Alfa Romeo

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Alfa Romeo is an Italian automobile manufacturer.

Alfa Romeo has been a part of Fiat SpA since 1986. The company was originally known as ALFA, which is an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (translated: Lombard Automobile Factory, Public Company). (First logo: [1])

Contents 1 History 2 The History of the Alfa badge 3 Racing history 4 Alfa in popular culture 5 Return to the United States 6 Production 7 RHD Alfa Romeo Production post-1960 8 Automotive models 9 Automotive concepts 10 Engines 11 External links 12 Endnotes

[edit] History

The company that became Alfa Romeo was founded as "Darracq Italiana" in 1907 by Cavaliere Ugo Stella, an aristocrat from Milan, in partnership with the French automobile firm of Alexandre Darracq. The firm initially produced Darracq cars in Naples, but after the partnership collapsed Stella and the other Italian co-investors moved production to an idle Darracq factory in the Milan suburb of Portello, and the company was renamed ALFA (Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili). The first non-Darracq car produced by company was the 1910 24 HP (named for the 24 horsepower it produced), designed by Giuseppe Merosi. Merosi would go on to design a series of new ALFA cars with more powerful engines (40-60 HP). ALFA also ventured into motor racing, drivers Franchini and Ronzoni competing in the 1911 Targa Florio with two 24 HP models. However, the onset of World War I halted automobile production at ALFA for three years.

1916 saw the company come under the direction of Neapolitan entrepreneur Nicola Romeo, who converted the factory to produce military hardware for the Italian and Allied war efforts. Munitions, aircraft engines and other components, compressors and generators based on the company's existing car engines, and heavy locomotives were produced in the factory during the war. When the war was over, Romeo took complete control of ALFA and car production resumed in 1919. In 1920, the name of the company was changed to Alfa Romeo with the Torpedo 20-30 HP becoming the first car to be badged as such. Giuseppe Merosi continued as head designer, and the company continued to produce solid road cars as well as successful race cars (including the 40-60 HP and the RL Targa Florio).

In 1923 Vittorio Jano was lured away from Fiat, partly thanks to the persuasion of a young Alfa racing driver named Enzo Ferrari, to replace Merosi as chief designer at Alfa Romeo. The first Alfa Romeo under Jano was the P2 Grand Prix car, which won Alfa Romeo the world championship in 1925. For Alfa road cars Jano developed a series of small-to-medium-displacement 4, 6, and 8 cylinder inline power plants based on the P2 unit that established the classic architecture of Alfa engines, with light alloy construction, hemispherical combustion chambers, centrally-located plugs, two rows of overhead valves per cylinder bank and dual overhead cams. Jano's designs proved to be both reliable and powerful.

Enzo Ferrari proved to be a better team manager than driver, and when the factory team was privatised, it then became Scuderia Ferrari. When Ferrari left Alfa Romeo, he went on to build his own cars. Tazio Nuvolari often drove for Alfa, winning many races prior to WWII.

In 1928 Nicola Romeo left, with Alfa going broke after defense contracts ended, and in 1933 Alfa Romeo was rescued by the government, which then had effective control. Alfa became an instrument of Mussolini's Italy, a national emblem. During this period Alfa Romeo built bespoke vehicles for the wealthy, with the bodies normally built by Touring of Milan or Pininfarina. This was the era that peaked with the legendary Alfa Romeo 2900B Type 35 racers.

The Alfa factory was bombed during World War II, and struggled to return to profitability after the war. The luxury vehicles were out. Smaller mass-produced vehicles began to be produced in Alfa's factories.

By the 1970s Alfa was again in financial trouble. The Italian government bowed out in 1986 as FIAT bought in, creating a new group, Alfa Lancia Spa, to manufacture Alfas and Lancias.

[edit] The History of the Alfa badge

In 1910 it was a draughtsman named Romano Cattaneo who was given the job of coming up with a badge for a new Milan-based company, ALFA. The story goes that as he was waiting for a tram at the Piazza Castello terminus in Milan, he gained inspiration from the great Visconti family's red cross and serpent coat of arms emblazoned over the great door of Castello Sforzesco.

With the help of Giuseppe Merosi, a designer, his sketches incorporated both the City of Milan's emblem and that of the Visconti family in a circular motif, bordered by a dark blue metallic ring containing the inscription "ALFA" and "MILANO" separated by two Savoy dynasty knots.

[edit] Racing history

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alfa Romeo vehicles

Alfa Romeo scored many prestigious victories in the following categories: Formula 1, Prototypes, Touring and Fast Touring. Private drivers also entered some rally competitions, with fine results.

In 1923 Vittorio Jano was lured to Alfa from Fiat, designing the motors that gave Alfa racing success into the late 1930s. (When Alfa began to lose in the late 1930s Jano was promptly sacked.) It was year 1925 when Alfa Romeo won its first Grand Prix Championship with Alfa Romeo P2 model.

In the 1930s Tazio Nuvolari won the Mille Miglia in a 6C 1750 [2], crossing the finishing line after having incredibly overtaken Achille Varzi without lights (at nighttime). Targa Florio was won six times in row in 1930s. Mille Miglia was won in every year between 1928 and 1938 execpt year 1931.

The 8C 2300 won the Le Mans 24 Hours from 1931 to 1934, with Alfa Romeo withdrawing from racing in 1933 when the Italian government took over, and the racing of Alfas was then taken up by Scuderia Ferrari as Alfa's outsourced team. (Enzo Ferrari drove for Alfa before he went on to manage the team, and after that went on to manufacture his own cars.) In 1935 Alfa Romeo won the German Grand Prix with Nuvolari. In 1938 Biondetti won the Mille Miglia in an 8C 2900B Corto Spyder, thereafter referred to as the "Mille Miglia" model.

In 1950 Nino Farina won the Formula One World Championship in a 158 with compressor, in 1951 Juan Manuel Fangio won while driving an Alfetta 159 (an evolution of the 158 with a two-stages compressor). The Alfetta's engines were extremely powerful for their capacity: In 1951 the 159 engine was producing around 420 bhp but this was at the price of a fuel consumption of 125 to 175 litres per 100 km^[1]. In 1952, facing increased competition from their former employee, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, a state-owned company, decided to withdraw after a refusal of the Italian government to fund the expensive design of a new car. Surprisingly, Alfa Romeo involvement in racing was made with a very thin budget, using mostly pre-war technology and material during the two seasons. For instance the team won two championships using only nine pre-war built engine blocks.

Alfa-Romeo briefly returned to Formula One for the 1970 and 1971 seasons with a V8 engine based on their sportscar unit. In 1970 the unit was mainly entrusted to Andrea de Adamich, a long time Alfa driver, in a third works McLaren. The combination often failed to qualify and was uncompetitive when it did run in the races. In 1971 a similar arrangement saw de Adamich run most of the second half of the season in a works March car, with a similar lack of success.

For 1976 Bernie Ecclestone did a deal for the Brabham Formula One team to use Alfa-Romeo engines based on their new flat-12 sports car unit, designed by Carlo Chiti. The engines were free and produced a claimed 510 bhp against the 465 bhp of the ubiquitous Cosworth DFV. However, packaging the engines was difficult - they had to be removed in order to change the spark plugs - and the high fuel consumption engine required very large fuel tanks.^[2] Murray's increasingly adventurous designs, like the BT46 which won two races in 1978, were partly a response to the challenge of producing a suitably light and aerodynamic chassis around the bulky unit. When aerodynamic ground effect became important in 1978, it was clear that the low, wide engines would interfere with the large venturi tunnels under the car which were needed to create the ground effect. At Murray's instigation Alfa produced a narrower V12 design in only three months for the 1979 season, but it continued to be unreliable and fuel inefficient.^[3]

During the 1979 Formula One season, and after some persuasion by Chiti, Alfa Romeo gave Autodelta permission to start developing a Formula One car on their behalf. The partnership with Brabham finished before the end of the season. This second Alfa works Formula One project was never truly successful during its existence from the middle of 1979 until the end of 1985.

Alfa also supplied engines to the tiny and unsuccessful Italian Osella team from 1983 to 1988. Normally-aspirated (1983) and turbo (1984-1987) engines were used. In the beginning, Alfa also offered some technical input to the small Turin team; The 1984 Osella (the model FA 1/F) was based on the 1983 works Alfa Romeo 183T, which had been loaned to the team for "design assistance" purposes. All the following Osella models up to the FA 1/I in 1988 had their origins in the initial Alfa design.

By 1988, the last turbo season, Alfa was fed up with the negative publicity generated by Enzo Osella's cars, so the Milan-based manufacturer prohibited the further use of its name in connection with the engine. The 1988 engines were simply dubbed "Osella V8". At the end of that season, the relationship finished, ending Alfa Romeo's involvement in Formula One.

In late 80s and early 90s Alfa supplied engines to PPG IndyCar World Series eg. Scuderia March, V8 turbo 720 hp.

Italian company Autodelta ran Alfa Romeo's sportscar programme in the late 1960s. Ex-Ferrari engineer Carlo Chiti designed a flat-12 engine for their Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 sportscars. Various versions were raced in the Prototype category from 1967 to 1977, winning titles in 1975 and 1977.

Alfa won many touring car series during 60s and 70s. Alfa Romeo GTA won European Touring Car Championship in 1966, 1967 and 1968 and later GTAm won titles in 1970 and 1971. Alfetta GTV6 won four European Champion titles between 1982-1985. Nicola Larina with Alfa Romeo 155 won DTM series in 1993. After 155 came 156 which has won four times in row European Touring Car Championships.

[edit] Alfa in popular culture

In the 1960s Alfa Romeo became famous for its small cars and models specifically designed for the Italian police - "Panthers" [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]) and Carabinieri ([8]); among them the glorious "Giulia Super" [9] - [10], or the 2600 Sprint GT [11], which acquired the expressive nickname of "Inseguimento" (this car is wrongly supposed to be the one that the famous Roman police marshal and unrivalled driver Armandino Spadafora brought down on the Spanish Steps in 1960 while following some robbers - it was actually a black Ferrari 250 GT/E - this pic of Giulia [12], one of the dozens about this legend, is taken from a movie and not at the Spanish Steps).

Before being bought by Fiat, Alfa Romeo always had a daring commercial policy, constantly experimenting with new solutions and using them in its series production, even at the risk of losing market share. Alfa often used controversial and unorthodox styling too, which often challenged assumptions about styling.

In an English sales brochure:

The Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 SS - For the man who has everything, here is the car to keep him company. ... The price is GBP 2394.1.3 including tax. Expensive? Naturally! What else would you expect a hand-built Alfa to be? [13]

It represented those makes of cars that permitted sporty driving on common roads, provided the driver was enthusiastic enough to appreciate their particular "sound".

In Italian the owner of an Alfa Romeo is an "Alfista", and a group of them are "Alfisti". Alfa Romeo is sometimes worshipped by its owners, and many models have become cultural symbols [14]. There are many thriving Alfa Romeo owners clubs and Alfa Romeo Model Registers.

In 1967 the famous Dustin Hoffman film "The Graduate" gave worldwide unforgettable celebrity to the "Spider" (best known by the Italian nickname of "Duetto", or as "Osso di Seppia" or Round-tail), and its unique shape. See here [15] - [16]. The Spider was designed by Pininfarina.

[edit] Return to the United States

In 1995 Alfa Romeo ceased exporting cars to the United States. Rumors began of their return, however as the FAQ on Alfa's British website says "The long-awaited return of Alfa Romeo to the United States market should take place by 2007, with a range of new models." The models expected to come first in the United States were the Alfa Romeo 159, the Brera, the 8C Competizione, and the Spider, which were initially designed to pass US safety regulations.

Alfa Romeo's return to America was confirmed on May 5, 2006 by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne. They will begin in 2008, by selling the 8C Competizione. Later, in about 2010 or 2011, Alfa Romeo will release the 159, Brera, and Spider after they receive a mid-life styling refreshment. Alfa Romeos will be sold at Maserati dealers throughout America. ^[4]

[edit] Production

Until the 1980s, Alfa Romeos, except for the Alfasud, were rear-wheel-drive. According to the current Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne in order to reap economies of scale, all new Alfa Romeo models will be made from the same basic platform (i.e., frame). Even Maserati will share components with some Alfas.¹

Cloverleaf, or Quadrifoglio , badges denote variants of Alfa Romeo cars where the name denotes the high-end of the range in comfort and engine size, but previously denoted Alfa Romeo racing cars in the pre-Second-World-War era. The image first appeared in 1923 when Ugo Sivocci presented one prior to the start of the 14th Targa Florio as a good luck token to the team. This became the symbol of competition Alfas, denoting higher performance. Some modern Alfas wear a cloverleaf badge which is typically a green four leaf clover on a white background (Quadrifoglio Verde), but variants of blue on white have been recently observed as well.

The Alfettas of the early 1980s had models available sold as the "Silver Leaf" and "Gold Leaf" (Quadrifoglio Oro). These models were the top of the range. Badging was the Alfa Cloverleaf in either gold or silver to denote the specification level. The Gold Leaf model was also sold as the "159i" in some markets, the name in homage to the original 159.

The trim levels (option packages) offered today on the various nameplates (model lines) include the lusso (“luxury”), turismo (“touring”), and the GTA (gran tourismo alleggerita (“lightened grand touring”). The GTA package is offered in the 147 and 156 and includes a V-6 engine. In the past, Alfa Romeo offered a Sprint (from Italian sprinta, "accelerate fast") trim level.

[edit] RHD Alfa Romeo Production post-1960

In the late 1960's, a number of European automobile manufacturers established facilities in South Africa to assemble right hand drive vehicles for the Commonwealth markets. Fiat and other Italian manufacturers established factories along with these other manufacturers in Uitenhage, outside of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

With the imposition of sanctions by western powers in the 1970's and 1980's, South Africa became self sufficient, and in car production came to rely more and more on the products of the Uitenhage factories. In consequence, production levels increased, and many manufacturers including Fiat Spa., Lancia, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo transferring all their right-hand drive production to Uitenhage. Volkswagen AG, Daimler Benz AG and BMW AG followed suit at about this time.

Since then, all right-hand-drive production of Alfa Romeo (and most other European manufacturers) remains in Uitenhage - so that RHD European cars are actually South African in origin, or else have their steering and dashboard assemblies produced there.

[edit] Automotive models

Alfa Romeo Cars by Era
1950-1960	Alfa Romeo 1900 Alfa Romeo AR 51 The 'Matta' off road 4WD. Alfa Romeo Disco Volante Alfa Romeo Giulietta - 1.3 Alfa Romeo 2000
1960-1970	Alfa Romeo Giulia - Super 1600 - TI Alfa Romeo TZ Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo Sprint GT (Veloce) Alfa Romeo GT Junior Alfa Romeo 2600 Alfa Romeo Spider Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale Alfa Romeo 1750 and 2000
1970-1985	Alfa Romeo Montreal (1970–1977) Alfa Romeo Alfasud (1972–1983) Alfa Romeo Alfetta (1972–1984) Alfa Romeo Sprint (1976–1989) Alfa Romeo Giulietta (1977-1985) Alfa Romeo Alfa 6 (1979–1986)
1985-1995	Alfa Romeo GTV Alfa Romeo GTV6 Alfa Romeo Arna (1983–1986) Alfa Romeo 33 (1983–1994) Alfa Romeo 90 (1984–1987) Alfa Romeo 75 (1985–1992) Alfa Romeo 164 (1987–1999)
1995-2000	Alfa Romeo SZ Alfa Romeo GTV & Spider (1995–2006) Alfa Romeo 145 (1995–2001) Alfa Romeo 146 (1995–2001) Alfa Romeo 155 (1992–1998) Alfa Romeo 156 - GTA (1997–2005) Alfa Romeo 166 (1999–present)
2000-2010	Alfa Romeo GT (2004–present) Alfa Romeo 147 - GTA (2001–present) Alfa Romeo 159 (2005–present) Alfa Romeo Brera & Spider (2006–present) Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione (2006–present) Alfa Romeo 169 (Expected-2007) Alfa Romeo 149 (Expected-2007) Alfa Romeo Junior (Expected-2007/2008)

[edit] Automotive concepts

• Alfa Romeo Nuvola - 1996 design unveiled in Paris

[edit] Engines

Years	Engine	Cylindrates
1954–1994	Twin Cam	1290, 1570, 1750, 1779, 1962
1992–present	TwinSpark	1.4, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.0
1971–1995	Flat-4	1186, 1286, 1350, 1490, 1712
1979–2006	V6	2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.2
2006–present	GM based V6	3.2

[edit] External links

• Official Alfa Romeo site
• Official Alfa Romeo Australia site
• Alfa-Romeo-uk.com - Alfa Romeo UK
• Alfa-Romeo News

See also:

• List of Italian companies
• List of Formula One constructors

[edit] Endnotes

1. "Saving Fiat", The Economist, December 3, 2005, p. 64, vol. 377.