Alfas - a fine reliability heritage

boardsee

http://www.octane.ie/cult/forum/showthread.php?t=2023

ds20prefecture

Boardsee, do me a favour would you? Point me to a post of yours that was in some way constructive.

OfflerCrocGod

ds20prefecture wrote:

Boardsee, do me a favour would you? Point me to a post of yours that was in some way constructive.

It's still funny; you have to admit!

Alfasudcrazy

Yes thats my car - and it did cause a few raised eyebrows when I first saw it when I was giving the car a bit of a spring clean - I thought it was pretty funny. What I can't figure out is where he got the paint - its not normally what you would bring around with you in a classic car.

I could just imagine the previous owner (who was a British ex pat who lived in Portugal being stuck on a motorway somewhere and everyone driving past oblivious to his predicament.

Come to think of it I was stranded the same way with the car in Naas a while back and the friggin thing cost me a bomb to have towed away and stored until I could have it brought back down. The frustrating thing was that there was nothing really wrong with it in the end - of course as usual it happened on a bank holiday weekend Sunday.
I think it did not take too kindly at being taken 'to be sold' at the Citywest show back in the Spring.

Don't think I will ever part with it now though - last week a complete new exhaust system & brackets went onto it so its now growling & rasping away happily

PaulK_CCI

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

I could just imagine the previous owner (who was a British ex pat who lived in Portugal being stuck on a motorway somewhere and everyone driving past oblivious to his predicament.

Out of curiosity Alfasudcrazy, when you mention Portugal, I can still distinctly remember being on holidays in the Algarve in 1998, where I spotted an Alfa Romeo 105 for sale on the side of the road from the airport to where we were staying at the time. I did go back later in the week to try and check the car out, but there was noone there at the time and I couldn't spot the owner or a contact number anywhere so I left it as it was. It was exactly like yours, a red 1300 GT Junior, although it did have the correct rear light lenses where yours seem to have picked up the larger lenses of the 2000GTV. So did you buy it straight from Portugal, or from the owner while in the UK?

Alfasudcrazy

PaulK_CCI wrote:

Out of curiosity Alfasudcrazy, when you mention Portugal, I can still distinctly remember being on holidays in the Algarve in 1998, where I spotted an Alfa Romeo 105 for sale on the side of the road from the airport to where we were staying at the time. I did go back later in the week to try and check the car out, but there was noone there at the time and I couldn't spot the owner or a contact number anywhere so I left it as it was. It was exactly like yours, a red 1300 GT Junior, although it did have the correct rear light lenses where yours seem to have picked up the larger lenses of the 2000GTV. So did you buy it straight from Portugal, or from the owner while in the UK?

Hi Paul

No I bought it in the UK in 1999 but I think it had been brought back to the UK a few years prior to that as the english owner had returned to live in the UK and had actually sold it on. I bought it from an advertising exec who lived in Notting Hill in London after seeing it on the internet (not ebay)

Do you think if I was getting any major body work done to it that it would be better to revert it to its correct trim as in getting the proper front grille and rear tail lamps - kinda bugs me that its not totally original?
But you can see in the restoration pics in the attached link that the opening for the rear tail lamps seems to be designed for the larger lamps? :rolleyes:

http://www.octane.ie/cult/forum/showthread.php?t=1805

PaulK_CCI

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

Hi Paul

No I bought it in the UK in 1999 but I think it had been brought back to the UK a few years prior to that as the english owner had returned to live in the UK and had actually sold it on. I bought it from an advertising exec who lived in Notting Hill in London after seeing it on the internet (not ebay)

Well it's obviously not the same car then, as yours received the large tail lamps and later front grille in an even earlier incarnation . I guess it's a small world, but it's not THAT small

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

Do you think if I was getting any major body work done to it that it would be better to revert it to its correct trim as in getting the proper front grille and rear tail lamps - kinda bugs me that its not totally original?
But you can see in the restoration pics in the attached link that the opening for the rear tail lamps seems to be designed for the larger lamps? :rolleyes:

I had a quick look at the pics and this kind of puzzles me. The 1300 GT Junior from 72 should have had the small rear lights and the single headlights at the front. The 1300 + 1600 GT Juniors received the grille from the 2000 you have on yours now, in 1974, but they always retained their small rear lights.
From your pic it clearly shows that the rear of the car is the rear from a 2000!!! It could be that they cut the rear to fit the bigger tail lights, but it doesn't look like it. Also the front seems to be the front from a 2000 series, because it has the extra metal to fit the 2nd set of lights. So perhaps it's the shell of a 2000 that was used as a donor car??? I'm not sure. Did you check your chassis number against the model type? Yours would have to be a 105.30 if it is a genuine 1300GT Junior. Your interior is I think 'spot on' 1300 junior except for the steering wheel

It's a very tough question wether you should bring the car back to original spec, because you could possibly 'downmarket' your car and make it less appealing to someone who'd like to own a 105 Bertone. The single lights front end of the 1300 and 1600 doesnt appeal as much as the double lights front of the 1750 and the 2000, so unless you are going for a concours car, where you want ALL the details 100% correct, I would possible maintain the grille and rear lights... (perhaps only change the rear lights to the smaller size, and add the 1300 junior script on the bootlid, so at least the only "Sin" you have committed is making your 1300 GT Junior look a bit 'younger', instead of making it look like its bigger brother...

Silvera

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

Come to think of it I was stranded the same way with the car in Naas a while back and the friggin thing cost me a bomb to have towed away and stored until I could have it brought back down.

Have you ever considered joing the AA ? .....seriously!

I joined recently and it's great to have the piece of mind that no matter what car I drive, I can make a phone call to the AA if anything goes wrong.

.....plus for a small extra fee, you can have your broken down vehicle towed to wherever you want (even back to Kerry! ).

(N.B. - I'm not an AA salesman! )

Dades

Silvera wrote:

.....plus for a small extra fee, you can have your broken down vehicle towed to wherever you want (even back to Kerry! ).

I had them put my car on a flatbed home from the shipping warehouse and it cost me nowt. (I AA'ed the car before it even arrived in the country!) There's no extra charge for a flatbed if you can convince them an A-frame trip might damage the car.

Silvera's right, the AA rock. I think after 4 callouts in a year though you have to start paying for towing.

Silvera

The Atheist wrote:

I had them put my car on a flatbed home from the shipping warehouse and it cost me nowt. (I AA'ed the car before it even arrived in the country!) There's no extra charge for a flatbed if you can convince them an A-frame trip might damage the car.

Silvera's right, the AA rock. I think after 4 callouts in a year though you have to start paying for towing.

I presume you are refering to a classic car 'on the flatbed' ?
Was it broken down (intentionally or unintentionally) or not insured or.... ?

Dades

Silvera wrote:

I presume you are refering to a classic car 'on the flatbed' ?

Yup - my Fiat Spider enjoyed its first trip in Ireland on the back of a truck.

Silvera wrote:

Was it broken down (intentionally or unintentionally) or not insured or.... ?

It was insured alright, just had been idle for 6 weeks before arriving in Dublin and was not moving. I believe the AA doesn't cover picking up a car you have just bought, but they never said anything to me though it was obvious I'd just taken possession.