Alfa Car Production Outside Italy

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

Bob Abhalter, Dana Loomis, Keith Walker and Tony Stevens all jogged either my 
memory or my curiosity (or both) on this arcane question.

First, clarifying sources, there have been three big attempts to replace Fusi 
with a more comprehensive and up-to-date work. They are all useful but often 
contradictory, incomplete, or incorrect, and few of us have all three because 
of the expense. The first, "Alfa Romeo Catalogue Raisonne 1910-1982", 
published by Automobila at about $250, is one of the ones I have. There is a 
later edition which I have not seen, "Alfa Romeo Catalogue Raisonne 
1910-1989", currently in print, which may make up some of the shortfalls of 
the first edition. A second, "All the Alfa Romeos 1910 1995" published by 
Editoriale Domus at about $75, is what Dana Loomis has (but I don't). It 
appeared to mixed reviews, partly because the third, "Alfa Romeo Production 
Cars 1910-1996" by Stefano d'Amico and Maurizio Tabucchi, published by 
Giorgio Nada, was expected immanently and was presumed to be The Final Word 
at a list price of $350.

The photo of the Brazilian Alfa 2300 in "Alfa Owner", May 1980, which Bob 
Abhalter mentioned looks like a blend of the Alfa 6 and the first series 
Alfetta sedan. The proportions are Alfa 6, but the front door wing-windows, 
old-style door handles, and crosspiece in front of the hood are all pure 
Alfetta. Its dimensions which Dana gives, 2730 mm wheelbase and 1397/1400 mm 
front/rear track, (versus 2510 mm, 1366/1358 mm, for the Alfetta) are closer 
to those of the tipo 102 (ironblock) Berlina (2720, 1400, 1370) than they are 
to the those of the tipo 119 Alfa 6 (2600, 1408, 1365).

Dana cites "All the Alfa Romeos 1910-1995" as saying that "the 2300 was 
produced in various versions from 1974 to 1986 (which differs appreciably 
from the "Alfa Owner" 1980 statement, quoted by Abhalter, that it "was made 
in Brazil when Alfa  Romeo was still Fiat's partner in the FNM company. Now 
Fiat runs the show entirely, and no recognizable Alfas are made there.". 
Dana's citation goes on that "It featured a light alloy, dual overhead cam, 
four cylinder engine of 2310 cc displacement, and a conventional 
front-mounted gearbox with rear differential."

Tony Stevens writes that "FNM built versions of the 1900, 2000 (102 series) & 
Alfetta saloons. The latter was called the Rio, later just "AR 2300", & was a 
slightly stretched Alfetta fitted with a 2300cc version of the iron-block 
2000 engine - - - -  Suspension was also based on the 102 series."

The "2300cc version of the iron-block 2000 engine" sounds much more likely to 
me than the "light alloy, dual overhead cam, four cylinder engine of 2310 cc 
displacement" mentioned in Dana's source. The 102 iron-block engine is a MUCH 
larger engine than the familiar alloy block four, and could take a stretch 
from 1975 cc to 2310 more easily than the 1962cc alloy-block 2000 (which had 
already been stretched from 1290 cc in three stages) could stand yet another 
stretch of 350 cc. Alfa would not have been likely to develop a fresh alloy 
big four for FNM, although it is possible that they could have developed an 
alloy block for the old 102 engine, just as they had developed an alloy-block 
version of the iron-block 1900 for the Disco Volante.

The Argentinian car I had mentioned is the "Bergantin" built by IKA 
(Industria Kaiser Argentina) in the early sixties with Alfa Romeo 1900 
tooling; 1959 had been the last year of production of the 1900 berlina in 
Italy. The Bergantin definitely did not have Alfa engines, but I don't recall 
hearing anything about whether it reused just the body shell or the chassis 
elements also, and I have not heard of a connection between IKA and FNM.

This early sixties period also saw the production (1959-1964) in Italy of the 
Alfa Romeo tipo AR 1090, basically a Renault Dauphine with an Alfa badge, 
Alfa upholstery and a 12 volt electrical system, (Alfa's first rear-engined 
production car) and its much uglier sibling, the tipo 1120, a Renault R4 
which fortunately kept its Renault badge but which has the honor of being 
Alfa's first front wheel drive car. They were built in fairly large numbers 
(70,500 Dauphines and 42,000 R4s), comparable to 39,000 Giulietta berlinas 
and 90,000 Giulietta T.I.s at about the same period. The relevance of this 
(if there is any) is that the latest, biggest, and supposedly most 
authoritative of the books listed above lists the Dauphine and the R4 in the 
"cars produced" tables but does not list the Brazilian cars, and gives eight 
pages to the Dauphine and four to the R4 but none to the Brazilian cars, 
suggesting some ambivalence in Milan about the 2300.

The 1982 edition of the Catalogue Raisonne links the introduction of the 
Dauphine Alfa Romeo to "an agreement with Brazil for fitting the '2000' and 
an analogous initiative in Mexico, in South Africa and Spain for fitting the 
Giulietta and the Alfa Romeo van". Several pages later it mentions very 
briefly "Alfa Romeo South Africa, which assembles cars in the Brits factory 
near Johannesburg - - - and finally the assembly units situated in Bankok 
(Thailand) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)".

The only other tidbit I can find in the various books is that the first 
reference in Fusi to CKD cars is in 1961, with the Giulietta T.I. (640 cars 
that year). From there to the end of Fusi's listings just 4% of the cars 
(27,535 out of 688,139) were CKD.

None of the sources I have mention the assembly in Greece of early 33s with 
the 1186 engine, which George Caracatsanis in Athens mentioned.

Tony Stevens' observations match fragments from the various sources, with the 
Brazilian car probably based largely on 102 ironblock underpinnings with a 
fair amount of Alfetta in the bodywork, and CKD Giulietta saloons and Giulia 
TI & Supers being assembled in Kuala Lumpur. The rest of the story- Bankok, 
Mexico, Spain, Greece, and what got built when and where, is an object lesson 
in how thin and unreliable the published history is around the fringes.

John H. 
Raleigh, N.C.

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