Nord chauvinism, & bonded glass.

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

Mat Killick takes me to task for ignoring the Alfasud in my comments on 
structural bonded glass. Guilty as charged. I did not mean to slight the 
'Suds. I was too-narrowly focused on Jerry's original statement which I read, 
or perhaps misread, as suggesting that Alfettas did not have bonded glass. 
Here all 1750 and 2000 coupes and sedans were bonded, and we bought 
relatively few early Alfettas, (fewer still surviving) and it would be easy 
for someone in this country to think that 105/115 cars were structurally 
bonded but 116s were not.

Mat writes "The AlfaSud, which was definitely pre-Alfetta, used a bonded 
screen for structural rigidity". I have tended to think of the Alfasud and 
the Alfetta as virtually simultaneous. According to D'Amico & Tabucchi both 
were announced in 1971, but "It was not until May 1972 that (the Alfetta) was 
actually available on the market" while "deliveries of the revolutionary 
boxer-engined, front wheel drive Alfasud began in June 1972". Fusi says that 
the Alfasud was shown at the Turin Motor Show in November 1971 but he gives 
the press introduction as May, 1972 for the Alfetta and June, 1972 for the 
Alfasud.

I can't disagree on the relevancy of having a quart-sized heart and soul in a 
pint-sized car. I was driving a very entertaining MG 1100 when I bought my 
first Alfa, and for a few years before the Milano we had a Scirocco. Both 
were interesting and entertaining but neither of them, nor our 164, nor the 
33 that I drove for a few weeks in Italy, touch the particular character 
which I found irresistible in the Alfas of the late sixties and early 
seventies.

Cordially,

John H.

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