Salt, etc.

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-1102 Kevin Trent reported on a web database covering recall campaigns, 
and gave as an example 1974 Berlinas "EXPOSED TO SMOKE, HEAT, AND SEA WATER 
VAPORS DURING A FIRE THREE DECKS BELOW ON BOARD THE TRANSPORT VESSEL DURING 
ITS TRANSATLANTIC CROSSING. (CORRECT BY REPLACING VEHICLE WITH A NEW VEHICLE 
OF THE SAME MODEL)" 

Coincidentally the day before an ex-ARI executive had mentioned to me a 
famous incident (which I had never heard of) of about 200 Alfas which the 
company declared "totaled" after a shipboard fire/flooding- the insurance 
company paid ARI off, took possession of the cars, and sold the cars to a 
salvager who then sold them to dealers. He mentioned that some of the cars 
had visible 'waterlines' on the tachs and speedometers. And to ultimate 
customers, Alfa's quality control (and, no doubt, slovenly and/or inebriated 
workers) caught the blame.

Years ago I had heard of a new Giulietta Spider on the showroom floor at 
Chuck Stoddard's, in Ohio, in which part of the exterior trim fell off 
between the time the building doors were locked one evening and opened the 
next morning- attributed to rust from salt-water immersion in transit.

Endless possibilities for apocrypha. Perhaps these incidents are why they 
used uncorrodable plastic for the stepper gears?

John

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