Alfa marine engines

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In AD9-658 Andrew Watry wrote "If I remember right, the competition parts
manuals from the 60s and 70s show complete Alfa 4-cyl marine engines, as well
as parts to convert an Alfa engine to marine use.  Are there any of these
still around? Anyone ever seen one?  I would guess they were sold mainly in
Italy?"

In AD9-0659 Thom Fransen replied "Not only from the four cyl. in the 60's but
also 6c 2500 engines used in World War 2 (minisubs) and Montreal engines which
are said to be used in the famous Riva speed boats (at least some of them).
Beside these automotive related engines Alfa had also a line of purpose built
marine engines in the 40's and 50's (probably most of them "sisters"  of the
truck engines.

"This part of the Alfa history has my strong interest, so if anybody knows
more.."

I had started a reply to Andrew's post but aborted it, as my information is
very limited and fragmentary, consisting mainly of very informal marginal
comments by Don Black on some marine racing notes a California correspondent
had sent to me. Fragments may (or may not) have some use, so here they are - -

On the "sold mainly in Italy" aspect Don had written "actually , as much in
the USA" (as in Italy), and went on to briefly mention "lots of activity in
the 91 class hydroplanes in Florida": the only name he mentioned was a
hydroplane "Southernaire IV" campaigned by F.C. "Doc" Moore.

Don also mentioned doing some work on the twin Alfa fours, with outdrives,
which powered Carlo Chiti's yacht, which I believe was based on Como. Apart
from the Autodelta price lists, which covered many variations of 1300, 1500,
1600, 1750, and 1900 cc fours, the 1500s being implicitly marine racing
applications, the only Autodelta marine material I have are a pair of fliers,
one for the marine conversion of the Montreal engine and the other for the
outdrive ("Gruppo entro fuoribordo") which was available with either 1779cc or
1995 cc versions of the 1750 engine. The power figures given suggest that the
Montreal engine was offered in an appreciably higher state of tune, which
would be consistent with the four + outdrive being developed as more of a
yachting engine; Don said that the engines on Chiti's yacht had marine mods
but no performance enhancements.

Il Quadrifoglio (the original trimestriale of the sixties and seventies)
frequently published, in its 'Sport' coverage, Alfa-engined powerboat racing
results, both small hydroplanes and large offshore racers, but not much on the
engines. Il Quadrifoglio #27 (July '73) and #28 (November '73) have a pair of
features on an offshore hydroplane powered by a pair of 33 V8 variants
enlarged to four liters, with stated outputs of about 500 hp @8000 rpm.

 Thom Fransen wrote "Beside these automotive related engines Alfa had also a
line of purpose built marine engines in the 40's and 50's (probably most of
them "sisters"  of the truck engines." Undoubtedly some were "sisters" but
some weren't; I have a photo someplace of an Alfa marine diesel which was
appreciably larger than anything I would relate to the commercial land
engines, but there was no solid information accompanying it.

Don has a tremendous accumulation of information lurking in his cranium, from
years of go-betweening for U.S. enthusiasts, Alfa SpA, and the real Autodelta.
He also had vast files of hardcopy - everything imaginable, detailed reports
on dyno testings, patent papers, client correspondence, on and on - but after
he was 'liberated' from his lifelong career by Fiat much of his files were
dispersed to Jim Weber, Bob Little, other friends, and boxes in Dennis Black's
attic, some undoubtedly left behind at Fiat R&D, some probably in the
landfill. Nothing could reassemble what has been lost, but I still appreciate
the occasional whiff of what Alfa and its ambience used to be.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Andrew Watry's query had been prompted by thoughts of how nice it would be to
have an Alfa-powered boat, after a weekend watching mainly Chevy-powered ski
boats. A friend who greatly admires the classic hydroplanes of the twenties
and thirties planned on building a small Hacker-designed runabout from plans
commissioned by, and published in, the magazine MoToR BoatinG, and had agreed
with my thought that an Alfa four would be ideal for "Slippery", the handsome
fourteen-footer he had chosen. Like many projects, it didn't happen, but it
would have been doable, could have been nice and, for me, would not have been
as problematical as most 'replicars', as the Hackers (and other comparable
plans published in the same source) were designed precisely for one-off
construction by skilled amateurs, to be fitted with an engine of the owner's
choice; thus a genuine replica rather than a "replica". In correspondence with
Don Black at the time Don mentioned that there were several companies (Raineri
being the most popular) building marine conversions of Giulietta engines for
the 1.5 Euro and 91 c.i.d. APBA classes, usually methanol motors, but for the
Hacker "Slippery" he felt that a 2600 would be ideal, in perfect harmony with
the Hacker hull lines. Sounded right to me - although a two-liter four would
be nice enough, classic enough, and easier to come by.

John H.
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