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Reply from Felice Bortoli of NOT - A. R. CARS
 Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex
I wouldn't have shown any product of mine in such unfinished condition. The level of fit and finish even at that early stage would not have persuaded me to open my wallet for a deposit. Too much to be left to the imagination.
Three things to add that I gleaned from the Notar representative at the stand. The GRP body is claimed to be taken from the original Autodelta moulds; the car will have a 155 engine; and the rear suspension will be fully independent.
Those wheels were truly horrific and I fail to see why they couldn't have at least borrowed a set of real/repro ones for the show.
Just my opinion, but at 80K Euro it seems almost too cheap (the Notar guy admitted that "others in Italy" have made TZ2's and realised about 250K Euro for them), and makes me wonder what short cuts have been taken with tooling and final trim.
Alex.
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Dear Friends,
First I like to thank you all for the attention you put in our NOT – A. R. car, NOT-Z2.
Reading your threads they are for us all a source of where we must improve our job.
Just to give correct information, I would like to reply directly to some of you, but in the same thread.
ALFAZAGATO: Yes, the car is far from being finished, unfortunately , as always, the show arrived two months earlier than our schedule.
I appreciate your opinion on the chassis, but you forgot to mention that it is in the same CrMo steel of the original, TIG welded and so, but in heavier gauge (2mm instead that 1mm of the original); this has caused a weight increase of about 35 kg.
Concerning the body I do not understand what you mean with “infilled type of GRP…” maybe you are not aware of the sandwich technique we have used; this system allow us to counter almost entirely the weight increasing from the heavier chassis, with a far better rigidity; next cars will be laminated in epoxy – vacuum bagged – oven cured resins, obtaining a weight/mm2 similar to modern racing cars. For the future it is also foreseen the use of exotic composite fibres, while the core will remain polyurethane foam.
Finish: as was explained to those who asked, the paint was just a “shop” spray, so it is clear that the finish was not that of a ‘delivery ready’ sale car. Also, if you are familiar with the quality of GRP bodies, thank to the gloss you should have noticed the lack of waves, specially in the tail flat panel. If you know the original body of the car of the Alfa Museum you should have noticed the enormous improvement of symmetry, high quality shut lines, continuity of surfaces at the joints bonnet/body and doors/body.
Glazing: The windshield have not been shown so as not to show the supplier’s marks; maybe this seems odd, but our car will be the only TZ2 replica with modern homologation for the windshield, while all the others glasses are intended to be manufactured in vacuum moulded antiscratch polycarbonate (not yet delivered to us).
For your information, 4 cars have been sold: the one of the show to a Swedish customer (Friday he was at the show and looking very happy) one to an noted Italian Alfa collector (2500 SS Pescara, 1750 ex Nuvolari…), one to a Spanish gentleman who pushes everyday to have the first available car, and the fourth to the owner of the Ala Spessa replica you can see in our web site.
They all visited our simple shop situated in modest premises close to Mantova and they all have been happy to see how we work.
ALEX: Your first sentence is the proof of how many different opinions people have, in fact the majority of visitors have appreciated the lack of interior trim and the possibility to see the chassis!
Body: body is not directly taken from Autodelta moulds, but from a body moulded in an Autodelta mould; the work done on this mock-up in order to obtain an industrial product have been really enormous (about 300 kg of plaster !)
Wheels and suspensions: as clearly affirmed, the car is intended to be approved for road use, and, because of the impossibility to source tyres of original dimensions homologated for road use (R6 on the market are only for track use) we have been obliged to use modern wheels and tyres. Of course opinions can differ on our wheels choice, but they are light (9 kg) and TUV certified, while the original ones were in magnesium (so, not for regular road use) and, above all, no longer manufactured by the original supplier. The ones you can find on the market, and marked Campagnolo are probably “fakes” and we, at NOT-A. R. we don’t use fakes nor do we want be confused with replicas becoming originals after some owners and years. Moreover our so criticised wheels cost us 15 (yes 15 !) times less!|
Suspensions: also original rear suspensions were independent, but the entire system was very imprecise; our new front and rear suspension layouts designed by an engineer with a huge experience in sportscars and Formula one, will allow a perfect control and enjoyable driving.
Price: there are no shortcuts in our initial pricing. We have always affirmed that our car is not intended to be a replica suitable to be confused with an original one. We have simplified the car using as much as possible components issued from a 155 donor, we don’t have magnesium parts, we use existing, fully rebuilt and tuned engines, we do everything to offer an industrial product, not an artisan one. If you have an idea of industrial costs management you can easily appreciate that our price is a little low, just as introduction price, but not so unbelievable.
For the remaining, I can only say that in every field there are people who appreciate our job and people that do not, everyone is entitled to their opinion!
We, at NOT-A. R., we try to do our best, we are always ready to hear critics and opinions, and we will be happy to invite all of you when the first final car will be available for a test.
Thank to all.
Felice Bortoli
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