[alfa] Sump Guards

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Anne O asks: "In the various Alfa parts catalogs one sump guard is shown to fit 67 up GTV's and Spiders. The sump guard from my GTV is much deeper (more curved) than the one on my Spider, and will not bolt up on the Spider. Were there originally two different guards ?" (I assume she is referring to aftermarket catalogs.)
 
Jeff Greenfield replies: "As far as I know (and I could be completely wrong) the same sump guard should fit all 105/115 cars, spiders, GTV's, and Berlinas. However, I'm pretty sure that at one time there were sump guards supplied by Alfa, and some other aftermarket suppliers. The Alfa sump guards seemed to be sturdier and better constructed than the aftermarket ones."
 
In some 1997 correspondence I mentioned to a friend a then-current discussion on the digest in which some asserted that the guards were standard factory fittings on US 105-115 cars. His reply was "Nosir, never, the sumpguard began life as an ARI accessory that NYC (city only) dealers requested at the time that we got a consent decree requiring that we apply a warning label to Spiders, stating that due to the cars "lack of ground clearance" that buyers were to avoid driving in NYC due to potholes. (That label would be a real collectible) - The dealers thought the sump guard would offer some protection, but even with it (dealer installed), the oil filler cap still punched holes in the hood. but at least the city of NY could not be legally blamed.  Ironically some years later a class action suit was brought against NYC by some consumers group, and today NYC must pay for pothole induced damages. Any NYC dealer should have some history on this.  Anyway, no, emphatically, we never fitted sump guards (for reasons not discussed here). If we felt they were needed, we certainly would have fitted them.  A clue, they appear in the accessory catalog, but not in the spare parts catalog. Technically speaking, I think I am still bound by the terms of the decree, and don't think I am at liberty to say any more."
 
(The consent decree was to end a three way flap between the owner of a pothole-damaged car, the city which he was suing for the damage, and ARI which was being blamed by the city for selling a product not suitable for normal city use.)
 
I am fairly sure that I have another letter (which I can't find at the moment) in which he adds that he designed the guards and had them made locally; at some later time Alfa Romeo SpA started having them made in Italy and offered them as an accessory. (I have one which was on a 1973 GT Veloce which a friend had bought used in Florence; it is in the deep back of my parts stash. Never used one, never will.)
 
The sump guards are shown and listed in two places in the June 1974 Catalogo Rapido as applicable to all 105/115 cars, with the part number 105.26.01.871.02. The first listing is as salva coppa in the coppa olio part of plate 01; the second is in plate 34, accessori. An anomaly is that the 105.26 part number indicates first use on the Giulia Super; a second anomaly is the 02 suffix indicates it is the second variation on the original design of the part, which could be taken as supporting the original design having been an ARI kludge rather than an AR SpA part. 
 
The guard also appears in the April 1974 parts book for the Nuova Super 1300/1600, identified as a stone shield. Nothing there suggests that it was just an optional accessory. Other than the Nuova Super book and the Catalogo Rapido the guard does not appear in any factory parts catalog I have, nor does the part number appear in the numerical index of any other factory parts catalog I have. It would appear that there are at least two versions, and probably three or more; the original USA ARI NYC patch, an Italian version, possibly refined, offered by Alfa Romeo SpA as an accessory both here and there and fitted on the Nuova Super, and quite possibly locally made versions sold by aftermarket parts houses.
 
Cheers
 
John H.
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