max_pershin

Another interesting example of the modern rarity. I've seen this car in the fall of 2022.

Dodge Ram SRT-10 MY05 with a regular cab. It has a V10 engine from Viper (8.3l, 500HP, 248 km/h, 0-60mph in 4.9 sec) According to wiki only 1808 of MY'05 with regular cab were made.

7 hours ago, stev66 said:

GT first series I consider it half a missed opportunity. 

In the sense that by making it debut with the 2.0 instead of the 1.8 of Alfetta, and above all with the 6v (which were created for the Alfa 6, therefore ready before the freeze) perhaps immediately brought to 3.0 it would have been possible to compete with the base and medium 911s. 

To clarify, the 911 range in 1974 had a 2.7 150 hp, 177 hp and the Carrera 210 hp. 

The V6 Busso was already ready in 1974, it was stopped together with the Alfa 6) 

A GT 2.0 130 hp (engine available on the contemporary 2000), and the Busso 156 hp and 3.0 190 hp would have been worthy competitors. 

The mechanics would have easily supported the engines. 

Instead they preferred to make 1.6, which in the end didn't even generate huge numbers. 

 

Until February 1973 Alfa Romeo had different plans for the model line compared with range we know. 

AR wanted to have a sporty version of the Alfa 119 with the planned start of production in 1975.

Sportiva 119 Coupe supposed to have V6 (2.2 and 2.5 - 1180kg, price in Italy 3.270.000, production plan for 1975 - 21200 cars), and V8 (2.6 and 3.0 - 1250kg, price in Italy 5.730.000, production plan for 1975 - 3800 cars). 

The V8 3.0 was described in the Montreal backstage, 84x67.8, 3006cc. If the specific power was equal to the 2.6, the maximum power would be 230 hp at 6500 rpm.

So the 119 Coupe with V8 3.0 would have 184 hp/t or 5.43kg/hp

But in November 1973 the V8 engines were excluded from the production plan and the model range became the same as we know (expect the Spider which supposed to be ended the production in 1977, and new Spider should be built on the Alfasud platform)

Regarding V6. All production delays with Alfa 6 and V6 became evident in 1971. Because of the consistent problems with unions the production plans were delayed for 2 years! The production of 119 was moved from the beginning of 1973 to 1974. Because of it the equipment for V6 and new L4 116 engines manufacturing was purchased only at the end of the 1971. Moreover, after calculations OTO Melara refused production of the transmission parts of the 119 (the company management didn't want to invest in the production of the parts for the single customer (Alfa Romeo). They wanted to sell 50% to Alfa and 50% to the different customer)

Now it is easy to say that the lacking of the powerful V6 was a missing opportunity but knowing the facts I can say that Alfa did everything right till 1979 but it is another story

P.S. Below is the example of the perfect scenario, when the problems with the unions were not existent, Alfa Sud was in the plans and the market was growing

105.66 Coupe 3000 8V GTA Iniezione (with De Dion suspension)

@multiplex could you please post a depliant of 155 Q4 (in Italian language). 

17 hours ago, L' informatore d'auto said:

If we wanted to go back in time, there would be two attempts made with Alfa when it was still state-owned and both reported in the book "Luraghi: the man who invented the Giulietta".

The first would have been the joint purchase of Lancia in the 1950s, in order to form a single large Italian automotive conglomerate. A subdivision of segments would have been implemented in which FIAT would have produced small-medium sized cars, Alfa would have produced medium-sized sports cars and Lancia would have produced luxury and representative models. The project - also supported by IRI - was ultimately scuttled by Valetta who did not want to limit FIAT to a single segment given the impossibility of predicting developments in the automotive market.

The second would be another joint purchase, this time by Ferrari and also supported by IRI. After various negotiations, and reaching a point where Drake was considering making an agreement with Alfa Romeo alone, everything faded away after Giovanni Agnelli decided to buy Ferrari directly and put an end to the matter.

Another attempt was to merge Innocenti (British Leyland) with Alfa in early 70s during the fuel crisis time 

I believe the JV between Lancia and Alfa regarding the vehicles was a rumor as there is no evidence to it in the Luraghi and IRI archives . However there was another agreement between Lancia, FIAT, OM and Alfa to produce light commercial vehicles. Also it was an agreement that allowed to sell Alfa through some FIAT dealerships.

Quote

Notes on the meeting with Fiat for the F104 initiative, 25 November 1960;
Meeting in Turin with Prof. Valletta President of Fiat on 23 May 1961 (two copies);
Meeting in Milan with Dr. Ciuti, Director of Special Affairs at Fiat and President of OM, on 29 May 1961;
Note for Doctor Luraghi on the meeting between Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo, 14 July 1967; attached: note for Dr. Di Nola, 9 March 1965;
Germany: joint agents with Fiat, 17 July 1967; attachments: Note to the engineer. Gioia, 15 December 1964; Suspension of the sale of Alfa Romeo products through the inclusion of new Fiat Agents, 16 December 1965 and 10 January 1966; Alfa Romeo representation, 19 December 1966 and 6 January 1967; exchange of letters between Igino Alloisio and Niccolò Gioia, 6 March 1967, 21 April 1967 and 24 April 1967;
Italian industrial vehicle agreements between Alfa Romeo and Fiat, 13 March 1973, and removal of point 11;
Excerpt from the draft agreement dated 3 September 1973 and sent by Fiat on 12 September 1973.

Just want to share an exotic "car", even for Canada. It is a short wheel base single cab RAM 3500 with Cummins 6.7 L Turbo Diesel (385HP, 1200Nm).
Usually these trucks have a long wheel base and double cab. This one has the shortest possible wheel base and diesel. It is a combination that you can't see everyday

On 9/7/2023 at 3:38 PM, Renault said:

Qualche moderna anche da parte mia.

 

 

Secondo EPER questa dovrebbe essere una vera (e molto rara) Alfa Romeo Mito 1.3 Multijet SBK '13, ma io personalmente questa versione speciale me la ricordavo più caratterizzata a livello estetico. 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, could you please share the link to ePer? The one that I used, 2023 version, is no longer working

On 9/8/2023 at 5:44 AM, Abarth03 said:

 

In reality I believe that the VSS (which was from 1981-82) was not designed to have a production sequel, but to be a "pure" study car. It had to anticipate the new technical course, that of the single platform on which to develop multiple models, a study later carried out with the Type 2 and Type 3 projects.

 

Stylistically, to me the VSS has always seemed like an evolution of the Panda lines. Even the design of the dashboard has always reminded me of that of the Panda in some way.

 

It's peculiar, in any case, because the VSS truly looked like a production-ready machine.

 

 

 

Real! Although on our beloved "Frankie", it would be unclear whether that was really a flat mask or just a painted piece of plastic stuck in the middle to fill the muzzle.
Speaking of attached parts, the two rear-view mirrors of different types are formidable. What is the one on the right? 127 Sport '78?

VSS was designed by De Silva under supervision of Hruska. De Silva's father (who was not the last man in FIAT) asked for his son to be part of the IDEA.

@PaoloGTC Probably the work started in 1981, the Illustro FIAT was published in February 1988, I'm pretty sure the text was written in 1987.  

5 hours ago, alfagtv said:

Ho fatto caso ora al roll Bar dentro la uno con le ruote della Delta.

I also see high performance Pirelli P6 tires.

The car looks like modified FIAT Uno Turbo Gr A (1985). The same wheels and roll bar were installed on it while it was tested in Corsica (1985) by Toivonen

On 9/2/2023 at 12:58 AM, PaoloGTC said:

 

I will check the month of that Gente Motori issue where the spy photos came from, but I am not sure could be enough to tell when they made... must see if they put on the magazine quickly because was a hit or they planned to show later with more info.

We saw weeks ago, Lancia Dedra first prototype on the road was on Quattroruote during summer 1986, but the same photo was on a spanish magazine in April.

Reading Quattroruote you could think they made the photo during the last weeks, the truth were already three months old.

Anyway, I will check.  

Just to give some extra information about the Alfasud Spider. As we can see the investments in the model should be almost twice less than in the restyling

On 8/21/2023 at 12:17 PM, Renault said:

On this hot August Monday I offer you some modern rares.

 

A US-Specs BMW X5 3.0 F15 imported to Ukraine in 2020 and ended up on our territory for well known reasons, I just can't explain why so many US-Specs cars come from them, even cars that are sold all over Europe as this X5 and that there is no shortage of specimens on the used market at all. 

The answer is very easy. Almost all cars in Ukraine or Russia in amercan specs imported from Copart auction. So they were written off by the insurance companies because repair cost was more than the cost of the car.
Mainly it happens in North America not because of the extensive damage or expensive parts but because of the labour cost. But in Ukraine, Russia or Belarus most car mechanics are cheap, very cheap, so repair cost consists of 50% of the spare parts cost and 50% of the labour cost. 

For instance my mechanic overhauled 2.0TS 8v engine,  if I'm not mistaken the total cost with the spare parts was 1500 Euro, but in the USA the same job can cost 15000 Euro.

Also Ukrainian legislation isn't strict, so American cars shouldn't comply with EU standards (there is no need to change lights, or speedometer).  In the worst case scenario new owner of the american car in Ukraine can always bribe (about 200 Euro) somebody and register the car.

This is an example. When it was new the price of this BMW was 72500USD. Now you can buy it for 35000USD or less. The transportation to Ukraine is 2500 USD. Repair would probably cost 2000 USD by using second hand components from the junkyard. Taxes - 13000 USD. Other payments - 3000 USD. Total - 53000 USD for almost new car, and almost 20000 USD cheaper than new. Also from the beginning of the war, for almost 1 year, all cars used were excluded from the taxation. So 3 months ago the car would cost 13000 USD less!!!! Only 40000 USD (37100 Euro). What would you buy in Europe for this amount, BMW 118? 

https://www.copart.com/lot/64456783/salvage-2023-bmw-x5-sdrive-40i-ca-los-angeles

So, to conclude. Whatever american specs car from eastern europe you can see, was written off by the insurance company and was at the junkyard.
https://www.copart.com/lotSearchResults?free=true&query=bmw x5

P.S. For the same reason Russia, starts from 500 km eastern of Moscow, is flooded by right hand drive Japanese cars. In some far east regions, behind Siberia, the amount of RHD cars is much bigger than LHD. But Japan few months ago prohibited export of used cars to Russia and now almost 70% of car sales falls on chinese cars and trucks

The rear light clusters of the same style as Marea Berlina  They resemble Renault Laguna Break lights

2 hours ago, RightKnider said:

Задние фонари напоминают мне обновленный Lincoln MKZ 1-го поколения. Кстати, сплит-гриль в то время также был темой Lincoln.

Ты забыл переключиться на другой язык

It's funny but the more I know about Alfa, the more some cars make nonsense  Like this Alfasud Spider.

The original intent of Alfa Romeo in very early 70s was to produce about 500,000 cars per year (250 Alfa Nord and 250 Alfa Sud). So the company wanted to discard all Giulia related engines and platforms by 1974 an substitute the lower displacement cars by Alfasud (up to 1300cc) and Alfetta (from 1360cc) platforms. The direct heir of Spider Duetto / Coda Tronca supposed to be Alfasud Spider but with the 1600cc engine. The fuel crisis and unions changed the plans, the model line development was delayed by 2 years, but strategically in the heads of the Alfa Romeo / IRI management the production targets remained the same. They clearly thought that any crisis is temporary and they need to be prepared for the better time and invest even more than before.
 

So IRI continued to think using the old targets and this Alfasud Spider was in the production plans till 1975. The model actually has never been mentioned in short term production plans (1-2 years) despite that Alfasud Sprint, the same niche model, was scheduled.

Eventually in May 1976 IRI understood that future isn't bright and adjusted production plans of Alfasud from 1000 cars per day to 750. Alfasud Spider was still mentioned as possible model for 1976/1977 but it was the last time, so the project was forgotten. 
 

Now I have a question to @PaoloGTC, when the spy photo was made?

It's strange. Nivomat shock absorbers are passive, not electronically adjusted.

On 7/11/2023 at 1:21 AM, 8coibaf said:

I'm not 100% sure, but if I remember correctly the ECU used for the Torque Vectoring Differential was shared also for the SemiActive dampers and the front active splitter control, so even if the Torque Vectoring differential is removed, the ECU needs to stay for the other systems.

 

Non sono sicuro al 100%, ma se ricordo bene la ECU usata per il differenziale Torque Vectoring è condivisa anche per il controllo degli ammortizzatori semiattivi e dello splitter, quindi anche se si toglie il differenziale la ECU deve rimanere per gli altri sistemi.

You might be right. By the owners manual it is ZF RDU-230-LSD,the same as at Q2

1 hour ago, Falco said:

 

In un certo senso sì, probabilmente il differenziale meccanico ha un'affidabilità e una costanza nell'uso intenso superiore

It's still electronically controlled differential. Look at part#11, it is the electronic control unit, the same that has been used in Stelvio/Giulia QV previously. But the differential by itself is a new unite, at least the part number is new and applied only to QV 2023

18 hours ago, stev66 said:

Un po' di numeri : 

Mito prodotte 293.428. 

Bicilindriche 17.418

1.3 mjet 72.592

1.6 mjet 35.982

1.4 GPL 13.869.

Tutte le altre 1.4 benzina nelle varie declinazioni. 

On 1/4/2023 at 10:52 AM, 3volumi3 said:

Fiat Multipa come sarebbe dovuta essere secondo il suo designer Giolito, se non fosse dovuto scendere a compromessi, in particolare su come avrebbe voluto gestire le luci anteriori, inserendole tutte nella posizione sopraelevata, sotto il parabrezza.
Le testimonianze vengono direttamente da lui, intervistato in occasione di questo video tributo alla Multipla (da cui ho preso le immagini).
Probabilmente si saranno già viste su queste pagine, ma da quanto mi risulta non negli ultimi tempi:

 

 

Non so voi, ma questa soluzione mi garba molto di più di quella deliberata, che, parole di Giolito stesso, è il suo unico rimpianto a livello di design.

Infatti, da quello che racconta nel video, i suoi ingegneri lo avvertirono che la soluzione di posizionare tutti i fanali sul piano superiore avrebbe creato problemi di visibilità in condizioni di nebbia (cosa che non lo vedeva d'accordo al 100%, ma alla fine dovette accettare la cosa per questione di tempistiche).

Interessante anche sentire la sua opinione sul restyling "normalizzatore" del 2005 (it was an useless operation, a loss of money)

Just for fun, 1994 Mazda HR-X2 which was obviously designed and developed in 1992-93

12 hours ago, DOssi said:

Renault Clio V design story

 

I think the design story of any washing mashing would be more excited

Greetings from 1997

At some point of time (1997-1998) 2.0 HF HPE was the most powerful (193 HP, 29.6 kgm) and the most technological car (Viscodrive LSD and electronically controlled dumpers) of the segment C in Europe. All of the GSi, GTI, QV names were one level below, nobody could compete with 2.0 HF HPE (225 km/h).

The same level of performance and technology was achieved by VW Golf almost 20 years later (GTI Mk7) with 2.0 Turbo and performance pack with Haldex VAQ LSD and electronical dumpers.

This is the performances of the 5 door version with 186 hp engine, the most impressive was the ripresa in V from 70 to 120, it was probably the fastest car available at the market of any segment! For comparison Delta Integrale 16v did it in 13 seconds, Celica 4WD Turbo in 14.7 sec, Maserati 3200 GT in 13.1 sec, Calibra 16V Turbo in 14.9 sec

I found only two cars that could do it better, Quattroporte 3,2 V8, in 11 sec and 155 Q4 in 10.5 sec

 i

5 hours ago, Nocte favente said:

I remember that initial sketches were made by Opron (like this one),  then refined by Castellana, who penned also the interior.

 

By Antonio Castellana

7/ Timing, dates, roles and dynamics in the design and genesis of the es30.

The es30 is the last Alfa Romeo. It officially represents the passage of the brand under the control of Fiat. An event already announced, and for this very reason even more dramatic for the milanese car manufacturer. I was a seventh level employee of Fiat and I worked for the "Innovative Design and Research" dept. In a room next to that of the head of the Style Center, Maioli, with whom I had agreed on the name of a new sector that... did not exist because, as a mere seventh level, I couldn't be in charge of it. It was he who gave me the task to create a design proposal in competition with the project of the Zagato brothers and with that of De Silva, a stylist I had previously met at the I.DE.A. institute, and who later moved to Alfa on mandate of Ghidella. I was the team. But, in the meantime, the executive Opron had been called upon to fill the vacancy of manager at the "Innovative Design and Research" dept.. I had only six months to get the engineered prototype, ready for production. The first chassis I worked on was the GTV one. I drew the first shape plan on June 15, 1987 and the pencil renderings with the perspective views on June 18, 1987. Maioli showed everything to Gianni Agnelli who said he was enthusiastic. A change of chassis was decided: that of the 75 was chosen, a sedan. A new form plan and, from that moment on, it was a hellish nightmare, a fight to the death, travelling between Turin, Milan, Piacenza and Terrazzano di Rho without a break. It is the story of the disappearance of a car manufacturer of great historical importance, and I found myself right in the middle of it.

 

4 hours ago, Nocte favente said:

che poi in realtà la ES 30, o SZ che dir si voglia, non la disegnò la Zagato, ma Robert Opron, che aveva  già disegnato tra le altre le Citroen SM e CX.

The car was designed in FIAT Centro Stile by Antonio Castellana. Opron did not design ES30