Re: When is an Alfa Not an Alfa?

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

Ed Solstad asks me to correct him if he's wrong about Alfas having been built 
in Paris in the darker past. OK, consider it done, with due respect. The 
general understanding is that there were Milan-built Alfas destined for the 
French market badged "Alfa Romeo-Paris" in 1932, when Luigi Chinetti was the 
distributor for France. Chinetti drove an 8C 2300 to first place at Le Mans 
in 1932 (with Raymond Sommer as codriver) and again to first in 1934 (with 
Philippe Etancelin as co-driver). Sommer and Nuvolari filled the gap in 1933. 
In 1933 Alfas built for export had three of the Savoy knots in place of 
Milano (or Paris), so the Paris badge was short-lived. Probably as many (or 
more) Alfas were sold in London as in Paris, but the British distributor may 
not have been as well connected, or as concerned about dissociating his cars 
from Italy. There was quite a bit of social turmoil in many parts of Europe 
at the time, (and national animosities) which may have accounted for the 
"Paris" badges, and undountedly many of the few cars Chinetti could have sold 
would have had French bodies, such as the Figoni-bodied 8C2300 in the midwest.

Total Alfa production in 1932 was about 580 cars, so the number of 
French-market cars was probably not large.

The last time the Alfas-assembled-outside-of-Italy topic was booted around 
here there were reports of cars being built in Kuala Lumpur, Bankok, Mexico, 
and Greece, as well as South Africa, Brazil, and possibly Argentina. The 
Argentine product was the Bergantin, with mostly Alfa 1900 body and mostly 
Willys mechanicals, but it was not established (then) whether Alfa had a 
financial interest or had merely sold the dies. The Brazilian Alfa was much 
more of an Alfa, built by a truck manufacturer which both Alfa and Renault 
were involved in, but the car (a "Rio") was neither very close to any 
European model nor, aparently, built to European standards. The Greek car 
was, aparently, an early 33. Most such ventures were probably 
local-content-rule-skirting ploys, to get around import restrictions or 
taxation differentials between imports and domestic products. 

On the larger question of "When is an Alfa Not an Alfa?", during the 
Giulietta era Alfa built, between 1959 and 1964, almost as many Alfa Romeo 
tipo 1090, tipo 1120, 1123, and 1124 cars as Giuliettas. The 1120-1124 cars 
were front-wheel drive machines with 27 hp 845 cc engines; the 1090 was 
rear-engined, with half a horsepower less; both were capable of speeds of 115 
km/h.. They were built in Alfa's factory in Milan and badged as Alfa Romeos, 
but I doubt that very many marque enthusiasts today would consider then 
"real" Alfas. For some, it takes more than a badge - - 

John H.
Raleigh, N.C.

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