more GTV6 ponderings

[Bill_Magoffin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

John H says (edited):

>There seems to be a disconnect between the conventional understanding of
>Alfettas and GTV6s in the USA and in other parts of the world, both on
>chronology and on "Special Editions". On chronology, I had understood that
>1986 was the end of the line. On both interiors and exteriors I had
understood
>that the "second series" changes were across the board, and that the split
>dash left the Alfetta with the "second series" at the time that the GTV-6
was
>introduced in 1980/81. The RHD market, with its conversion problems, could
>have been out of synch with the LHD markets on dashboard design, I
suppose.

This is almost certainly the case. In Australia at least, second series GTV
2.0's from '81 (plastic bumpers being the most obvious external difference)
still came with the split dash. The unified dash (as near as I can tell)
arrived some time in '84  at the same time as the GTV6 was changed. My
brother owns an '83 with a split dash. As I mentioned in an earlier post,
the early OZ RHD GTV6's that came in '83 also had the split dash. The next
significant change was the modified platform (in line with 75) and
Isostatic box in mid '85. I also understood '86 was the end of the line, I
would speculate that and '87 car was '86 production. Some Australian cars
were sold over 12 mths after they were produced.

>So- I would float the idea that perhaps the Australian "Grand Prix"
special
>edition referred to by both Robert Jones and Nathan Wong may have been an
>Australian-market thing while the Swiss "Grand Prix" special edition owned
by
>Jaap Bouma may have been a Swiss-market thing, with no connection other
than
>the obvious panache which the label conveys. If anyone knows more with
greater
>certainty Jaap, and perhaps others, would be glad to know.

I'm almost certain (but unlike John, cannot quote sources) that the
Australian Grand Prix vehicles were NOT a local marketing initiative and
were a factory fitted body kit designed by Raisson Fissore (Sp?). I seem to
recall some digest chat a couple of years back that confirmed this.  Let's
not forget that Euro and Australian markets continued to get 2.0 116 GTV's
up until '85, long after the US had gone exclusively with the GTV6. Maybe
someone can add more here.

Australia did have some local specials like the "lusso" and "FCM" which
were dealer fitted option packs. The only other GTV special I know locally
in any numbers was the "Strada" which was basically an option pack. We did
get at least 1 Turbodelta GTV 2.0 and 1 Autodelta Rally car with a motor
similar to the GTam.

Regds

Bill

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