So- as far as I can tell from the material I have, all 105/115 cars had the
heads toward the transmission and the nuts toward the rear, but no other Alfas
did. Why this would be so is another question; unlike the Alfettas they are
all identical unsplined hex-headed bolts. It is quite possible that the reason
is no more than that it satisfied the sensibilities of the engineer who made
the decision. Engineering often transcends into architecture (and occasionally
the reverse happens) and often in architecture (or engineering) there will be
two or more 'reasons' for a particular decision, a good reason and the real
reason. It is all part of what makes Alfas (and Italian culture more
generally) endlessly interesting to people of certain dispositions.
Well, it's good to get a discussion going on this.. and some good data
came up.. Though I feel a little silly