Calling all ARNA's

[L4OMEO]

Yeah that's right Col, it did have the deep-dished wheel with the flat inner-edge from later Sud/Sprint models. And if I remember correctly the switches were indeed sagging....

[colcol]

The sagging was a minor problem compared to those combination switches, and to replace them on a Sud, you have to pull the instruments out as the multi pinned plugs, connect behind them, and they do too many things, such as horn and heater fan controls, used to drill the rivets out and replace them with mushroom head screws, it was because you couldn't buy them new anymore, and i used to buy second hand ones, you can now buy them new, they sometimes come up for sale on ebay, for about $400, 33 switches are much better and easier to replace.
Back to the ARNA, seems there are about 3 left in the UK, rust ended their life,as most Alfa Romeo's of that era,  i wonder apart from the one in Bendigo, that Ray mentioned, are there any in Australia?, Colin.

[colcol]

From one of my favourite books, 'The Worlds Worst Cars', by Craig Cheetam.
Under the title of 'Misplaced Marques' and badge engineering, we look at the Alfa Arna.
Alfa Romeo is one of the finest names in motoring history. Steeped in romantic tradition, the Italian firm has produced some of the most beautiful cars of all time. Unfortunately they also produced this. The Arna is pherhaps the biggest blot on the company's copybook, and was a classic case of desperate times meaning desperate measures. With huge depths and a reputation ruined by the Alfasud, which crumbled at the first sign of rain, the Arna was the last - ditched attempt to win back customers.
Alfa kept the 'Suds' boxer motor and decided the best place to house it would be the bodyshell of a Nissan Cherry, assuming that the Japanese firm's reputation for reliability would win favour. Sadly it forgot about the cherry's awfull dull styling, and engine and electrics still came from Alfa, the car broke down with alarming regularity. It was also sold as the Nissan Cherry Europe, which was even worse, Colin.

[Evan Bottcher]

I had a vague memory that an Arna was class winner in the UK Alfa championship.  Took some googling, but here's a reference. 

"Most people take the view that the Arna was a project that Alfa should never have
embarked on. Basically, the idea was to find a home for an over-production of 1186cc,
and later the 1351cc and 1500cc flat four engines. Nissan had a suitable shell in the
Cherry Europe and the two were put together for final assembly at the Pomigliano
d'Arco plant near Naples. The car was sold through both the Alfa Romeo and Nissan
dealer networks, and by the time the final version - a 3 door 1.5 Ti came into being in
1985 the balance had switched to more being sold as Nissans than Alfas.
What nobody might have expected was that the Arna would become a quite
successful race car in the UK, notably winning the Alfa Championship outright in 1997
and 1998 with Dave Streather at the wheel. Other successful Arna drivers included
Nick Baughn and Shane Crumpler. Nick enjoyed a season long battle in 1993 with the
33's of Martin Parsons, Paul Smith and the Sud Ti's of Graham Heels and Phil
Snelling to take Class F while Shane won Class C in 1999. Former champion Ian
Johnson switched to one for a short while before it was badly damaged at Oulton Park
early in the 1994 season. Ian Wilson and Phil Snelling also raced examples at various
times, Phil having a lone run at Cadwell with a 1.3 version."

from http://www.alfaracer.com/Michael_Lindsays_Notebook/Michael_Notebook_May_2012.pdf

What a ripper!  Crumpler isn't a bad name for a race driver I must say.

[aggie57]

When the ARNA was produced there was a voluntary limit on the number of Japanese cars sold in Europe. So cars like the ARNA allowed Japanese manufactures to bypass these.  Another example was the Triumph Acclaim (Honda Ballade) produced in the UK.

[colcol]

And from the book, The Worlds Worst Cars, more quotes about the Arna.
"The Arna's cabin was no more exciting than the dull bodywork, the dashboard was standard Nissan Cherry fare, made from cheap feeling plastic, the only saving grace being a sporty Alfa rev counter".
"Power came from Alfa's proven boxer engine, which at least had some sporting charcter, Italian buyers dissaproved, though, beliving that an Alfa engine should only ever appear in an Alfa car, and many of the cars were stripped to restore rotten Alfasuds".
"Part of the reason Alfa teamed up with Nissan was to avoid the rot problems that had plagued the marque throughout the 1970's, but it turned out the Cherry bodyshell was little better than Alfa's own, and rust problems were still rife, especially around the doors and wheel arches".
"The back of an Alfa Romeo Arna, was something many owners were glad to see after they owned one for a couple of years", Colin.

[colcol]

And here is some more evidence for the prosecution, from the excellent book, 'TOTAL LEMONS', One hundred and eleven heroic failures of motoring, by Tony Davis.
Alfa Romeo Arna - The odd Coupling.
Despite anything you may unkindly think, Arna was not the Roman God of poor panel fit or popped engine seals. It was an acronym of Alfa Romeo and Nissan Automotive and was the name given to a car that looked like a Nissan Pulsar with a Alfa grille. The year was 1983 and Alfa and Nissan each thought they had a good reason to jump in the sack and spawn this unique Japanese - Italian 'thorough - hybrid'. The Arna gave Nissan access to Italy's car market, [which was then mostly closed to imports], while the financially challeneged Alfa gained finacial assistance from the Far East plus metal you couldn't see through after six months. But the car itself, which promised to bring together the best of both worlds, instead managed to combine Nissan's flair and road manners with Alfa's build quality and reliability.
The body panels - many of which were produced in Japan - were screwed together in Italy and the vehicle was fitted with an Alfa grille and a 1.2 litre version of the Alfa boxer engine. The Arna had a English sister, too, the daftly named Nissan Cherry Europe, which 'benifited' from Alfa power.
So successful was the venture that Arna became a household name. The household in question was located next to the Arna plant in Pratola Serra near Avellino, Colin.