ALFA's and other makes as we ALFA people see them (got long)

["Davide Frada" <davidef@domain.elided>]

Hi Mike,

Few know me. I live in Adelaide, Australia, and am restoring a 71 1750
Berlina.

My daily car is a 1971 Rover 3500S (Buick derived 215 V8/4 speed manual with
De-Dion rear), and my rolling restoration is a 1971 Mercedes 300SEL 3.5,
with self leveling and height adjustable air suspension, featuring a low
pivot swing axle.

The De-Dion rear is fantastic. First released in 1963, it must've caused a
sensation. I've outdriven/handled much more modern and supposedly impressive
machinery in this car.... Skyline drivers get upset when they see this in
front of them - http://dove.net.au/~davidef1/vicoutback.htm . The ride is
amongst the best I've ever experienced in any car. At 130mph the car remains
very stable (albeit noisy), and 90mph is around the natural cruising speed.

Similar story with the Mercedes. The suspension is height adjustable via a
lever in the driver's side footwell. There are two positions - normal and
high, for rough terrain. I set the car up to ride at normal height when set
in the high position, and down low (with negative camber) when the lever is
in the normal position. It easily outhandles the Rover.

The disadvantage to air suspension is cost of repairs and the fact that when
left parked a few days the car will sink to its bump stops and look like
this - http://dove.net.au/~davidef1/vale/8.htm . Still, its a 1900kg long
wheelbase sedan with swing axles that can outhandle many more modern cars.

Its been too long since I've driven the Alfa to be able to comment much on
the behaviour of a live axle, but I did find axle tramp to be a marginal
problem. Perhaps the most fun and rewarding car I have driven, though.

The later Rover SD1 used a live axle, and as far as I know, the only
suspension related fault was a knobly ride over less than smooth road. This
car was highly regarded for its handling abilities.


davide



> Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 15:26:48 -0700
> From: "Mike Nakamura" <mike_nakamura@domain.elided>
> Subject: ALFA's and other makes as we ALFA people see them (got long)
>
> The 911 to GTV 6 thread got me thinking.

> so forward as to generalize) say that "it works even if it's obsolete"
> like live rear axles or de dion rear suspensions, so it is good.  I
> would love if the Montreal had a better weight distribution and

> I can remember reading criticism of swing axles on other makes, however
> they seem to serve their purpose and sometimes beat ALFA's on the race
> track.  Some swing axles were executed better than others, same goes for
> live rear axles.

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