-Tabucchi.

Tony mentions in his next post that the 4cm difference between the front and
rear track of the Alfa 6 would've looked rather odd to him. Actually, that is
well within the range of differences normally overlooked. The 105 cars all
have at least 4cm, and many have five; the 155s had 67mm, the 33 Stradale had
95mm but with the rear wider. None as extreme as Citroen - - or Morgan - -.  

Lee Scanlan mentions that the Giulietta was shorter than the Alfetta sedan,
and speculates that it had the same platform as the coupes. It did not; the
coupes had a 2400mm wheelbase while the Alfetta, Giulietta, 90 and 75 all had
identical 2510 wheelbases.

My take on the Alfetta/Giulietta/90/75 discussion is simply that a company
which had relatively modest resources to spread on platform engineering and on
tooling simply tried to get a maximum market spread and maximum longevity out
of its investment.

Alfa Romeo had traditionally owned, or at least had and wanted to keep, a good
toe-hold in the Italian market for a class I will call the "Executive Express"
- - not essentially a sporting car, but a fairly large, fast, relatively
comfortable, eminently roadworthy car for the government minister and the
chairman of the bank. That market got nicked by Lancia at about the same time
that the relatively dinky Giuliettas started to flourish beneath the "small
car" 1900 and 2000. The Giulietta and then the Giulias won a permanent place
in the market for relatively sporting cars which made modest compromises for
reasonable room and reasonable access, and the Alfettas and, in turn, the 75
maintained the company position in that niche, but some in the company might
still have wanted to reassert its right to the heritage of the Freccia d'Oro.
The 2600 sedans, including the OSI variant, were intended to keep a
respectable part of that market, as was the Alfa 6, and the 90 seems to have
been as effective an effort as one could have hoped for in that direction,
within the limits of making the most of the existing platform.

The Giulietta Nuova, as Lee mentioned, hit the market with smaller wheels than
the Alfetta. And with lower speed-rated tires, a 1300 cc engine, 70 kg lighter
weight, and 15% lower price. Regardless of what it became later, propelled by
salability, it started as the lightest, cheapest car Alfa Romeo could build in
Milan with its existing platform tooling. 

At this point my read becomes more speculative and undoubtedly controversial.
Some months ago I got dragged over the coals by an Alfa Romeo partisan friend.
Following Graham Hilder I had referred to the traditional upright four as a
"Nord", to distinguish it (and the cars) from the popular "Sud". Blam. I got a
short course in the Milanese perspective, including the view that Naples and
its people weren't one whit better than Turin and its people, that Alfa Romeo
was a company that built Alfa Romeos, not Alfas, and that Alfasud was a brand
name for a car which was distributed by Alfa Romeo dealers but which was not
manufactured by Alfa Romeo. He backed it up, with documentation; that Alfasuds
were built by INCA , the Industria Napoletana Costruzione Autoveicoli, a
separate company which continued to build the flat-four cars until it was
dissolved by the government at the time of the Fiat buy-out, after which
production was assumed by Alfa-Lancia Industriale, the company which also
manufactured Alfa Romeo brand cars - the 164, etc.- until it in turn was
folded back into Fiat. This whole line of argument was backed by an impressive
pile of details- Alfa Romeo serial numbers and VIN numbers beginning with AR
and ZAR, the Alfasuds always AS and ZAS. Some ambiguity here, the ARNA was AR
and ZAR, the Alfasud Sprint with a ZAS hull marking and an AR engine marking,
I have not sorted all of the details out- but unless there was something I
didn't catch in the 33s, all of the front-wheel drive cars, regardless of what
they sound like or say on the badge (or how well they handle, for that matter)
have been manufactured by Industria Napoletana Costruzione Autoveicoli or by
Alfa-Lancia Industriale or by Fiat Auto, none at all by Alfa Romeo SpA.

This all got very interesting, and the strength with which these view were
held and expressed suggests to me that perhaps the Giulietta Nuova was in part
an effort by dedicated Alfa Romeo partisans to decrease the inroads of Alfasud
into the sales of real Alfa Romeos .

The objection my friend raised to the use of "Alfa" as a shorthand (improper,
in his eyes) for Alfa Romeo led me to notice a nuance of Alfa Romeo model
naming in d'Amico-Tabucchi. The car which followed the Alfasud was the Alfa
33, but "with the introduction of the 1987 catalogue the Alfa prefix to the
model name was dropped." Similarly with the 75: the model name was "Alfa 75"
until the 1990 model year, when "It should be noted that from that year the
Alfa prefix to the model name was dropped". The Alfa Romeo Alfa 75 became the
Alfa Romeo 75. 

My wife and I are happy with her 164, a proper "Executive Express" as I used
the term, but I am also quite happy with my Alfa Romeo Milano, built by Alfa
Romeo employees in the Alfa Romeo factory one month before Alfa Romeo SpA
passed into history. 

If targeted market governs the progression outline Tony made a few postings
back, you have 
6C2500 -> 2600 -> Alfa 6 -> Alfa 90 -> 164
Giulietta -> Giulia -> 105 Berlina -> Alfetta -> Alfa 75 -> 155 -> 156
Alfasud -> 33 ->145/146
but if corporate philosophy and engineering continuity govern, it is 
6C2500 -> 2600 -> Alfa 6 -> Alfa 90 - (finis)
1900 -> Giulietta -> Giulia -> 105 Berlina -> Alfetta -> Alfa 75 - (finis)
(de nuovo) Alfasud -> 33 ->145/146 ->
(de nuovo) 164 -> 166 ->
(de nuovo) 155 -> 156 ->

Note that, according to the books, the development codename for the 164 was
"Alberto" = ALfa BERlina TOrino. Within their right, they owned it.

Third time around, in haste, but damned if I am going to delete again. You are
welcome to, of course. Be my guest.

John H. 

------------------------------

End of alfa-digest V7 #222
**************************