The Alfa Thread

[LateFan]

I got wondering about the factory pressed vs hand-made panels. The factory was reviving and trying to get out of the post-war mess they were in. They built some more big cars on the pre-war chassis, but those days were over. The 1900 iron block sedan was popular, but old fashioned. They had to get modern and develop a new production line with smaller, monocoque cars in volume to survive.

So you can find pics of stamped steel, spot-welded chassis coming out. But those may be the Giulietta sedan made at the Alfa factory at Portello.





That car saved their butt. It was sporty, won races, hauled the family, was reasonably priced....

Then the Spider was built by Pininfarina at their factory, and the Sprint at Bertone. Bertone made the whole shell, loaded them on trucks, hauled them to Portello, where the drivetrain and running gear were installed. Not efficient, but that was the start of the transition away from coachbuilders to modern production.

So I don't know, but I think the panels on the Sprint were still fabricated by hand, because here's the wood buck they used....


The chassis was monocoque, with spot welded components.


Do those pieces look hand-pounded, or stamped...? I don't know.

But the panels were welded to it and then finished.

[LateFan]

Portello machine shop and factory -

There's your big finned drums...


Engine block drill presses

[LateFan]

Bertone factory - paint shop...


Finishing (note other makes mixed in)


Out the door and loaded up


The Portello Works made them into Alfas

[LateFan]

Nice color...black or very dark blue.....?? Magnesium wheels.




WHOOOP!

[LateFan]

Just found this...

"...from Luciano Greggio's book Bertone comes the photo below, of early Sprints leaving the works at 225 Corso Peschiera. Greggio writes that "In order to meet the extraordinary demand for the Giulietta Sprint" the old 3000 sq m factory was restructured to complete 32 Sprints a day. The Corso Peschiera factory, first built in 1934, was enlarged to 8000 sq m and by 1956 there were almost 400 employees. Some production began to be shifted to suburban Grugliasco by early 1959--there are photos showing mixed production underway. By 1961 Bertone had built 20,000 Sprints for Alfa Romeo."

I didn't know they made so many. Interesting because they made 6000 total Duetto Spiders, including the 67 1600 "Duetto", the 69 1750 Spider, and a handful of Junior versions.

[BlackbirdM3]

Very cool pics you found. I had forgotten they were out there. There were lots of Sprints made, but many of them were junked in the '70s and 80s for parts to restore the Spiders. Fast forward to now. There are TONS of spiders out there, but Sprints are rare creatures. Here is the info I got on it from the Alfa Historic archives.

Dear Mister Campbell,

with reference to your request we are informing you as follows.

According to our documentation files, the chassis number AR 1493.20198 originally corresponds to an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, manufactured on the 6th October 1959 and sold on the 12th October 1959 to N.S.U. Werke, Germany.

The body colour is Alfa red.

The number you provided me doesn’t correspond to the engine originally fitted on this car.

Yours, Sincerely,

Marco Fazio

This makes it the 198th 101 series off the production line. Now here is the really interesting thing. Note that it was sold to NSU. This plate calls it a 750B


Right next to it was the Alfa data plate calling it a 101.02


The car is a bit of a mystery as there is only one other known German market car out there. What the relationship with NSU was is also unclear. It really is the best of both designs. Its got the more modern parts of the 101 series, but retained the nice trim pieces of the 750 series. It will be a very cool and unique car when its back on the road.

Will

[LateFan]

This is a 1950 6C 2500 Berlina (sedan) by Pininfarina. They built 17 after the war, on a pre-war chassis.

"The advanced chassis design is born out of Alfa’s all conquering pre-war competition era. It features independent torsion bar rear suspension with independent hydraulic cylinder front suspension, and many beautiful lightweight aluminium castings."

The very last of the completely coach-built Alfa Romeos. They were very very expensive to build, and part of reason for the change to the new small Giulietta design. There was really no market for these.

It's a big car - looks like a limousine. This particular one is original and unrestored, preserved in dry southern Italy. Hard to believe looking at this - the seats are perfect.

[LateFan]

But now all of these are listed as post-war 6C 2500s, so maybe there are 17 of that particular 1950 model. They made them in other years, and different coach builders were still making variations of that chassis.

Woody!




Ghia

[LateFan]

Pretty sweet ride....

[LateFan]

And this 6C was built in 1949 for Prince Aly Khan, who was married to Rita Hayworth for a while...

[BlackbirdM3]

At last, I conquered the brake drums. All four have finally been removed. I got the drivers side rear wheel well mostly scraped clean. Very little surface rust in there.



Will

[BlackbirdM3]

I think I found the color for the Sprint... It appears to be an Alfa color as well




A 1750 Twin Spark?


I dig that car.

Will

[flyboyx]

I approve!

[LateFan]

Mine is 716. It's a great color. Those pics make it look more cold blue-grey. It's kind of a warm green-grey if anything, depending on the light.







It was hard to match on mine, because the guy couldn't find any modern paint codes. We matched it with some untouched paint under the glovebox.

[LateFan]

1967 Alfa Romeo/Autodelta Works GTA 1600 Corsa AR 613.883

From Road & Track -
"A factory-campaigned Alfa, it is one of—if not the—most successful and documented GTAs in Alfa Romeo/Autodelta Works history. It won first in class at the 1967 Spa 24 Hours and took podiums for Alfa Romeo/Autodelta and Scuderia Monzeglio at some of the biggest FIA Group 2 events from 1967 to 1971."