Alfa Romeo Alfetta

Alfa Romeo Alfetta (1972-1977)

The Alfetta is a four-door sedan in the upper middle class of Alfa Romeo, which was built by spring 1972 to autumn 1984.

The vehicle was located above the Alfa Romeo Giulia and stood in competition since the beginning of 1968 in-house manufactured Berlina 1750 /2000. With the launch of the Alfetta was in the trade press and in the international clientele immediately a very positive reception.

Name

The name comes from the Alfa Formula 1 racing Alfetta type 159, with the 1950 Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio in 1951 first places went out. The name " Alfetta " means "little Alfa ". The reason for the name of equality was the two vehicle types common transaxle design of the drive train.

Powertrain

For series sedans, the transaxle was previously rare ( examples: Csonka (1908), Škoda Popular ( 1937), Lancia Aurelia (1950 ) ). The transmission of the Alfetta was not attached the front of the engine, but together with the differential in front of the rear axle. Before transmission, the clutch was flanged. The drive shaft rotating, with a hinge plate with decoupling of the motor speed and connected to the front -mounted engine with the rear coupling gear differential assembly. The masses are distributed evenly on both axes ( weight distribution of 50:50 ) and bring as compared to conventional rear-wheel drive more traction on the drive wheels.

In addition, this allows neutral behavior when cornering, regardless of the loading condition. While this design also relieves the front axle to an easy movement of the rack and pinion steering has been achieved, helped on the other hand, the more load on the rear axle of the Alfetta to better road holding, even under bad conditions like rain and snow.

Landing gear

The Alfetta had a De Dion axle with coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers. This design combines the advantages of the rigid axle ( toe and camber Constance) and the independent suspension ( low unsprung weight, comfort) because of sitting at the construction differential. The axle body had approximately the shape of a trapezoid whose short side pointed to the front. There, the axis was stored prior to transmission in rubber ( tiller axis). To traverse back was a Watts link. The rear discs were on the inside, that is mounted directly on the differential output shafts. Thus, the unsprung masses were further reduced to the wheels.

At the front, there was double wishbones and torsion bars along opposite ( torsion bars ). This should create more space in the engine compartment, because the development took place before the first fuel crisis and it should be larger engines can be built, such as the V8 of Montreal. A V6 engine was in development.

The brake was power-assisted, front disc brakes were also installed.

Motor

As the engine 1750 engine with 1779 cc and 122 hp was offered, which was already used in other Alfa Romeo cars. 1977 launched the 2000 machine with 121, later 130 hp, in early 1975 as the entry-level model, the 1600 Alfa Romeo Giulia machine. The 1600 engine in the Alfetta was a bit more powerful than that in the still built Giulia Nuova Super, caused by various fine-tuning and an electric fan. In 1979, the Alfetta was first offered with a turbodiesel engine that made ​​82 horsepower and increase in displacement to 2.4 liters from 1983 95 hp. In the USA, found from 1975, the two-liter with mechanical Spica fuel injection and 112 hp, which had already been used in previous models, further use in the GTV later, the 2.5-liter V6.

Features and Design

The equipment of the vehicle met the requirements for a sedan in the upper middle class. The design is by Bertone. However, this was because Alfa- President Giuseppe Luraghi just had trouble with Bertone, never made ​​public, quite the opposite: The very first version of the Alfetta was provided with a " Centro Stile Alfa Romeo " emblem. This " granddaddy" Alfetta was built from March 1972 to July 1974.

As of mid-1974 there were in addition the Alfetta with 1600 engine ( sales name: Alfetta 1.6), a type of savings version ( this can be recognized externally to the single headlights and bumpers hornless ).

From the beginning of 1975, the previous Alfetta called henceforth the Alfetta 1.8 and externally learned a few small revisions in the form of a wider Alfa- heart ( " Scudetto " ), other headlight rings and a modified front grille.

In the fall of 1977 finally appeared with highly modified and redesigned the Alfetta 2000, among other things, with rectangular headlights, wider bumpers, backward opening engine bonnet and bolted instead of welded front wings. From the autumn of 1979 Turbo Diesel (2 liters ) was identical design in the Alfetta available and in early 1983 was still the Alfetta with 2.4 liter turbo diesel added.

In the spring of 1982, further modifications were carried out. So partially double headlights were installed again. Among them were already introduced to in fall 1977 revision plastic bumpers as opposed to the first release.

Alfetta GTV

As usual with Alfa Romeo, even more variants were offered on the basis of a successful model. As a supplement appeared in the spring of 1974, the three-door sport coupe Alfetta GT or GTV. In this model, later the V6 engine was used.

In the fall of 1980, the now received GTV coupe called a basic facelift. Bumpers, spoiler, dashboard and side panels made ​​of plastic were changed.

By early 1986 478.812 copies were produced.

Market success

The Alfetta was initially a great success in the market. In the magazine "auto, motor und sport" the vehicle was 520 is the clear winner in a comparison test in September 1972 with the newly released BMW.

One problem with the Alfetta were, however, a lack of technical reliability and to high susceptibility to rust. These problems had in the 1970s and other models of Alfa Romeo, which the reputation of the brand inflicted significant harm.

The successor of the Alfetta was introduced in the fall of 1984 and was called Alfa 90

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