Re: remember 75?

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

In ad8-591 BS wrote "'75 Alfas w/Spica FI (non California cars, I don't think
Alfas sold in CA in '75) came equipped with air pumps and no cats.  The air
pump was good enough to meet emissions in 49 states, but not good enough to
meet CA emissions. The cat was added in '77, I think, which is when Alfas
started selling in CA again (I think)." To which Pottree replied, in ad8-598
"As it happens, I moved here to CA in 1975 and at that time there was an Alfa
dealer on Hollywood Boulevard, and they were selling new cars (that I recall,
Sports Sedans and Spiders were on offer; whether they were official 75 models
or not I do not know)."

Two problems, one a minor quibble and the other a larger anachronism. Alfa
first used the name "Sport Sedan" for the US version of the second-series
Alfetta sedans, Type 116.58, which was a fifty-state car from scratch, and had
a starting production date of November 1977. The 49 state Alfetta GT, Type
116.29, had a starting production date of May 1975, but the California Alfetta
GT, Type 116.15, had a starting production date of November 1975. The 116.15
model number was carried forward with the fifty-state GT which had a starting
production date of August 1977. For the first-series Alfetta sedan there were
two type numbers, 116.33 and 116.34. the 116.33 being the 49 state sedan which
had a starting production date of May 1975, same as the 49 state GT, and the
116.34 being the California car which had a starting production date of
November 1976.

At least that is what ARI's Vehicle Identification List, which had starting
chassis numbers and starting engine numbers as well as starting production
date, type, model, version, and 'edition' (model year).

If both Charlie's moving date and ARI's records are correct, what Charlie
probably saw was a 1974 MY Berlina which might well have been still on the
showroom floor and might well have registered in his memory as a sport sedan,
with or without upper-case. Brian's statement ("75 Alfas w/Spica FI (non
California cars, I don't think Alfas sold in CA in '75") was aimed at model
years, not at belated sales; Charlie's statement that there were sedans on the
sales floor in 1975 may be correct but it does not rebut Brian.

D'Amico & Tabucchi gives numbers by year and type number, without months. For
the coupes they give 1975 production of 2090 units of the 116.29, which sounds
right with the May 1975 production date ARI gives, and 250 of the 116.15,
which sounds right with the November 1975 production date ARI gives. For the
sedans they show 1975 production of 2300 of the 49-state 116.33, which sounds
right with the May 1975 production date ARI gives, and 150 of the 116.34, the
California car which ARI says was a 1976 model year car starting production
November 1976. I would guess that it should have been November 1975 on the ARI
list.

Quibble, quibble -

John H.

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