Sport Sedan "upgrades"

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

From time to time Joe Garcia in reasonably sunny SoFla economically appends
the single word "Discuss" to a brief three-second question which might take a
longer answer for a respondent to cover all bases. This time I had written
"The V6 alternative would probably turn into a power-steered and otherwise
optioned Milano equivalent with the less idiosyncratic Alfetta aesthetics as
the only deviation from an off-the-shelf Milano, and that seems hardly worth
the effort- but again, YMMV." Joe is curious why I would consider this
scenario a probability.


Well - -

Alfa got a lot out of its 116 chassis program, amortizing development and
tooling costs over a remarkable bunch of cars over a considerable time.
Skipping the SZ/RZ, the standard Alfetta GT/GTV6 coupe production ran for
twelve years with four engine sizes, two sets of hubs and wheels, a
shift-linkage upgrade, some low-investment cosmetic changes, and a few modest
structural tweaks of a gusset here and a bracket there. The mainstream 116
sedans, built in far larger numbers, were in production for nineteen years on
one basic platform with three sizes of wheels, two hubs, three rotors, tires
ranging from 165-13 to 195/55-15, four slightly different sets of doors (five
if you count the first series Alfettas) one transaxle with modest variables
(LSD or no LSD, isostatic linkage or the much-criticized original), about nine
variants of the classic four-banger (1.3, 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0 carbureted, Spica
2.0, Bosch 2.0, 2.0 Twin Spark, 1.8 Turbo, and 2.0 Turbodelta) and three
variants of the V6 (2.0, 2.5, and 3.0). There were also plain-vanillas and
different bells and whistles- manual or power windows, manual or power seats,
manual or power (or no) sunroofs, manual or power steering, passive or active
airdams, digital or analog instruments, self-stowing attache case, and very
reserved to in-your-face aesthetics, but otherwise they were all the same
basic car at the platform, hull structure, and main suspension components
level. Same wheelbase, 2510 mm on all of them. Very slight variations in
track, by wheels; the second-series Alfetta 2000 has front and rear tracks 2
mm wider than a 75 2.0, but if you swap the wheels the difference is reversed.
Weights all in the same ballpark; different years of the second-series Alfetta
2000 weighed from 1090 to 1165 kg, different years of the 75 2.0 weighed from
1070 to 1160 kg. There was an across-the board change in torsion-bar
anchorages, and modest engine-bay sheet-metal changes to take different
radiators, etcetera, but generally the cars offer a mix-and-match smorgasbord
of parts and features. You could drive a base Giulietta Nuova and a Milano
Verde into a garage, disassemble them both, shuffle the parts, and leave with
a three-liter Giulietta Nuova with ABS, power steering, and Recaro seats, and
have a carbureted 1.3 liter Verde on 13" wheels left over.

Among 116s I've driven only Sport Sedans, a GTV-6, and the Milano Plat. The
non-servo steering of the GTV-6 I found unacceptable, given that my wife
should be able to use, in town, any car I owned. I have read enough Twin-Spark
vs. V6 discussions in the foreign press to be sure that for my tastes the Twin
Spark, with appreciably less weight on the nose, less need for power steering
and thus still less weight on the nose, would be closer to my ideal
road-and-town car than the Milano is, nice though it may be. Again for my
tastes as to body design (and yours are welcome to vary,) the 90 is by far the
most acceptable set of forms and details to have come from Arese, but is not
available here; the Sport Sedan, legal here, is a fair second formally, the
105 Berlina a decent third, the Giulia Super a humorous and delightful fourth,
and the Milano an irrational fifth, bearable for its other merits but not a
candidate for museum status - my opinion, YMMV.

Sticking strictly to the stock Alfa parts pile to assemble a 116 car which
could pass inspection here (sniffer, plus by-the-book visual inspection for
listed emissions-related devices) the best I think I could do for my
preferences would be a '78 Sport Sedan with a Twin Spark engine, isostatic LSD
gearbox, and the brakes, 15" wheels and tires, suspensions, and instruments of
a GTV 6, and the cloth seats of a Milano Gold. (The grey leather of our
Platinum is elegant, but for long-drive comfort I would take cloth, and also
pass on the Recaros.)

The core answer to Joe's question, though, is that for any given intended use-
road, city, track, autocross, whatever- I think I would almost certainly wind
up with the same equipment, the same weight, the same weight distribution, the
same handling, and the same performance in a V6 Sport Sedan as in a Milano,
with the aesthetics, the cost, the work, and the Q-ship fun factor as the only
real differences between the two cars. The handsome Q-ship could be nice, but
pre-assembled Milanos are readily available, relatively inexpensive, and
aesthetically acceptable to many, especially if equipped with a slightly
perverse sense of humor. Alternately, for about the same work, time, and cost
as the V6 Sport Sedan one could have a Twin-Spark Sport Sedan with appropriate
suspension/brakes/drive-train/interior upgrades, which I would think far more
interesting and enjoyable, and a lot closer to what I have treasured about
Alfas for the last forty years, a nice follow-up to the Berlina and the Giulia
Super.

As always, YMMV. Enjoy it.

John H., contented in Carolina
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