An analysis of the Alfa Romeo Alfa-6 Saloon

Having been driving one of these unusual Alfa Romeos for some time, a few observations about it may not be amiss. It represents the top model, the flagship, of the present range of Alfa Romeo cars and received considerable praise when it was announced, early in 1979. Powered by a vee-six-cylinder 2½-litre o.h.c. engine and available in this country only with automatic transmission, this gentlemanly Alfa recalls previous six-cylinder saloon models of the illustrious Milanese make.

For instance, before the war the popular single-cam and twin-cam 1,500 c.c. and 1,750 c.c. Alfa Romeos were available with closed bodywork and the later (1933) 6C 1900 four-door saloon was, if not exactly an “old-gent’s Alfa”, as I tend to regard the 1981 Alfa-6 I am now writing about, was not quite the sporting proposition that young bloods regarded as the traditional Alfa Romeo image.

These pre-war Alfa Romeos were followed by the 6C 2300, another closed-bodied Alfa, built at Portello and developed as the 2300B series, with all-round independent suspension and hydraulic brakes. Then, post-WW2 production centred round the fine 6C 2500S Alfa Romeo, made in some quantity and possessed of spacious closed coachwork, which made it, in the factory’s view, the car “with the largest piston-displacement and highest quality built in Italy” at that time. I mention this for the eyes of those who would prefer to think that the race-bred Alfa Romeo was made only in sports-car form . . . 

The present Alfa-6 carries on this tradition of six-cylinder saloon-bodied examples of the famous marque. If, before taking one over, I had read the sales literature relating to it, Insight well have been desperately impatient to gain possession. For instance, I would have read that the “solidness” of this, the only six-cylinder Italian saloon, approaching 1.5 tonnes, would surround me with a barrier, protecting and insulating me from all external noises, and that, rather like Rolls-Royce with their “adequate” power, the Alfa’s engine would produce enough power to meet all requirements, — not one h.p. more, and yet that it would provide excellent performance “with all the equipment and interior services”. As if to explain this, I would have learned that although the engine and body shell weigh only 1,188 lb., “the numerous servo-motors have pushed the total up to 3,146 lb.”. After which, it would have been reassuring to know that, even with the engine output purposely restricted, the power-to-weight ratio is the best in the car’s class, at 19.5 lb./h.p.

Had I been able to continue to scan the publicity literature I would have absorbed the fact that the Alfa Romeo I was about to take over has more than 65 electrical, mechanical and servo facilities, “all strictly functional and designed to improve the interior facilities”. If I had wondered whether it was to disguise an out-dated shape that the plea was made that the car’s “unmistakeable personality stems from the traditional Alfa Romeo frontal styling, solid and aggressive, but still maintaining a slim appearance despite the size of the car”, I could have been excited to learn that the road-holding was so good that “the Alfa-6 adapts itself to the road with such authority and readiness that one would think that the road was adapting itself to the car”, that the power-steering was “the most sophisticated systern available today”, that “the suspension has one of the most versatile and efficient layouts”, and that “there are brakes for a 200 h,p. car”. Finally, I might have been distinctly elated to know that when the doors were closed, the Alfa’s interior would become a world of its own, relationship with the outside reduced, as shown by the most the human ear would hear (however hard this might be for a dog) inside the Alfa-6 being 220Hz. or 75dB, so the catalogue says.

However, I had not read this literature when I first tried the Alfa-6, although I had noticed that in one hand-out photograph the Italian standing behind it seemed to be more interested in messing about with a girl than in his brand-new 1979 Alfa Romeo . . . 

Having been driving a Rover 3500A before the Alfa-6 I could not help comparing the two cars, even though the Rover was by then rusting and approaching 100,000 miles. However, before discussing what the Alfa-6 is like to drive, let’s look at it from an engineering rather than a publicist viewpoint, and what the motor-writers think of it.

After trying the car for Motor Sport in 1979 J.W. wrote that “I would say that given a price today that will equate to £10,000 or less, the Alfa 6 will prove very popular on the British market”. A full road-test was possible in 1980, and P.H.J.W. was very favourably impressed, when driving the car for us. Autocar summed up by saying ‘ . . .choice of the Alfa 6 would have to be mainly because of the special mystique of being an Alfa Romeo”, and Motor commented: “An adequately good car in most respects, but a class-leader in none, and overall rather a disappointment for the price. In that light the Alfa 6 appears as a rather mundane device that lacks any special qualities to distinguish it from many very strong rivals”.

Description 

The engine is a 60-deg. vee-six, Alfa Romeo emphasising that this gives a narrower power-unit than would a 90-deg. vee-six and that with six cylinders all the combustion chambers can be properly filled at all crankshaft speeds, which they say would not be possible with only five (a crack at Audi?) or four cylinders. The cylinder size is 88 x 68.3 mm. (2,492 c.c.) each having a swept-volume of 415.3 c.c. To fill them all equally there is a carburetter for each cylinder. When I read this in the workshop manual I hardly would have believed it, expecting that this expensive layout would have been replaced by a couple of double-choke carburetters or fuel-injection and when I told D.S.J. he refused to believe me until he had peered beneath the Alfa’s bonnet.

These six carburetters are FRPAM40 Dellortos, differing between the manual-gearbox and automatic-transmission cars, but having 40 mm. ducts and 32 mm. venturis, fed by twin float-chambers. The fuel-pump is immersed in the fuel tank and delivers a constant flow, irrespective of engine speed, this being ensured by an inhibitor switch controlled by oil-pressure in the engine-lubricating system. Each carburetter has fuel circulation cooling of the bowl and accelerator pump.

The valves are inclined at an angle of 46 deg. and operated by a belt-driven camshaft over each bank of cylinders, this camshaft actuating the 41 mm. inlet valves direct, the exhaust valves by short, light horizontal push-rods and rockers, as on a Triumph Dolomite Sprint engine, but with only two valves per cylinder and perhaps a more sophisticated push-rod installation. The exhaust valves are sodium-cooled and the rocker strength and cam contours were computer checked, say Alfa Romeo, the valve lift being 9 mm. for the inlet, 6.4 mm. for the exhaust valves, and the timing inlet opens 36 deg. 55′ b.t.d.c., closes 60 deg. 50′ a.b.d.c., exhaust opens 59 deg. 55′ b.b.d.c., closes 23 deg. 55′ a.t.d.c., using an inlet tappet clearance of 0.0192″ and an exhaust tappet clearance of 0.238″.

The compression-ratio is 9.0 to 1 and the nitrided-steel crankshaft runs in four bearings. Incidentally, Alfa Romeo proudly state that the experience gained from running the flat-12-cylinder F1 engines in the Alfa Romeo Type 33 GP cars helped to breed what they call the “relatively gentle” engine of the Alfa-6. This engine develops 158 b.h.p. (DIN) at 5,600 r.p.m. and 162 lb./ft torque at 4,000 r.p.m. and is safe up to 5,800 r.p.m. That, they claim, is a reserve of 80 b.h.p. at Motorway cruising speeds, the engine having been designed to give 200 b.h.p.

Engine lubrication is by a rotary vane-type pump driven from the camshaft-driving belt by an auxiliary shaft. Pressure is 0.5 to 1.5 kg./sq. cm. at 800 to 900 r.p.m. and 4 to 6 kg./sq. cm. at 5,500 r.p.m. A full-flow cartridge filter is used, with a by-pass valve. Cooling is by a horizontal-flow radiator fed by a centrifugal pump driven by a vee-belt from the crankshaft. A thermostat controls coolant flow; it starts to open at 81 to 85 deg. C and ends at 95 deg. C, while an electric fan cuts in at a temperature of 84 to 88 deg. C. The system is sealed, with an expansion tank, anti-freeze being permanent, the pressure being 1.1 kg./sq. cm. Breaker-less electronic ignition is used, the distributor being driven from the oil-pump shaft. The recommended 12 mm. sparking-plugs are Silver Lodge HLE, and these are connected to the distributor cap via spark-gaps. Ignition advance is 7 deg. b.t.d.c. at 900 to 950 r.p.m. and full advance is 31 deg. b.t.d.c. at 5,000 r.p.m. The firing order is 1-4-2-5-3-6. A 65 amp. alternator with a built-in electronic voltage-regulator, driven by the coolant-pump belt, supplies electricity and the starter has a cranking h.p. of 1.1.

The drive goes through an hydraulically operated dry single-plate clutch to a gearbox in the normal position behind the engine. The clutch plate has a diameter of 240 mm. and is 10 mm. thick, a 3 mm. wear-factor being permissible. The slave cylinder actuated by the clutch pedal has a travel of 18 to 20 mm. the five-speed gearbox has overall gearbox/differential ratios of 15.526, 8.807, 6.310, 4.545 and 3,604 to 1, giving speeds at 1,000 r.p.m. of 7.44, 13.10, 18.32, 25.44 and 32.0 k.p.h. The reverse-gear ratio is 16.661 to 1. The differential has a ratio of 11/50. Cars for the British market have the ZE automatic three-speed epicyclic torque-converter transmission, which has a positive-displacement oil pump, the gearbox oil being passed through a heat-exchanger incorporated in the water radiator. This transmission gives ratios of 2.48, 1.48, and 1.0 to 1 (reverse: 2.09 to 1), in conjunction with a differential ratio of 13/47. Gearbox oil-level is determined by its own dip-stick. The drive between gearbox and the chassis-mounted differential-unit is by an open propeller shaft with two universal-joints. The differential has a limited-slip action of approximately 25%. The final-drive is by hypoid bevel gears, and half-shafts with constant-velocity joints take the drive to the rear wheels.

Front suspension is by two-unequal-length wishbones, suspension being by torsion-bar. The torsion bars run in-line with the frame and pick-up on the wishbones. Double-acting hydraulic shock-absorbers are used, angled inwards from the lower wishbones, and an anti-roll bar is fitted. A de Dion axle is used at the rear, to reduce unsprung weight and keep the wheels always perpendicular to the road. The tubular de Dion axle is attached to the frame member ahead of it by rubber mountings and controlled by a Watts-linkage anchored to the axle by a balance lever linked to the frame by two bars. Suspension is by vertical coil springs, and telescopic dampers and an anti-roll bar are provided.

The front brakes are ventilated discs, of 265 mm. dia., and 260 mm.-dia, discs are mounted inboard at the rear, the handbrake acting on the rear calipers. The hydraulic system is dual-circuit with a bias on the front discs, and there is 9″ vacuum-servo assistance from a 23.81 mm, dia. pump with a front stroke of 19 mm. and a rear stroke of 13 mm. After grinding, the front brake pads have a thickness of 20 mm, and the wear limit is 19 mm.; the rear-pad thickness is 9 mm. after grinding, with a wear limit of 8 mm. 

The steering-column has two universal-joints and steering wheel height is adjustable by 55 mm. Power steering, operating on the rack-and-pinion piston, is energised by a hydraulic pump driven by a vee-belt from the crankshaft. The road wheels are normally 175HR 14 to accept tubeless tyres. An air-conditioning system using Sun Oil Company Suniso 4G oil is offered as an extra, with Rivoira-Freon 12 fluid, pressurised with a York F-209R pump.

Alfa Romeo say the body, which has a width of 55″ and will withstand a crash load of 6,160 lb., and up to 99,000 lb. frontal pressure, is of zincometalled-steel with protective coatings applied in two stages. Electro-galvanised panels are used to join small areas, sealant being used between all other joints and pressings and the metals prone to oxidisation stabilised with cadmium and zinc plating and a plastic coating. The rusting bogy is wet by a ten-stage multi-painting process, involving sealing all joints, washing, degreasing, phosphating, a rare chrome-stabilising, and electrophoresis, before the primer is applied, after which the PVC film is applied to the underbody and the wheel-arches, the undercoat goes on, followed by the final painting, after which viscous oils and permanent waxes are injected into the box-sections, etc. Interior sound-proofing is achieved by a layer of cotton flock 0.59″ thick on all interior panels, with other materials elsewhere. Velour upholstery is used for door panels and seats, Texalfa for the fascia and door pillars, and bouclé carpets are fitted.

The Alfa-6 is officially the Type 119A, or a Type 119A1 with automatic transmission, the latter with right-hand-drive commencing at car no. 4001001.

Personal assessment

As soon as I started using this W-registered Alfa-6 I regarded it as a sort of old-gentleman’s Alfa Romeo, which the corpulence of the traditional heart-shaped motif on its radiator-grille emphasised! The body, in a pleasant shade of dark red, is of chunky shape, which I am told Italian executives insist on. First impressions were of the odd sounds the ZF gearbox made as it changed up and down, coupled to the noise of the six Dellortos opening up, a less-pleasing sound than that of an eager twin-cam Alfa Romeo engine. Yet this is not a noisy car, although less hushed than the Rover 3500. At first there seemed to be more roll on tight corners than one would have noticed in the Rover but with growing experience I thought the Alfa-6 was faster through bends and its sure-footed ride gave more confidence; this feeling of running straight and true was particularly appreciated when I drove it away from the last NEC Motor Show in teeming rain and dusk visibility, on the outer lane of the congested, lorry-infested M6, when it felt very secure.

Since then I have come to regard this Alfa-6 as a notably comfortable, fast-cornering car, but one with some rather odd features. It lacks a sunroof but does have central door-locking; but even the latter is unusual, because while use of the key in the driver’s-door locks all four doors (but not the boot-lid), when this is unlocked the remaining three doors have to he unlocked with their press-buttons, spoiling the convenience of one-key control. The rest of the doors can be released, after the driver’s door has been opened, by operating a “pip” thereon, but I dislike messing about with such “electrickery”.

The power-steering at first seemed low-geared after the Rover’s, but it is superior in its feel, precision and the complete absence of lost-motion. In fact, its 3½-turns lock-to-lock make for a 36 ft. turning circle. It is excellent steering and in conjunction with the good handling qualities derived from the de Dion rear-suspension, the Alfa-6 is a reassuring car to drive fast. The seats are comfortable, front and rear, and the driver’s can be raised electrically, but it takes a giant’s strength to move the squab-adjustment knob. I have come to live with the simulated walnut fascia trim, repeated for the steering-wheel horn pushes, intended to convey the message that this is Alfa Romeo’s “flagship” of a sporting range; the door panels are neatly upholstered to enhance this impression. The external door handles are none too easy to use unless properly thumbed, and the doors, as seems usual on Alfas, are devoid of “keeps”. The lack of a near-side rear-view mirror on a £12,500 car was noted, but the other external mirror is electrically-adjustable from a “pip” below the driver’s door capping.

The more I drive the Alfa-6 the more I enjoy it. For instance, the brakes are truly very powerful, and beautifully progressive. The acceleration from the speeds at which you want it for normal fast overtaking is likewise impressive, as by using kick-down the gearbox responds well, whereas with the Rover kick-down was sluggish and one was required to slip into “Hold-2” for the requisite pick-up, although the Borg-Warner box on the Rover is perhaps slightly better suited to its vee-eight engine than is ZF to Alfa’s vee-six. The Alfa certainly whisks past slower vehicles and if it is fair to compare it to the manual-gearbox Rover 3500 of similar date, as the prices were similar (although the Alfa Romeo is giving away a litre and a couple of cylinders) the figures look as follows:

Rover
0-30 m.p.h.: 3.6 sec. 
0-40 m.p.h.: 5.1 sec. 
0-50 m.p.h.: 7.4 sec. 
0-60 m.p.h.: 9.7 sec. 
0-70 m.p.h.: 14.0 sec. 
0-80 m.p.h.: 18.1 sec. 
0-90 m.p.h.: 23.2 sec. 
0-100 m.p.h.: 32.5 sec. 
20-40 m.p.h.: 3.9 sec. 
30-50 m.p.h.: 4.3 sec. 
40-60 m.p.h.: 4.9 sec. 
50-70 m.p.h.: 6.9 sec. 
60-80 m.p.h.: 7.9 sec. 
70-90 m.p.h.: 10.3 sec. 
80-100 m.p.h.: 18.7 sec. 

Alfa Romeo
0-30 m.p.h.: 3.9 sec. 
0-40 m.p.h.: 5.7 sec. 
0-50 m.p.h.: 7.8 sec. 
0-60 m.p.h.: 10.3 sec. 
0-70 m.p.h.: 13.6 sec. 
0-80 m.p.h.: 17.3 sec. 
0-90 m.p.h.: 23.4 sec. 
0-100 m.p.h.: 31.9 sec. 
​20-40 m.p.h.: 3.4 sec. 
30-50 m.p.h.: 3.9 sec. 
40-60 m.p.h.: 4.6 sec. 
50-70 m.p.h.: 5.8 sec. 
60-80 m.p.h.: 7.0 sec. 
70-90 m.p.h.: 9.8 sec. 
80-100 m.p.h.: 14.6 sec. 

This comparison shows that I had not given up the more accelerative car, and that once in its stride the Alfa Romeo can beat 3½-litres with 2½-litres, although the figures are somewhat evened-up by comparing the 0.8 cwt. heavier 1981 Vanden Plas Rover 3500 with the 1980 automatic Alfa. The Alfa has a nice machined-steel gear selector lever with a small wooden knob and a very sensibly contrived safety gate. The gear positions are shown on an illuminated indicator-panel, on the fascia, for the P, R, N, D, 2, 1 locations.

In the instrument panel in its binnacle before the driver above that thin strip of supposed walnut wood are the big Veglia electric speedometer and tachometer which are easy to read; the latter is red-marked from 6,250 r.p.m. There are ten warning-lights and the fuel, heat and oil pressure gauges. The smaller dials have the white needles of the former two services hanging down straight when all is normal, i.e., heat at around 175 deg. F, and oil pressure at 55 lb. / sq. in., but that of the fuel gauge swings about disconcertingly, although less than the Rover’s. Although both the speedometer and tachometer needles rotate clockwise, because the latter indicates zero some 180 deg. behind the speedo needle, the needle-tips converge at running speeds, which makes picking out which dial is which easy but lacks the one-time snobbish “togetherness” of those Derby Bentley readings! Another quirk is having the last digit of the total milometer the same as the tenths on trip reading, so that at a glance it appears that the mileage is 10,000. A quartz clock with hands is a useful addition to the panel. Yet another idiosyncrasy of the Alfa-6 is that when the ignition is off the fuel-gauge needle indicates over-full, so that a person strange to the car might be misled into running dry, unless in the habit of taking a second glance at the gauge, although the warning light comes on well before the engine snuffs out. The fuel tank holds a most commendable 15.8 gallons, but takes an incredibly long time to “brim” and the heavy fuel consumption makes this rather desirable. The filler cap on the near-side is removable only with one of the three keys. The continual hum of the fuel pump isn’t heard once on the move. An unidentified rumble from the rear, with the boot wall perhaps acting as a sound board, is heard only on rough roads. Otherwise, the body emits those “creaks” of the high-class car.

The six carburetters may be an individual aspect of an Alfa-6 but they must be hard to synchronise correctly — I believe that when Hexagon Garages were servicing the car, which they normally do efficiently with our staff Alfa Romeos, they had to call in an expert. After such attention fuel-thirst improved a little, from just over 19 m.p.g. to 19.5 / 21.7 m.p.g. depending on conditions, but usually not much over 20 m.p.g. can be relied on. It seems high time to me that fuel-injection took over, especially as the starting is never exactly either willing or prompt. The instructions suggest using a half-down depression of the accelerator which would be fatal when hot on other cars and the horribly plasticky choke under the fascia seems to be of little help. . .

On the credit side are electric window-lifts, with control buttons on the central console, a bit too far back for easy fingering if one sits reasonably close to the steering-wheel, the rim of which is neither too thin nor too thick. Two items that appealed to me when taking over the Alfa-6 were the fact that it was fitted with expensive Panasonic stereo equipment, using four synchronised Pioneer speakers, and that it had the optional £750 air conditioning. The former was a delight, for listening to classical music, until the front of the Panasonic control-panel came loose and the Pioneer speaker in the driver’s door fell out, dangling from the wires; possibly someone had tried to steal it when in a service garage (not Hexagon’s) but had been disturbed. The stereo includes a radio with switch-actuated aerial and a foot-pedal for changing wave-bands but has never worked properly for me.

As for the Air Conditioning, one is supposed to be able to set such systems to any temperature desired, which will then be maintained, come sun or rain, until the setting is altered. The only time I have experienced this to perfection was on a Bentley with Rolls-Royce equipment. The Alfa’s adjustment knob had no calibrations and I “drive” the system as I would the heaters on many other cars, although demisting is highly efficient and passengers have remarked on the lack of stuffiness in the Alfa Romeo. Perhaps I should take special lessons in the use of this equipment, with its five slide-lever buttons, 3-speed electric fan, setting knob and many and varied-type vents, 19 in all . . . The output goes up to 7,000 litres a minute, and temperature up to 55 deg. C.

Not being addicted to transporting kitchen sinks every day, I have not yet missed the hatchback / folding back-seat arrangements that make Rovers such splendid load-carriers. The Alfa’s trimmed 17.6 cu. ft. boot is not comparable, although amply large, with the upright spare wheel and its Michelin XVS tyre decently covered over. Small irritants are that Alfa Romeo do not provide many stowages (presumably loose items might distract from quick motoring — top speed of the Six is approximately 121 m.p.h., against a Rover VdP’s 118 m.p.h.), the rather small cubbyhole’s courtesy-light has never worked, that in the boot only when the side-lamps are in use and not always then. The four-lamp halogen lighting-equipment has outer beam adjustment for when the car is fully loaded. Here I must mention another peculiarity, namely that if the engine is turned off and you need side-lamps, as you so often do, a push-button switch on the fascia cill has to be used to obtain them. Otherwise, the Carello lamps are controlled from the left-hand of the three well-arranged control stalks, and it goes down to put the beams up. The rather plain moulded plastic windscreen cill contains a big shelf with such a shallow lip that practically anything falls out of it, nor is the shelf beneath the lockable cubbyhole much better. An excellent map lamp is an appreciated fitting, though and the very large capacity of the windscreen washers reservoir is a good feature. The bonnet release for the rear-hinged prop-up-lid is on the passenger side. Although I have not yet covered a big mileage, the Alfa-6 has proved reliable, very quick from the proverbial “A to B”, but has always had a tap in the engine, emanating I assume from a tappet.

The Alfa Romeo Alfa-6 is a car of considerable character and it will appeal to those who like a rare car; the only other one I have seen was at the last NEC Motor Show, whereas you encounter Rovers all the time . . . Although one experienced Porsche / Jaguar enthusiast who rode in it said if he hadn’t have known he would have thought he was in a big Peugeot, the fact is that I enjoy the car very much. It is safe, fast, and highly individualistic. For those who crave a part of the exciting Alfa Romeo mystique but who want a fully-equipped, spacious family-saloon that is more up-market than an Alfasud or Alfetta, the vee-six Alfa Romeo Alfa-6 has much in its favour, at the present price of £12,500 (£50 less than that of the basic Rover 3500). No doubt Alfa Romeo (GB) Ltd., Edgware Road, London NW2 6LX will be pleased to tell you more about this rather unusual motor-car while I would be interested to hear of the experiences of anyone who is running one. — W.B.