Re: The Bimotore and the mid-engined V6 Alfasud

[David Rubie <drubie@domain.elided>]

[deleted]
>He also mentions "Finally, there is this curiosity. Seen at the AR Museum in 
>Arese, in the basement next to the Pope's Alfetta! In the 'hatch' at the rear 
>rests a V6, probably a 2.5 litre. There were no details about it, and I've 
>never seen it mentioned in any literature. Does anyone out there know it's 
>history? "
>
>The car was described briefly and illustrated in Alfa Owner, I'm not sure 
>which date, but it is also shown and briefly described in Alfa Romeo Notizie 
>#35, April 1982. It is indeed a 2.5 liter V6 nestled in the back seat of an 
>Alfasud Sprint Veloce with some very handsome body modifications. Don't know 
>more than that, but Alfa had previously done a related transplant- a Scarabeo 
>power-train with a transverse two liter four in the rear of a Junior Z hull, 
>as a possible rally special, and the mid-engined Alfasud might have had 
>similar origins.

This was was recently pictured in the UK magazine "Classic and Sportscar"
in an article about the design house Zagato.  It was labelled as something
like "Alfasud Sprint 6C".  Whether Zagato just did the external body
modifications (looks pretty radical, big boxed 80's style guards) or did
the whole V6 conversion I don't know.  I do know that it inspired a wealthy car dealer
down here in Australia (Paul Halstead) to build a limited run of very similar
cars, originally planning a twin-turbo V6 and a locally sourced body kit.
He eventually produced a small run of GM-Holden V8 engined cars
(the "Giacattolo" (spelled wrongly I think), which was apparently Italian for "Toy" as I remember
the story, the link being that his upmarket dealership was called "The Toy Shop", over
in North Sydney, a couple of kilometres from where I'm writing this).
I also believe he ended up selling everything.  The Toy Shop closed down for
a period and has now reopened, mainly selling "interesting" second hand
cars (they get quite a few ex-US Alfa Spiders, all selling for outrageous
prices considering the hideous body kit they all seem to carry).

You occasionally see the Giacattolos for sale.  Still too expensive for me though, and
the big, American style cast-iron V8 is something of an anachronism in
this particular car.

dave.

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