[alfa] Alfetta instrument placement

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Biba, weighing in on the Alfetta dash layout, writes "I feel it is appropriate
on a coupe with an extreme Kamm tail (shades of TZ1's) and the first use of a
De Dion transaxle on an Alfa since, well since the last 'Alfetta', the '51
single-seater 159 - along with a transaxle. [Help me here John H. I've studied
the neat drawings of the tipo 159 in Fusi (pages 469 to 481) and can't figure
out where the transmission is for sure but appears to be 'back there'
somewhere]."

He doesn't (or shouldn't) need my, or anyone else's, help to figure out the
transaxle; just needs to read the text instead of just the pictures, although
they would do too. P.467 (on the 158/47) and p.469 (on the 159),under 'ponte
posteriore', says "scatola solidate col cambio, fissa al telaio." P.471 has a
lovely section of the engine, including clutch and bellhousing, with no
gearbox mounting flange, and p.478 has an equally lovely set of several
drawings of the unified gearbox and differential, as well as the De Dion,
hubs, brakes, and wheels. The caption of the p.478 sheet is "sezione del
cambio e del ponte della monoposto tipo 159". The 159, like all prior
monoposto competition Alfas after the P3 and the Bimotore, did have a
transaxle, as did the 8C 2900.

De Dion is another story; 'De Dion' and 'transaxle' are not linked, but quite
separate attributes. All of the transaxle cars had swing axles ('alberi
oscillanti') prior to the 159, if you skip the 512 and 163 rear-engined
prototypes which both had transaxles (of course) and De Dions. While Biba is
certainly correct that the 116 Alfettas were the first running Alfa use of
both a De Dion and a transaxle since the 159 Alfetta, De Dions were used on
the 6C 3000, the Sportiva, and the fascinating 160 prototype design, which had
both.

The core of this thread was the 116 coupe instrument arrangement, with  the
tachometer plunk in front of the driver's eyes, and the speedometer shunted
off where it can terrorize the hapless spouse. That piqued my curiosity about
Alfa precedents. Coachbuilt bodies of all nations and makes normally had the
instruments and controls incorporated in the cowl structure, so they were not
normally variable. The instruments were usually fairly symmetrical around the
car centerline. For the 8C 2900, see Simon Moore p.236: the speedometer is
just to the driver's side of the centerline, the tachometer on the passenger's
side. Same for the 8C2300; an unlabeled drawing is in Fusi, p.193, with a
larger, clearer, and function-identified copy in Cherrett, p.54; the switch
cluster on the centerline, speedometer toward the driver's side, gas gauge
directly in front of the driver, tachometer on the passenger's side with the
oil pressure gauge directly in front of the passenger. The Slater/Fusi
monograph on the 1750 gives the different layouts of the Gran Sport, Gran
Turismo, and Turismo, with different forms but the same priorities- switches
on the centerline, speedometer and gas gauge on the driver's side, tachometer
and oil pressure on the passenger's side. There are minor variations - hand
throttle and choke usually convenient to the driver's right hand, clock
sometimes centered and sometime downgraded to oil-pressure status- but on the
road cars the prominent placement of the tachometer seems to be unique to the
Alfetta coupes.

I can't and won't quarrel with Biba's "I like the chutzpah of the single
gauge, the tachometer of course, in front of the driver. I also like people
who think it is, at the very least, interesting." It is indeed interesting,
and curious. There is inevitably the question "Why?". Both 'why just then',
and why oil pressure, as well as engine speed, counted less than car speed or
fuel level. A simple answer (good enough for me) is that these are Italians,
for goodness sake, not Germans. Another possible answer is one which I
remember an English commentator raising about the comprehensive
instrumentation of Cunninghams at Le Mans: at times, particularly in
competition, too much information can be both disturbing and useless. You may
have another explanation. Enjoy it-

John H.
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