A Rare Boxer.

[Nige005]

Not seen one of these for a long time but it came along with its owner, Ed, to a little gathering at Cadwell Park yesterday. Was in very nice condition indeed and pretty damn rare.

[PETROLHEAD]

very nice, and certainly very rare too.

i wouldn't like to hazard a guess at how many have survived in the uk?

[Spacenut]

So this is a Nissan Cherry Europe then? As opposed to an Alfa Arna?

Certainly the first one I have seen in the UK.

I've never understood why these cars received such a bad press at the time. OK, maybe using a Japanese hatchback shell as a new Alfa Romeo was a poor move for fans of the cars from Milan, but compared to a Triumph Acclaim, I know which one I would have

Lauren

[Nige005]

very nice, and certainly very rare too.

i wouldn't like to hazard a guess at how many have survived in the uk?

Not many Shrew. Ed, the owner, is very clued up on these and has acquired a lot of official paperwork and traced the history of these and the how and whys they were made at all, interesting stuff.

My memory is shocking these days but I THINK he said that there are only two left on the road right now. If that's true its amazing that they both seem to live in Lincolnshire.

Oh, Ed does have a second one at home which he has as a donor car, well beyond any reasonable rebuilding hope.

[Nige005]

So this is a Nissan Cherry Europe then? As opposed to an Alfa Arna?

Certainly the first one I have seen in the UK.

I've never understood why these cars received such a bad press at the time. OK, maybe using a Japanese hatchback shell as a new Alfa Romeo was a poor move for fans of the cars from Milan, but compared to a Triumph Acclaim, I know which one I would have

Lauren

All about money Lauren. AR were skint at the time, nothing new there.

The odd bits they used were amazing. Some items that they could have used straight from the Cherry Bin they didn't and made AR items to do the same job, even the Wiper Arms are stamped AR, bizarre thinking.

Again, nothing new there !

[Spacenut]

I suppose raiding the parts bin isn't so unusual for the cars I like

Lauren

[suds]

Alfa had no money and nissan needed to sell more cars in europe. To get round trade embargoes nissan tied up with alfa to build there version thats why its call Europe and the arna stood for Alfa Romeo Nissan Automoblia.

I had Europe 1.2 2door which i modified to a 1.5 gti getting bits from local scrapyards koni shocks allround alfa33 front nissan turbo rears it went well but the torque steer was amazing

I love these cars

[Nige005]

I suppose raiding the parts bin isn't so unusual for the cars I like

Lauren

I still have occasional night sweats thinking of how I'm going to replace the Outer Headlights on the Alfetta when the almost inevitable occurs !

[Spacenut]

I suppose raiding the parts bin isn't so unusual for the cars I like

Lauren

I still have occasional night sweats thinking of how I'm going to replace the Outer Headlights on the Alfetta when the almost inevitable occurs !

I never kept my (rusty reflector) 1.5 Ti headlights but from what I remember they were 5.75" diameter, same as any number of sealed beam and replaceable bulb headlamps from the period. I'm sure one of these lamps could be made to fit, even if you had to replace the headlamp bowls and adjusters as well.

When I first got the Baccaruda, 3 of the four sealed beam lamps (made in the USA in the 1970s) failed, and I needed to do something about the sidelights and indicators, so I replaced the outer dips with aftermarket halogen 5.75" units with integral sidelights, then coloured the sidelight/indicator lenses amber and that was it.

I know the BMW headlamps are talked about a lot, but they have a very deep assembly because they use ellipsoidal reflectors.

There MUST be a simple solution to the Sud/Sprint/Alfetta headlamp problem!

Lauren

[Nige005]

I dunno Lauren, if anyone has a solution I'd be very pleased to hear it.

LHD ones seem to be available from Highwood but I wouldn't want to go there unless I'm forced into it.

I have also heard about using BMW ones but from what I can remember it involves chopping the grill about so once you've done this there is no going back unless you have a spare grill to hand !

I've also thought about modifying Inner ones, which are, or were available, by the simple expedient of drilling a hole in the reflectors to take the sidelight. Thought I'd cracked it until I spoke to Alex Jupe at NAD and he said " What about the internal shield. " Hmm. When I had a good look he was of course right, there is an internal shield to make it a Dipped Beam and not a Full Beam, another seemingly good idea bites the dust....... !

Also looked at having some existing ones repaired and re silvered but an hour searching the net convinced me that unless I had any spare body parts that I was willing to sell this was not an option. Besides which most of my body parts are knadged anyway......

I also remember years ago trying to find 'sud headlights, even then back in the 80's they were hard to come by but in the end EB came good - at a price.

So the search for a viable solution must continue.

[Spacenut]

Veesix has started a headlight thread in the tech forum, there might be a few ideas for you to consider there... good luck!

Lauren

[Nige005]

Veesix has started a headlight thread in the tech forum, there might be a few ideas for you to consider there... good luck!

Lauren

Yes, following this with interest.

[justsuds]

Nige, - is your Alfetta an early one ? - I may have some headlights if it is. They came as a 'bonus ' with some Sud parts quite some time ago, they are definitely not Sud lights, they have a strange lens with quite a course pattern on the outside of the lens, if this makes sense. I will dig them out tomorrow and have another look.
John.

[Nige005]

Nige, - is your Alfetta an early one ? - I may have some headlights if it is. They came as a 'bonus ' with some Sud parts quite some time ago, they are definitely not Sud lights, they have a strange lens with quite a course pattern on the outside of the lens, if this makes sense. I will dig them out tomorrow and have another look.
John.

Hi John, been meaning to get in touch with you for a while now but procrastination an' all that !

It's a 1982 S2 so not sure if what you have will be right, there are a few versions.

I have to go out in a bit but I'll put some pics up a little later on and see what you think.

Cheers,

Nige.