"What is the Alfasud called in the USA?"

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

Responding to an Australian question about the US-presence of one of the many
Alfas which never got here, I wrote of my admiration for one of them, the 90,
and of my less favorable feelings about others, including "Personally, I don't
miss the boxers-".

David R Johnson replied "Ah, now surely John you didn't expect a comment like
this not to spark some reaction?", adding of the 90 "Nothing against the folks
that have them and love them, I'm sure they have a great deal of appeal, just
not to me" before launching a spirited eulogy of the Alfasuds. I hasten to
add, in his words, "Nothing against the folks that have them and love them,
I'm sure they have a great deal of appeal, just not to me". 

The late forties and early fifties saw the introduction (actual, or in print)
of a great variety of interesting cars which were vivid departures from the
usual American fare. Rear-engined cars; front-wheel-drive cars, like the DKW
and its SAAB spin-off, and the remarkable Citroen 11 (which had a lovely
sports-car spinoff, the Georges Irat) and several boxer-engined cars as well
as several air-cooled cars. Nardi built some stunning small cars powered by
BMW motorcycle boxers. I have nothing against either boxer engines or front-
wheel-drive, separately or together; I owned and thoroughly enjoyed one of
each about forty years ago, and years before that a good friend had a front-
wheel-drive boxer-engined lightweight sedan with remarkable handling (air
cooling, too) which had beaten the Sud out the gate by over fifteen years. A
Dyna-Panhard, of course, itself a spinoff from the innovative Hotchkiss-
Gregoire. At the time a good friend of his (Ben Gregory of Kansas City) was
driving a beautiful alloy-bodied front-wheel-drive roadster, with an air-
cooled six cylinder boxer engine, which he had built a few years previously.

At the same time some of us, driving conventional cast-iron, push-rod engined
sports cars, were moderately aware of two twin-cam pinnacles of pre-war
American automotive engineering, the Duesenberg and the Stutz DV32, and of two
pinnacles of pre-war European cardom, the twin-cam Alfa Romeos and Bugattis,
as well as two other Italians, the A6GCS built by Alfa' rival Maserati, and
the extravagant jewels built by ex-Alfaman Enzo Ferrari. Among post-war
British cars two were standouts, the twin-cam Aston Martins and the Jaguars.
Into this scene of affordable but mechanically mundane MG, TR, and AH
roadsters and pricier, more mechanically sophisticated larger cars dropped the
relatively affordable Giulietta, an exquisite cross between the inexpensive
small sports car and the grand tradition of unstinting supercars. Enough of us
were seduced to give Alfa Romeo a modest but very special toehold in the
American sports car market, but a position radically apart from Alfa Romeo's
core objective of becoming a mainstream sedan builder a notch or two above
Fiat.

The Alfasud story is fairly well known, at least in its broad outlines. Rudoph
Hruska, with a strong background at Porsche and as a production engineering
star at VW, moved into the Franco-Italian car world with consulting and
production management work for Cisitalia, Finmecannica, SIMCA, FIAT, Alfa
Romeo, SICA, and finally INCA (the Industria Napoletana Costruzione
Autoveicoli), a company established to develop and build a moderately priced
car brand which would be marketed by Alfa Romeo as the Alfasud. Introduced in
1971, it was certainly highly successful in many respects, less so in others,
and Alfa Romeo decided not to try to market it in the USA. A regrettable
decision perhaps in some ways, but a wise one in my opinion. David Johnson's
sig line includes "1978 Alfasud 1.3 4-door (now deceased, rustproofing not a
Sud strong point)". However good the mechanicals and the handling might have
been, a new small car loaded with DOT bumpers and EPA smogstuff which rusted
at least as badly as any Fiat would not have enhanced Alfa Romeo's market
position here.

My only experience with an Italian boxer was a two-week rental of a new 33 in
1991. It was certainly an enjoyable car to drive. In other respects it may
have been an unusually poor example, but in fit and finish it was certainly
the poorest car I have ever driven. Many of its problems could have been
fixed, but the rental agency didn't want to hear about the seriously
inconvenient ones. Despite such flaws, and the rust, the Alfasud, Arna, and 33
certainly brought the Italian public an affordable alternative to Fiat. Again,
I have nothing against the folks that have them and love them, I'm sure they
have a great deal of appeal, just not to me, and I think ARI was correct in
leaving them elsewhere.

Cordially, 

John H. 
Raleigh, N.C.

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End of alfa-digest V7 #499
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