RE: 1978 and 1979 Sport Sedan windshields, etcetera

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

Brian Shorey says:

" i'm pretty sure that '78 was a transition year for alfetta sedans.  there
are a lot of items, including drive shaft donuts, that changed sometime during
'78.

"my guess is that the fender/windshield changes happened *during* 1978, not 
between '77 and '78.  i could take measurements on earnest and provide a
serial # if somebody cares enough to try to identify exactly where the change
occurred.

Why guess? Does Brian have the parts book? It does a pretty thorough job of
identifying which part changed when, and it doesn't support his guess. The
front giubo, but not the other two, did change in July of 1978, and there are
undoubtedly other mechanical parts changes which occurred at odd times
(different AC compressor mounts when they went to the rotary compressor, e.g.)
but nothing shows up in the bodywork sections of the parts book. Of course,
the people who compiled the parts book were probably no more rigorous than the
people on the assembly line. 

The Alfetta 2000, which incorporated all the "Sport Sedan" sheet-metal and
glass changes with minor differences (Euro bumpers, the rectangular
headlights, absence of the U.S.-only rub strip) was introduced on February 26,
1977. Nothing I have seen suggests that production of the older-style body
overlapped that of the new, as seems to have been the case with the stepnose
105 coupes and as had been the case with the Giulia Sprint and Sprint GT.

Giancarlo Catarsi gives production of the USA cars as 3,636 for the old body
and 1,903 for the new style, which does not equate to sales as some of the
late ones were shipped back to Italy when unsold. The tailing-off of sales
parallels that which occurred with both the Milano and the 164; good sales as
The Faithful bought the new model, and sinking sales once we all had one. I
was surprised by the 3,603/1903 ratio; the early ones are a lot rarer in my
area than the late ones. In any case, it the total is a bit over 1% of the
472,868 Alfetta sedans built, not including any of the Nuova Giulietta/90/75
derivatives, putting a dent in the idea that Italy cannot afford to ignore the
largest and most important car market in the world. About ten digests back
someone seemed to suggest that the relatively large number of sedans in Alfa
sales (compared to more overtly sporting cars) was at least partially
attributable to the Italian government purchasing scads of fleet cars for the
Carabinieri and government officials, but I doubt that this would have
accounted for a third of a million Alfettas.

Brian mentions measuring windshields and compiling serial numbers to establish
when the mid-year 1978 changes were made. According to ARI the model#,
version, year, starting production date, and starting chassis number for
Alfetta sedans were:
116.33, 49-State, 1975, May 1975, 00010.01
116.33, 49-State, 1976, October 1975, 00025.01
116.33, 49-State, 1977, 1976, 00035.01
116.34, California, 1976, November 1976, 00010.01
116.34, California, 1977, February 1977, 00020.01
116.58, Sport Sedan, 1978, November 1977, 00010.01
116.58, Sport Sedan, 1979, September 1978, 00025.01
116.58, Sport Sedan automatic, 1978, April 1978, 20010.01
116.58, Sport Sedan automatic, 1979, September 1978, 20020.01

This again demonstrates that you cannot infer relative production dates simply
from the absolute value of the numbers: I have AR11658*0001201 and
AR11658*2001315, which tells me that the 2001315 was the 314th automatic Sport
Sedan built, sometime after April 1978, while 0001201 was the 200th manual-
shift Sport Sedan, sometime after November 1977, but doesn't tell more than
that. My '79 is the 723rd of its year and transmission-type, but not in any
exact numerical relationship to any of the '78s. But of course Brian's
proposed pinpointing of the midyear glass change on the 1978 Sport Sedans
could be an interesting exercise; if anybody has a type 116.58 with a
windshield 23-1/2" deep, please let us know.

Cordially, 

John H. 
Raleigh N.C.

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