Santa Fe Concorso Friday Night Gathering (Post # 116)

The Alfatross made it to the Santa Fe Concorso's Friday Night Gathering without incident after all. Once again, just as at the Arizona Concours d'Elegance, she effortlessly did everything we asked of her. None of the  fears voiced in the previous post materialized.

The Alfatross was placed inside the hanger under the wings of a 1950s classic Cessna 180.  They quickly became good friends basking in all the attention.  Richard Coberly.

The Alfatross looks out upon her enthusiastic public reception. Richard Coberly.

Opening the hood to reveal the engine really drew in the crowd. Richard Coberly.

Proud parents.  Richard Coberly.

As I write this she is on the Concorso show field, waiting for the morrow when we return to prepare her for viewing and judging. It's going to be cold and possibly wet tonight. If cars have feelings she's probably miserable and lonely, even with all those unfamiliar cars around her. I offered to sit up with her all night.

But they wouldn't let me.

What's it all about, Alfa? The Santa Fe Concorso (Post # 115)

As part of the lead-up to the Santa Fe Concorso, the Santa Fe New Mexican published this article by Anne Constable about the event including a brief reference to the Alfatross and its story. To view the entire article click on the link below. 

What's it all about, Alfa? The Santa Fe Concorso: Don Keith calls his blog about restoring his 1955 Alfa Romeo “The Alfatross” for many reasons. When he bought the “used-up old sports car” from his cousin in 1969, it was “virtually worthless.” For 47 years he dragged it around the country with him, mostly lacking the money, time, and place to restore it to its original condition. After moving to Santa Fe in 2010, Keith, an archaeologist, built a 1,700-square-foot garage and, in 2013, he began working in earnest on the restoration.

The Sum (mer) of All Fears (Post # 114)

Yes, I know I haven't been keeping up with the  posts for the last few months. But let me tell you, that doesn't mean I haven't been busy! The list of things I declined, dodged, deleted, delegated, and ignored is far longer than the one thing that dominated the top of my "To Do" list. 

But I have a valid excuse: it has been the Summer of All Fears. Fears? What fears? Well, let's back up a few months to just after the 2016 Arizona Concours d'Elegance in February when The Alfatross placed Third in the "Coachwork by Zagato" class. That was better than we expected because we knew it wasn't finished. We knew we could do better.  

Dan Allen, the author and The Alfatross at the Arizona Concours d'Elegance, 2016.  Dan is The Alfatross' Godfather. Randy Davis photo.

The opportunity to do so was provided when The Alfatross was  invited to the 2016 Santa Fe Consorso on September 25th, to be held on the grounds of The Club at Las Campanas (http://santafeconcorso.com/about.html). The Alfatross accepted immediately because the "featured marque" is to be Alfa Romeo! More recently The Alfatross received another invitation to be presented at the prestigious "Friday Night Gathering" leading up to the Concorso.  Quite an honor (http://santafeconcorso.com/2016_Concorso_Program.html#p=31). 

So, again, what fears?  Well, first there are the "Known Unknowns", the kinds of things that plague every restoration of a car now more than 60 years old:  Fear that the persistent problem with the brakes cannot be fixed in time. Fear that the glitches in the paint can't be repaired to invisibility. Fear that the engine won't start.  Fear that the starter will continue to run on after it has been turned off. Fear that the "trafficator" box will refuse to activate the turn signals (as it did in Arizona). 

Then there are the "Unknown Unknowns", the kinds of things that are totally unpredictable, but can be devastating: Fear that something bad will happen during the transport, loading and unloading procedures. Fear that the distinguished panel of judges will not care for the restoration path we have chosen to pursue. Fear that the weather prediction for potential thunderstorms (with one of northern New Mexico's famous hailstorms?) might come true and The Alfatross, along with the rest of the field, will be pummeled into scrap metal.

But the time is nigh. Forty-three hours from now, as I write this, The Alfatross will be presented at the Friday Night Gathering, and two days later at the Concorso.  She is ready. . . not sure I am . .  but the die is cast!

Alfa Zagatomeo (Post # 113)

The Alfatross has a split personality. On the outside, the side that everyone can see, it's a Zagato. But on the inside it's all Alfa Romeo. You have to look closely to see either branding. Two tiny Zs, one on either side of the body just above the break line and just in front of the doors, are all that identifies The Alfatross as a Zagato. The Alfa Romeo name is also seen in two places: the 55 mm diameter circular cloisonne badge at the top of the central grille, and on the license plate light housing mounted on the trunk lid.

The Alfa Romeo badge, 55 mm in diameter,
 sits atop the distinctive tall, vertical grille.   

The Alfatross' Zagato emblem, a little over
50  x 50 mm: very under-stated.

The place where you see the Alfa Romeo name displayed
most prominently on the Alfatross' exterior.

With several rubber seals, a clear Plexiglas window, two light bulbs, brass connectors for the bulbs, another clear Plexiglas "lens" bearing in negative relief the Alfa Romeo name in script, electrical connections, and a lot of fasteners to hold it all together, the trunk lid housing was a surprisingly time-consuming restoration. Like a lot of other sub-assemblies, I took it all apart years ago, cleaned all the parts and bagged them up according to their function. 

The housing has 35 parts, more or less (actually, I stopped counting).

I reproduced the rubber seal for the Plexiglas window by
first making a rubbing of the recess it covers on tracing
paper, transferring that to stiff cardboard, pinning that to
a sheet of rubber, spraying over it with yellow paint, and
carefully cutting out the shape shielded by the pattern:
perfect fit!

By the time I got around to putting it back together the rubber seal had gone as hard and withered as a shrunken head and the plastic lens covering the lights was cracked and cloudy. The lens was relatively easy to reproduce from Plexiglas but the rubber seal was tricky with its curved shape, three holes and two windows. 

The debossed letters had to be filled with gold paint
applied with a small syringe. Then I painted  the entire
 back side of the placard red. This must have been done all
by hand at the factory.

Luckily, the original clear plastic placard with the Alfa Romeo name debossed in reverse on the back side was in excellent condition, but the gold paint used to highlight the Alfa Romeo name had tarnished. It was easy to remove the red paint off the back and gold paint out of the debossed letters with a mild paint solvent, but cleaning the placard, polishing out all the fine scratches, refilling the letters with the right shade of gold and repainting the back side red took longer than all the preceding work combined.

 The final product turned out well.  The registration plate was assigned to the car when it was acquired by its second owner in 1957. 

You could say The Alfatross' split personality is represented in miniature by the branding icons used by Zagato and Alfa Romeo. The simple, unified, elegant Zagato "Z" perfectly symbolizes the car's design objective while the mechanically complex, multi-purpose, outwardly simple-looking rear license plate housing with its multiplicity of hidden parts inside represents in miniature all that lies beneath the skin.  

Unrestored, Restored, and Re-restored--Part 1 (Post # 112)

Since I got serious about restoring The Alfatross on January 1st 2013 I've also been paying attention to what its siblings have been up to. Disappointingly, as far as I am aware none of the 12 cars I listed as "existence uncertain" or "destroyed" have turned up. But several of the Alfatross' known siblings have attracted considerable attention in one way or another. They seem to fall naturally into three distinct categories: cars recently "discovered" and left unrestored, cars that changed hands and were--or are in the process of being--restored, and cars that are undergoing re-restoration.

Unrestored

The car that produced the most publicity, chassis *01845*, was dragged out into the light of day in 2012 after 40 years of peaceful slumber in its modern-day Roman car catacomb. The notoriety it received subsequently resulted from the new owner's claim that it was "the most original 1900 Super Sprint Zagato in the world" and his vow that it would not be restored.

*01845* makes its debut in 2013 with much fanfare and hyperbole. 

But the necessity to change original things to make a car roadworthy and the urge to "fix things up a bit" are hard to resist. When *01845* won the Best in Post-War Preservation Class at Pebble Beach in 2014 we could not help but notice some new paint in the engine room, repairs to the driving lights, and that its (non-original) pipe bumpers had been removed. 

As to the the "most original" claim, that is difficult to substantiate due to the facts that (1) all of The Alfatross' siblings are different, and (2) after 61 years, special preparations for racing, damage repairs, and multiple ownership, all of them have been modified to one extent or another. So what do you compare it to?  Who's to say what is "original" and what isn't? In the words of Carl Sagan, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".  In this case I don't see it.

*01845*'s most recent publicity splash is that it is up for sale again!  The price is not advertised on the Kidston SA Web site, but rumors put it at well north of $2 M! If it sells for that, it will establish that the highest price paid for an Alfa 1900 SSZ is for an unrestored, tattered example with few desirable features and little race history.  Go figure. 

*01845* as seen at Pebble Beach in 2014. Kidston .com

Restored

We are most familiar with cars in the "restored or undergoing restoration" category because we have been able to exchange information with their owners about details of originality.  In fact, through extensive communication and collaboration, I think we might be establishing the "baseline" for originality questions when it comes to Alfa 1900 SSZs.

One of the most interesting restoration stories in recent years surrounds chassis *01947* which went on auction at the 2014 Gooding and Co. Pebble Beach sale. The car was in very rough shape but the aluminum body was intact. The auction turned out to be pretty exciting as the bidding sailed past the upper estimate, coming down to two bidders who were determined to own it. In the end, Mr. David Smith won with a bid of $1,012,000. Many observers opined that he paid too much for the car, given that its condition mandated an extensive and expensive nuts and bolts restoration, but the car came with a lot of spare parts, including three engines.  Recent historical research has filled out the car's unique history complete with interviews with the car's original Italian owner and early photographs!  

Given Mr. Smith's exhaustive knowledge of Italian sports cars, and that this is his 18th restoration project, it looks like this car is in the right hands.  It has been The Alfatross' pleasure to supply sibling *01947* with photos, measurements, and other information to assist with its restoration. In exchange *01947*'s owner has generously reciprocated by providing us with a wealth of historical and technical knowledge and hard-to-find parts for which The Alfatross will always be grateful. 

*01947* at the Gooding and Co. auction in 2014.  

Like unrestored car *01845*, *01931* came out of retirement in 2012 after decades of inactivity and neglect. Despite its condition it was desirable due to its participation in the 1955 Mille Miglia where it placed 19th overall. It was brought back to the US that same year and ended up in deep storage until 2012 when it was sold through Kidston SA to a Swiss collector and given a three-year restoration including a return to its original eye-catching two tone paint scheme. Photos of the restored car show that the red-and-white paint scheme is carried through to the interior and that the restoration was completed to a high standard.

Also like car *01845*, *01931* is once again up for sale with Kidston SA--for the second time in 4 years!  As all the restoration work was done in Europe the only thing we know about the car is the sales pitch and photos that appeared on the Kidston.com site.

*01931* as found in 2012. Kidston.com.

*01931* in 2015 following restoration . Kidston.com.

Re-Restored

Late last year I contacted Dustin Wetmore at Motion Products Inc., in Wisconsin to inquire if he could identify the mysterious brake reservoir on The Alfatross. This led to conversations not only about the reservoir but also to questions MPI had about one of The Alfatross' siblings, *01844*, presently undergoing re-restoration at their shop. Having been entered in three successive Mille Miglias back in the 1950s and used a lot since then, *01844* still looked great, but had been modified and was in rough shape following an earlier restoration. We were able to help Dustin with a number of questions about the driving lights, seats, trunk area and the insulating bellypan between the exhaust system and the floor under the driver's seat. 

*01844* under restoration at Motion Products. This  is the 
only sibling known to have entered the 1955, 56, and 57
Mille Miglias.  MPI.

The good news about a documented racing history is that it enriches the car's story and lends it more respect.  The bad news is that there is a likelihood of extensive damage and modifications to the car's fabric, thereby compromising both its originality and driveability.

My understanding is that *01844* is not going to be offered for sale like  of the cars above. Rather, its long-time owners decided it was time to give it the kind of attention it needed and deserved so that they could continue to use it.

Imponderables

One wonders what the future might hold for *01845* after it changes hands again. Who will be willing to pay $2 M for a not very attractive, unrestored car with no racing history? A sale at that price would affirm that originality (and great marketing) trumps both racing history and fine restoration. 

Will David Smith's restoration of *01947* not only prove that he saw a great restoration candidate where others saw only wrack and ruin, but also raise the bar for how a proper restoration of an Alfa 1900C SSZ should be done?  

Was the sale, restoration, and re-sale of *01931* in 4 years just an exercise in asset acquisition and liquidation? 

Does *01844* represent what lies ahead for The Alfatross and all it siblings: Long-term residence in a stable collection where they are cared for and used regularly . . . and eventually treated to re-restorations when appropriate?  Will that make them immortal?

Keep on Rolling (Post # 111)

The abrasions on the inside of the Borrani wire wheel rims
show as dots where the brake drums come closest to the
wheel rims. 

The front brake drum profile. Note the four distinct facets

that mimic contours inside the wheel rim. The "furrow"

 shows on the fins of the middle facet.

After putting about 5 km on The Alfatross in preparation for the Arizona Concours d'Elegance I noticed some abrasions on the inside of the front Borrani wheel rims that seemed to be the result of the rims lightly touching the finned drums in some places. There was no interference problems between the rear drums and wheels because the drums there are much smaller in diameter. 

I checked the fins on the drums and observed that every fin on one of the four facets on the perimeter of the drums has a shallow “furrow” in it corresponding to the place on the wheel where the abrasions appear. But the furrow was not caused by contact with the wheel.  It appears to have been evenly and professionally machined into the fins before I got the car, so it may even be a “pre-existing condition”.  


But what was causing the problem and how do I fix it? Time to contact the Alfa 1900 Brain Trust members and Cork Adams, the guy who restored the wheels, for advice. 

Cork opined in an e-mail "It appears to be a wheel that has slightly too much positive off-set and might require some minor adjustment to pull the hub inward. I assume a quarter of an inch should not move the rim outward enough to rub on the fender." (Groan).

Giuseppe Maranghi suggested that I test-fit the car's other wheels to see if perhaps the wheels and drums are supposed to be paired specifically  If not, I should get in contact with Matteo Bosisio at Borrani to get his take on what the problem might be--after all, they are literally the ones who "invented the wheel"!  Then Joost Gompels sent me what appears to be a period Borrani shop drawing with dimensions so I could check my wheels against it and added hopefully, "I will be interested in what you find out."

Design drawing with dimensions for a Borrani wire wheel .  Joost Gompels.

Suddenly, not only did I have a new, totally unanticipated problem, but it was starting to look like it could take a lot of time and money to fix. 

It seemed like the advice and observations I was getting boiled down to only three possible causes:

1. The wheel hub is centered too far to the outside of the wheel rim. If so, the wheels were assembled wrong during their restoration.
2. Some kind of spacer or shim is missing somewhere on the hub. But there aren't any parts left over or any reference to shims in the design drawings and no place to add a spacer anyway. 
3. Wheel hub isn’t tight enough on the spindle. But how do you estimate how much torque you are putting on the knock-off "wing nuts" when all you can do is hit them with a hammer?

The splined spindle that mates with the hub of the
Borrani wire wheel.  Note the dark abrasion around the
tapered base of the spindle indicating a loose fit.

Because possible cause no. 3 was the easiest to address, I decided to start there, just looking for things that . . . didn't look right. Abrasions on the splined front wheel spindles matched wear marks on the insides of the wheel hubs where they made contact, suggesting that they weren't mating properly, so I sanded and polished both surfaces until I was satisfied that all burrs and refinishing residues were removed.  

But the question of how do you achieve the optimum wing-nut torque, preferably without beating them with a lead hammer, remained.  Beating with a hammer--how barbaric! I used to think that you could find the answer to any question on the Internet if you spent enough time.  I don't anymore.  Try to find the "correct" torque values for knock-off wing nuts on line.  You find everything from "hand tight and then 3 good whacks with the hammer" to "250 to 350 Nm" (184.39-258.15 ft/lb). In the end, I decided to just come up with something I could use that would get the damn wheels seated good and tight on their spindles without hammering the wing nuts to death in the process.  

Precisely at that moment, my neighbor Wyatt Fenn showed up with a 6-pack of pretty good micro brew and time to kill.  As I told my predicament while crying in one of his beers he mentioned that he used to be in prototype manufacturing and promptly sketched a simple wing-nut wrench that could be made of  no. 810-A7 nylon stock. Uh, sorry, Wyatt I'm fresh out of 810--but I do have some heavy plywood . . . .  No problem, plywood works too! 

Rube Goldberg "Proof of concept" wing nut wrench.  Note the finely-crafted plywood workmanship, the profligate use of sheetrock screws, the hand-routed recess for the wing nut, and the clever hole in one arm for easy hanging storage.  Wyatt Fenn design.

A couple of hours later the 6-pack was gone and we had our "proof of concept" wing nut wrench.  I used it for several days tightening and loosening the wheels and it proved three things:  First, that it was vastly superior to the hammer technique and, along with cleaning the mating surfaces, solved the problem completely; second, that all it cost was Wyatt's 6-pack and third, that it could be better.  

More searching on the Internet led eventually to Herr Michael Kirchgassler at Oldtimertools (mk@oldtimertools.de) and his product FMB 42-2. It accomplished the same things that Wyatt's proof of concept did, but more elegantly.  Its compact size eliminated the problems created by the long arms of the proof-of-concept design having only a few degrees of movement before contacting the car body, and its hard plastic wing-gripping toggles were even less injurious to the wing nuts.

The Oldtimertools wing nut socket: What it lacks in 
affordability it makes up for in beautifully engineered 
German manufacturing.   No more guessing at how much 
torque you put on your wing nuts!  

So in the end it was a relatively easy problem to solve. The front wheels were restored properly and no shims or spacers were needed.  The wheels just weren't tight enough on their spindles.  A more experienced restorer could have figured that out in a heartbeat,  but in the end I sure learned a lot and acquired new respect for the deceptively simple-looking wire wheel--and the indispensability of a prototype manufacturing neighbor with a 6-pack of pretty good microbrew!

Weights and Measures (Post # 110)

How does The Alfatross compare to its siblings and other cars of the period, following restoration?  Did it gain or lose any weight, change its dimensions or balance?  Does it run as well as it did when new--or better?  Well, it's early days yet, but we can answer some of these questions.

To put things in the proper perspective we need to start with an historical review of the different variants of the 1900 series. The 1900 model type started in 1950 with 5 cars, chassis numbers 1900 00001- 1900 00006, all Berlinas (enclosed 4-door sedans). Powered by the model 1306 1884 cc engine. 

The next year Alfa added the Sprint model (1st Series) to their lineup but only 6 examples were made.  These were sportier with a shortened chassis and more powerful engine, the 1308 1975 cc engine.

The 4-wheel drive "Matta" version incorporating
Alfa 1900 mechanicals. Millenove, H.-J. Dohren.

Between its original appearance in 1950 and the end of production in '59, a total of 21,304 1900s were built. Naturally, over such a long production run, there were many modifications and variants, including sub-models 1900C, 1900L, AR51, TI, and AR52.  The AR models were "Jeepish" military utility vehicles with 1900 DNA, but not on the same limb of the family tree as the road cars.

The Alfatross was created on a 1900C chassis in 1955.  In that year Alfa produced four variants, the 1900 Super, 1900 TI Super, 1900 Sprint 2nd Series, and 1900 Super Sprint. The C suffix stood for "corto"--the short, 2 door chassis--and was stamped into the firewall after the 1900 designation.

Chassis *01955* was originally created with a flat roof.
Now it has a double bubble roof.  John de Boer.

How Rare is The Alfatross?

According to Gonzalo Alvarez Garcia's research in his book Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint, as a sub-set of overall Alfa 1900 production, the Zagato-bodied cars turned out in 1955 is microscopic:

21,304=Total type 1900 
854 =Total Super Sprint 
248= Total Super Sprint in 1955  
14= Total 1955 Sprint and Super Sprint Zagatos

The engine of chassis *01955* is extensively modified.
John de Boer.

Of the original 14 Sprint and SS Zagatos two of them, chassis numbers *01964* and *10095*, seem to have disappeared.  The remaining 12 have been or are being restored. Photographs are available at http://www.alfacompanion.com/alfa1900/stories2/extant_zagatos/index.html.  


Although they were produced in the same year, each of these cars is different.  After 61 years of use, abuse, and "personalization" the differences between them are even greater.  One car, *01955*, started life with a "normal" flat roof, but was given a "double bubble" roof treatment later.

Performance Check

The 1900 owner's manual gives the following performance figures for maximum horsepower at corresponding rpm (no torque values are offered): 

1900 Super 90 HP @ 4000 rpm1900 TI Super 115 HP @ 5000 rpm1900 Super Sprint 115 HP @ 5000 rpm

Following the rebuild of The Alfatross' original engine, during which new cams, pistons, valves, guides, and rods were produced, horsepower and torque figures improved significantly.  

The horsepower and torque figures for The Alfatross as determined during several dyno runs.  

Longacre Accuset computer scales model no. 72594.

Weights and Measures

I wonder how many of The Alfatross' siblings know how much they weigh or how that weight is distributed? According to the owner's manual, an Alfa 1900C SS coupe in running order should weigh 1000 kg. (2200 lb) while the cabriolet should weigh 1150 kg. (2530 lb)  No figures are given for weight distribution.

After weighing The Alfatross "in running order" with about one quarter tank of gas using a Longacre Accuset 4-wheel scale we came up with a total of 1002 kg. (2204 lb).  This is puzzling because we expected it to be considerably less than the Alfa 1900C SS with its production body and interior. We weighed the car several times with the same result.  

There were other surprises as well.  The weight distribution was a nose-heavy 59% front (595 kg./1308 lb) vs. 41% rear (407 kg./895 lb).  While the rear wheel readings differed by only 4 kg. (9 lb), there was 25 kg. (55 lb) more weight on the left front wheel than on the right front wheel.  This difference seems excessive so we will have to have another weight-in at a later date to re-test it.

Jeff Kramer examines the 4 scale weight readings.