Re: V6 Production Numbers?

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

David Johnson asks about production number of the GTV-6, and implicitly there 
are tangent questions about the numbers of other V-6 engined Alfas and their 
relationships to the four-cylinder cars sharing the same bodies. He would 
prefer information on a yearly basis, but unfortunately I do not have that. 
What numbers I do have are from "Alfa Romeo Production Cars" by Stefano 
d'Amico and Maurizio Tabucchi.

The V6 appeared first in the Alfa 6, built from 1979 to 1987. The petrol 
engine was initially the familiar 2.5 liter, but from 1983 it was available 
also with an 80mm bore and 66.2mm stroke for 1997 cc to avoid the tax penalty 
imposed by Italy on cars with engines over two liters, despite both poorer 
performance and poorer fuel economy. The book does not break down the figures 
further, by either year or engine size; 12,260 were built. The other engine 
was a five cylinder 2.5 liter Turbodiesel, 1983-1985, which accounted for 
2,977 cars. 

The GTV-6 came next, with 22,381 cars 1980-1986. The four cylinder Alfetta GT 
and GTV cars totaled 113,893 cars 1974-1985, the '80-'85 cars sharing the 
GTV-6 styling changes. (These totals do not include the 500 GTV Turbodeltas.)

The Alfa 90 1984-1987 included 6,912 V-6s in both 2.5 and two-liter sizes, 
15,392 Turbodiesels (four cylinder 2.4 liter) and 34,124 four cylinder petrol 
engines with the two-liters outnumbering the 1.8s 27,447 to 6,677. The 
two-liter obviously offered the most performance one could get before the tax 
penalty kicked in, but even the 1.8 outnumbered the V-6 option.

The Alfa 75 (Milano in the USA) comprised 9,526 2.5 and three-liter cars, 
47,972 Turbodiesels in two-liter and 2.4 liter sizes, and 307,173 fours 
(127,498 1.6 liter, 102,543 1.8 liter, and 77,132 2.0 liter). To these one 
might add the Giulietta Nuova, which shared the platform, doors, and much of 
the rest of the 75 but without the kicked-up tail. There were 330,662 of 
these with petrol engines in 1.3, 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 sixes, plus 17,141 
Turbodiesels and 342 Turbodeltas.

That is as far as the book takes us on the rear-wheel-drive cars, but the 
same sort of proportions extend through the front-wheel drive cars. Roughly 
one out of four 164s had a V6; on the 155 (through 1996) there were 5,070 V6s 
against 28,292 Turbodiesels and 156,756 fours.

Shifting to the other half of David's letter, I applaud the wisdom of 
restoring and maintaining (and even discretely improving) such a car even if 
it will not ever be a particularly valuable classic. It beats paying 
depreciation (and property taxes, and insurance) on newer cars which are a 
lot less interesting, and at the rate that middle-aged Alfas get trashed a 
well-maintained GTV6 will be fairly rare fairly soon. The 105/115 GT Veloces 
(47,512 1750s, 32,288 2000s, 106, 352 Juniors) are not all that common any 
more; they may have an edge aesthetically, but the GTV-6 has a real edge in 
many other ways.

Enuf. If somebody has year-by-year figures, David would be interested.

John H. 
Raleigh, N.C.

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