Alfas assembled outside of Italy

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-663 Graham Hilder and George Caracatsanis add appreciably to the 
questions and answers about Alfas assembled outside of Italy.

First, on Graham's question of "possible South African-only variations on the 
basic Alfa design, which I have heard may have happened (possibly different 
engine or gearing options and suchlike)", the South African Alfas very 
definitely included a small number of carbureted three-liter GTV-6s; I do 
have, but so far have not located, a substantial article about these in one 
of the British classic car magazines. My recollection is that part of the 
reason for their construction was to qualify this variation as a "production 
car" for an anticipated competition program. Somebody (I have lost track of 
who) mentioned an elusive rumor of V6-engined Giulietta Nuovas also. On less 
radical variations such as different gearing, this was always the importer's 
choice on the assembled cars in the USA; the factory had a long options list, 
and the importer could chose a bare-bones economy specification or a more 
sybaritic array of luxury features, and add its own flourishes with special 
wheels, stripes, or aero kits. Surely an assembler, such as South Africa, 
could do as much without official sanction by Alfa Romeo in Italy.

George Caracatsanis (and Graham's correspondent Darren) greatly extend the 
list of assembly locations, and George wonders where the Maltese Supers were 
destined to. I am reminded of a friend who once bought (or says he did) an AC 
Aceca with enough parts deleted (steering wheel, tires- ) that it could get 
under the wire as a kit car for tax-evasion purposes. "Manufacture" and 
"assembly" can be loose terms, defined in different ways by different 
authorities. One assumes that in the South African operation all the separate 
body panels were pressed in Italy and shipped in and joined at the S.A. 
factory, but whether gearboxes and engines would be shipped in pieces or as 
units is less clear. Tony Stevens suggests that for the Spanish trucks and 
vans the pressings were done locally. Every Alfa parts book that I have, from 
the 750 Giuliettas through the Alfetta 2000s includes as "parts" complete 
bodies in two states: the fully assembled bare shell, in primer, and the 
fully trimmed and painted body, presumably with wiring-loom in place, but 
without suspension or (presumably) drive train. A private party could buy a 
complete 2000 GT Veloce as a kit at the parts-counter by buying a trimmed 
body, an assembled engine, assembled transmission, rear axle, and a few 
hundred lesser parts. If Malta, or Portugal, or Zimbabwe, wanted to restrict 
but not eliminate importation and at the same time provide some semi-skilled 
employment in the local economy without requiring great capital investments, 
they could define "assembly" to simply include fitting engines, axles, wheels 
etcetera to fully trimmed hulls, or to include painting, fitting glass, 
hanging headliners and the rest on complete but bare hulls. It is at least 
possible that the more improbable operations, such as Malta, might have just 
assembled fifty cars a year for the local market.

That is highly speculative, but the list from Quattroruote's annual 
'Dizionario delle Auto 1970' which George cites includes "Paraguay: Officine 
Japsa. Assembly of Giulia 1300 TI, Giulia Super, 1750, 1300 GT Junior." A 
roughly concurrent encyclopedia describes Paraguay as having a population of 
roughly a million, most of them the indigenous Guarani indians, with the most 
important export being cotton and the most important manufactures rum and 
molasses, half of the nation's revenues coming from import duties, and 
transportation being primarily by rivers. Which does not sound to me like a 
place which would support a thriving and highly capitalized automobile 
assembly plant (or exports) especially as two of its three neighboring 
countries, Brazil and Argentina, did have car factories of sorts and 
discouraged imports.

John H.
Raleigh, N.C.

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