Re: Zat's 1972 Alfa Sud (sic) (bis)

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

Don Black replied to my note in AD7-1433 in which I quoted James Tsakirgis' 
citation of Tom Zat's Alfasud, as described on Zat's web-site: "Copied from 
the site: 1972 Alfasud TI #500003 engine #00001 red, yellow/black, first of 
production, EPA car, race prepared by factory, restored, vintage eligible, 
many N.O.S. spares, extra engine, last raced 1985, SCCA homologation."

On the question of race preparation by the factory, which I guessed might 
have been some tweaking by Black, Black replied:
"************* There was no "race preparation", we did cosmetically dress up 
the car to display it on the Sylvan Avenue showroom as a technical interest 
display. The car was then sold off, as the factory sales dept. decided that 
sudmobiles could not be sold in America due to their high non-competitive 
price ****************" He also mentioned that he did certify the car for 49 
states + California (which had more rigorous emissions standards at the time).

On my statement that "It would not be surprising if Black tweaked the car 
(which I am guessing could be the meaning of "race prepared by factory")", 
Don wrote
 "******* NO, NO, NO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Black also mentioned that the project leader for the development of the USA 
version ("USAzzizata") was Domenico Chirico, and for the motor Bossaglia, and 
for USA safety compliance Antonio Cacciabue.

So it would seem that the car was fully certified for US sales, that the 
reason it was not sold here was that Alfa felt it could not be competitive, 
that any "race preparation" would have been by some post-sale owner, and that 
the car had not been anoited by Carlo Chiti or any of his talented minions - 
or by Don - assuming Don Black's knowledge and recollection are impeccable, 
which I DO assume.

The question of whether the car was or was not a ti may be a bit ambiguous. 
Don mentioned that the car was a two-door. D'Amico & Tabucchi, in their 
chapter on the base Alfasud, show among many photos of four-doors "a very 
rare official photo of Alfasud two-door version, a model that was type 
approved but not put on sale after poor showing in market research tests". 
("una rarissima foto ufficiale dell'Alfasud nella versione due porte, modello 
che venne omollogato ma non commercializzato, dopo i primi negativi sondaggi 
sul mercato.") Then in the chapter on the ti they write "The first series 
Alfasud ti featured a two-door bodyshell as the principal variant" against 
the base model, along with interior and exterior cosmetics, instrumentation, 
carburation and a five-speed gearbox. So despite the chronology and the 
serial number the car could be considered a ti precursor which could have 
been retroactively enhanced to approximately the later ti character. I will 
leave the debate of those nuances to those who appreciate the cars more than 
I do.

Cordially,

John H. 
Raleigh, N.C.

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