Re: GS 4R on ebay

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

Andrew Watry writes of the Gran Sport Quattroruote-Zagato (on eBay) "I'm
painting with a very broad brush, but it's kind of an in-house factory
replica/reproduction/recreation (I know it's easy to fight over those words)
of the old pre-war 1750, fitting with Giulia running gear, but a real car in
its own right.  It's not a cheesy VW-based kit car. The description says it's
Giulietta TI based, but I think that's wrong, and that it's actually Giulia TI
(105 chassis, not 101, based)."

No fighting, (not with Andrew, certainly) but I would call it a retrocar,
somewhat along the philosophical lines of the Siata Spring, which was a Fiat
Balilla parody beach-car or, in this country, the Excalibur SS, and would say
that "in house" is a bit of a stretch. The important magazine "Quattroruote"
suggested it, Zagato built a few (92 in three years), Alfa went along to the
extent of supplying parts, and a few dealers offered them. "(105 chassis, not
101, based)" is also a stretch; Fusi says the early ones were tipo 101.23 and
later ones tipo 105.08, while d'Amico & Tabucchi say all were 101.23. The
engines were tipo 00112 (single two-barrel downdraft carb, the engine of the
101 Giulia Sprint and Spider normale) according to d'A.&T, while Fusi agrees
on the early ones but says the late ones were tipo 00514, the single
two-barrel downdraft carb engine of the Giulia T.I.`As far as I know the only
difference between the two engines is the 101 longitudinal oil pan on the 112
and the 105 bat-wing pan on the 514. Either way they are 92 CV, the most
modest of the 1600s.

The two authorities differ on other details, Fusi saying the steering was
rack-and-pinion ("cremagliera") and d'A&T saying worm-and-sector or
recirculating ball (globoidale e ruolo, oppure a circolazione di sfere"). For
reasons of proportion (presumably) it has a relatively long wheelbase (2600
mm, closer to the 164's 2660 than to the Milano's 2510) and the modest
sporting pretensions are implied by the listed top speed, 30 km/h less than
the contemporary 105 Sprint and Spider.

It is true that it is not a "cheesy VW-based kit car" in that it wasn't
VW-based or sold as a kit, but the only one I had a close look at had chassis
detailing and workmanship closer to Velveeta than to gorgonzola. Or it might
have been wrecked and cobbled back together by an inept shop, dunno. They are
certainly different, and may well be a fun car, light enough (at 750 kg) to be
enjoyably zippy around a summer resort, but they seem to me to be an odd and
minor tangent to what Alfa was consistently about. But YMMV; enjoy what you
find enjoyable.

Cheers

John H.
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