Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV6
Alfa Alfetta GT V6
Alfa Alfetta GTV6
Alfa Alfetta GT 2.5V6
In the early 70s Alfa Romeo and the Carrozzeria produced an amazing variety of coupes from the Montreal to the JZ. All sorts were offered, the choice was amazing, however all these cars were based on the now ageing 105 series chassis and Alfa Romeo had to come up with a new platform for their replacement Coupe, for this they turned to the new and dynamically much more advanced Alfetta chassis.
The early 70s were a time of troubled industrial relations and the petrol crisis and with that in mind the new coupe was in a difficult position, anything too ostentatious would have been a flop so in 1974 Alfa Romeo gingerly introduced the Alfetta GT initially only as a 1.8 litre, the Bertone coupe already had the more powerful 2.0 litre engine by this time but this did not go into the Alfetta GT until 1976 when it became the GTV.
The Design was by Giorgetto Giugiaro and its styling was in a decidedly new vein for the new decade, with the soft lines of the Bertone Coupe being dropped for the chiselled wedge shape that came to typify the cars of this era. The car was designed with the aid of wind tunnels and the drag factor was as low as 0.39 which was good for a car of the period. There were some interesting little design details like the chin spoiler and split instrument cluster, where some of the instruments though intended for the driver seemed to be better positioned so the passenger to tell you off for speeding!!!!
Mechanically the design was identical to the Alfetta with double wishbone front suspension and a De dion rear axle, the gear box, clutch and differential were housed in the centre of the De dion tube and the rear of the De dion was located by a Watts linkage. The mounting of the clutch on the rear axle meant that the prop shaft was always rotating at engine speed, this lead to a number of complications during the design stages and the prop shaft was eventually split in two with rubber couplings between each section and the whole thing was centred by tiny spherical bearings. By the time the GTV 2.0 litre was produced there were a number of small detailed changes, with the radiator grill being changed, a stand out filler cap and a leather bound steering wheel being the major ones, at the same time as the 2.0 litre GTV was introduced the 1.8 litre engine was dropped and a 1.6 litre variant replaced it. The 2.0 litre was up rated in 1978 to produce 130 bhp up from the 122 bhp of the earlier cars. The car by now had come to the attention of Auto Delta, Alfa Romeo’s Italian tuning house and they produced 200 examples of the Turbo Delta a 2.0 litre Turbo charged variant that produced 150 bhp.
By 1980 the design was due for a revamp and the series two was produced this had a number of cosmetic changes, the rear lights became one unit and the spoiler was remodelled but the major change came with the engines, the 1.6 litre was dropped the 2.0l became the least powerful version available and a fuel injected V6 2.5 litre engine topping the range, the installation of the V6 involved the modification of the bonnet with a power bulge to accommodate the engines plenum chamber. The GTV6 had a number of modifications to the brakes and clutch, the V6 got ventilated front disks and up rated drive shafts while the clutch was changed from a push type clutch to a pull type all to handle the extra power. In 1981 there were 600 Grand Prix versions to celebrate Alfa Romeos return to Formula 1, these were produced exclusively in Red (no surprise there then) with black graphics down the side. The Alfetta GTV ceased production in 1986 although deliveries went on into 1987, with some of the really late examples having a 75 floor pan which had a removable cross brace in the centre of the car and a different torsion bar mounting. There are also some very rare Alfetta GTV V8s which used the Montreal engine which is a fuel injected, dry sumped engine of 2.6 litres capacity that produced 200 bhp these were exported to Germany and less than two dozen were produced, these sold extremely well and have got to be the ultimate Alfetta GT.
JP
Related Links: Alfa Romeo Alfetta Saloon