Three Alfa Six

No, not a police radio code like One Adam Twelve, but I just received my 3rd Alfa 6.  Actually I have Two Alfa Six by Norev in 1/43, but I count them as one.  The Six was not their most imaginative name but was introduced in 1979 as Alfa Romeo's large sedan. With a 102 in wheelbase (187 in long), it was not really a large car by 1970-80s American standards. The 1980 Dodge Diplomat, a car that I never thought was on the large size relatively,  had a 113 in wheelbase (205 in long).

But I degress...   The Alfa 6 was powered by the 'Busso V6', a 2.5-liter V6 engine, designed by Giuseppe Busso, head of mechanical engineering for Alfa.  This V6 became more famous in the gorgeous Alfetta GTV6 two-door the next year...  In fact, the Alfa 6 took its door panels from the Alfetta and looked a lot like one, just upsized a bit.

The two Norevs were first a Jet-car toy from the 1980s and a later partworks twenty year ago.  They are not the same mold even...

The real triumvirate  - the Three Alfa Six - should be the resin 1/43 from Kess (2013), Neo (2013), Matrix (2026) but I missed the Neo release - maybe because at the time I thought it was a bit boring, a four-door sedan Alfa...  In any case I did get the Alfetta from Neo back in 2013 so you can see the obvious similarities.

Here are the silver Kess and the new blue Matrix; I am glad I get the two now because they are different versions.  The Six ran from 1979 to 1986 with a facelift in 1983.  The obvious change was from round to square headlights.  So the Matrix is a 1979 to 82 version, and the silver Kess is the updated '83-86 version with the Quadrifoglio Oro (gold four-leaf clover) package.  Notice the front and rear bumpers grew!

Alfa only sold 12,000 over a production span of seven years, which was just a fraction of what they had planned!  So it's hard to find a period photos of one on the road.  However, here is one from wikimedia dated 1982!