Alfa Romeo Alfa Six

[petrolhead71]

or is it just Alfa Six? Or Alfa Romeo Six? Anyway I've got one to restore, one of six remaining of the 134 imported to the UK. Since they're quite rare I'm looking for spares or spares cars as mine has been off the road for nearly 15 years and was rescued from a scrapyard. Anyone care to guess how much the welding will cost (my GTV6 needed 500 hours and was on the road continuously for 17 years!)?I've been onto the Alfa forums and owners club and found the Six website but with no success so far. Looking mainly for body/trim items as I do have some mechanical spares and some bits are shared with more popular models (like the prolific 90 and 75...!) Any hints on carburettor set up greatfully received - I've owned over 50 cars but only four of them have had carbs and none in the last ten years. Moving from injection to six carbs is a tad daunting....!!!

[brammy777]

First things first, welcome aboard. I sadly cant help you with your search, but thats a seriously tasty list of cars you have.

[Tayne]

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[Mr H Sceptre]

Absolutely LOVE them, tick so many boxes. But sadly I know the square root of bugger all about them.I just got a real thing for big, bland, rare old European saloons.

[trigger]

Hello!, Your not the same guy that was selling a 90 and a 6 recently on ebay was you?.

[VWPowered]

dont be shy we like pics oh and welcome

[saabhappy]

Caused more ulcers among Alfa salesmen wondering how they were going to shift them than any other car. A comparison between this and a Tagora might be amusing.

 

Edit:

 

[Pete-M]

Gus at AlfaTune in St. Helens ran an Alfa 90 for years and he knows the Alfetta / Giulietta / GTV / 6 / 75 / 90 inside out.01744 25499

[Mr Lobster]

Hello and welcome!No specific advice I'm afraid. But don't forget to show us some pictures!

[Volksy]

These were Alfetta based, no? IIRC they use the same doors as the Alfetta and offer no more interior space, so I guess some trim would be shared with one.. Not that they're thick on the ground either.A Tagora SX, 604 V6, Alfa 6, SD1 VDP Giant test would be great!!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

It was the Alfa Six. They were indeed Alfetta based but unlike those, the gearbox was bolted to the engine - no rear mounted transaxle IIRC. UK cars were 3 speed ZF auto only, rest of Europe could have the five speed manual which I assume is a ZF or Getrag unit.Early ones used no less than six Alfasud 1200 single choke carbs which I think were 34mm. Fuel consumption was the stuff of heroes ans Alfa dealers had a special tool to set the carbs up - a bank of six vacuum gauges. I worked at three Alfa dealers and never, ever saw one. They weren't bad cars I imagine but there were much better ones out there.The 90 was a better stab at it and I always liked them, a handsome beast.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Six carbs sounds like a lot of grief, I suggest waiting till a VM diesel-equipped one comes along. I've seen a couple of these on LeBonCoin. I presume those dont have six cylinders, making the name a bit spurious.Anyway can we see some pics of this resto project six?

[pompei]

It was bad enough trying to set up the carbs on the Sud!

[petrolhead71]

Yes did sell a 90 V6 on eBay, one of ten Alfas I was selling at the time, including a 90 TD - the last in the UK. The Six should have had injection and square lights in 1984 but I think it was built a couple of years earlier and sat around until they registered it as a press car and then sold it for half list price 6 months later. I'm not looking forward to setting six Dellortos up but there is plenty to before I get to that stage. Pics to follow.

[barrett]

When your cars were up for sale and in the (now defunct) ebay thread, there were a lot of cries of 'that guy needs to be on autoshite!', so it's good you found your way here.like to see pics of the whole collection if you get a chance, we dont have enough Alfas on here...

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

From memory the Alfa 6 had injection (Bosck LE Jetronic) from 1981, at the same time the GTV6 arrived. The square headlights arrived in '84.The UK 90 was 2.5 V6 only but there were 1800 and 2.0 fours as well as the VM Diesel also found in the Alfetta.That's when Alfas were basically a bit wank, but great to drive and interesting. They haven't been that for a while alas. Decent looking yes but very conventional under the skin.

[The Liberator]

Fuel injection arrived at the same time as square headlights for the Sei. Until then it used six carburettors, even though the GTV6 had Bosch injection from launch (1980 in Europe) http://www.gtv6-156gta.be/Alfarange1983GB.pdf.

 

Like the 90, the Alfa 6 was available for a short time with a 2-litre version of the V6 for pasta-eating tax dodgers, and (from the facelift on I think) the 2.4 VM turdblower that starred in other de Dion Alfas on the continent. The manual gearbox was, like the auto, from ZF and was either essentially the same as, or a desirable upgrade from, the ZF 5-speeder in the Montreal - just one of the many reasons why survivors are so rare now.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I rang a mate about this. According to a 1982 Alfa brochure the Six was injection. It shows an aerial three quarter front view of a metallic browny grey Six complete with four round lights and distinctly says it has fuel injection and 150 bhp. The square headlights arrived around 1984 ish. The last UK sold Sixes were sold for pretty much 50% retail and were 1986 C plate.

[The Liberator]

Agreed about the 1984 MY change to square lights. What market was the brochure for? I used to have the 1982 Alfa (GB) brochure, that had a silver 6 with the spec. saying 160bhp and 6x single choke carbs, just like the '83 brochure pdf in the link above.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

What market was the brochure for?

Libya I expect!I stand corrected on the 6 carbatooters though. I bet that bastard made a right noise with the airbox lid off. Whe my mates are I were nippers (about 20 years ago) the tool of choice was an Alfa of some description. Mine was a black 1984 A plate Spint Green Cloverleaf. After a night in the pub and a Ruby, it would be into the car park, open the bonnet, airbox lid off and scoot home with the two Dellortos opened up. Fuck me that sounded good!

[flat4alfa]

These were Alfetta based, no?

A Tagora SX, 604 V6, Alfa 6, SD1 VDP Giant test would be great!!

The Sei and Alfetta were designed together back in 1969-70. However, for inexplicable Alfa reasoning, the big car release was put on hold for so long most of the Alfettas were dust by then...

 

A few years back, Classic Cars magazine did do a feature: Alfa 6 vs R30 vs 604. IIRC Martin Buckley was the writer. Might be good if he redid it for C&SC, complete with Tagora, Argenta, Gamma...

 

Spring 2001

[Spottedlaurel]

A few years back, Classic Cars magazine did do a feature: Alfa 6 vs R30 vs 604. IIRC Martin Buckley was the writer. Might be good if he redid it for C&SC, complete with Tagora and Laurel ?

I'd happily supply for my Laurel for an article written by someone like Buckley. On paper it compares with some interesting cars like those mentioned above, but in reality I can't imagine many people making such a comparison at the time.

 

Courtesy of Baz I have a fair collection of Alfa brochures, plus there are the ones I picked up myself back then. I'll try and remember to take a look. I recall one range brochure having photos taken on what looked like a misty morning in a field. I suspect the pictures and spec's aren't truly authorative though.

[flat4alfa]

oops soz, I did a bit of an edit. Make that Laurel vs 929 vs Cressida vs Crown too Yes Buckley is the man. He invented the term 'big car tat' or somesuch

[The Liberator]

However, for inexplicable Alfa reasoning, the big car release was put on hold for so long most of the Alfettas were dust by then...

The Sei was planned for 1973, the year of an Arab-Israeli war which resulted in an oil crisis. Not a good time to introduce a new six-cylinder car with six carburettors, something even the seventies Alfa management realised. Then they pissed around for six years, before launching it to an undeserving public in 1979; both it and the Alfetta saloon lasted until 1984 with fuel injection and 'Quadrifoglio Oro' badging. The Alfa 90 replaced them both, offering both the Alfa four and the V6 as well as VM diesel all in the same body shape.

[flat4alfa]

Precisely, an inexplicable six years reasoning for the Six Quite why they bothered with the six Dellortos I don't know - SPICA had been part of AR since the forties. They'd have noticed by then the success of fitting D-Jetronic to the Flavia engine and K kit to the other Eurobarge brands in that class (after all, AR went with the L kit later). SPICA was fitted to the fours in Alfetta taxicabs.

[The Liberator]

Quite why they bothered with the six Dellortos I don't know - SPICA had been part of AR since the forties.

That's a good question, SPICA injection is fabulous. Alfa were the only company to use mechanical injection on cars sold in the US in the early '70s - and the only company who could get their cars to meet Federal emissions requirements without a cat. On the other hand (and maybe this is why Alfa stuck with carbs in Europe, Montreal excepted) the precision and complexity of the engineering used to make SPICA work was such that Alfa refused to sell parts or rebuild kits. If anything went wrong, you had to get a whole new unit on an exchange basis.

[petrolhead71]

They delayed the 166 too, which I understand was designed before the 156. More money in smaller cars as they sell more units I guess.Anyway once I get the Six sorted I'm happy to provide it for group tests and magazine articles. Not sure it ever had any rivals as such when new though, you'd have had to have had a screw loose to choose it over other cars in the same price bracket. Oh and I was directed here by someone enquiring about my diesel 90. Although mainly Alfa now I've owned some other weird stuff too including a Citroen XM 24v which I used for business throughout the UK, claiming 63p per mile before the 40p limit was introduced![/img]

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The Six was up against the 2.8i Granada, 2600 Rover and E12/E28 528i.I can't imagine they were that bad a car - a press kicking and odd styling buggered it.How many did they sell in total?

[Tayne]

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[Mr H Sceptre]

I recall one range brochure having photos taken on what looked like a misty morning in a field.

I suspect the Alfa would have been dust by teatime.