The Alfa Thread

[BlackbirdM3]

Yeah its is much like mine, but as one of the posters on BAT mentioned, I'd bet its a '70 and a Canadian car. (No GTVs came into the US in 1970) I like the exterior color, interior not so much. That dash wood trim is all wrong. it should be straight grain Mahogany, and the seats of been redone incorrectly.

Will

[LateFan]

Really nice Milano 3 liter on Bring a Trailer auction.

http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1988-alfa-romeo-milano/

Low miles, perfect condition, nice seats, fitted luggage (!).... but big bucks. $15,000 with 5 days left. If this guy just bought it on a BAT auction last year, why sell it so soon? And how are you going to get even more than you paid? Seems really high to me.

[BlackbirdM3]

This should be interesting to watch. Its more or less exactly the direction I'm going with my Sprint. http://bringatrailer.com/listing/196...-romeo-sprint/


Will

[flyboyx]

^nice! not my favorite color, but thats simply a matter of personal choice.

[BlackbirdM3]

No, not my favorite color either, but its the same engine that I'm looking to use in mine (the engine I have in mind has 160 hp at the wheels apparently, that should be nice and scary on a 155 series tire.) My car is a '59 so slightly different dash, and big drum brakes all around.

Will

[LateFan]

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[LateFan]

Rippin'. ( I see someone suggesting this is a replica, and nobody would drive a real one like this..)


Supercharger whine


noise

[LateFan]

1924 at Monza. The great engineer Vittorio Jano at far left.



1936 Mille Miglia winner



1948 at Portello Works, preparing the 158 for competition

[cg138]

The other side of Alfa... My friend is 7 hours into this repair

Damn, that looks like a ton of work. Interesting to see the body being held up by truss frames that are only really more or less there for the panels.

Yeah its is much like mine, but as one of the posters on BAT mentioned, I'd bet its a '70 and a Canadian car. (No GTVs came into the US in 1970) I like the exterior color, interior not so much. That dash wood trim is all wrong. it should be straight grain Mahogany, and the seats of been redone incorrectly.

Will

Do those issues that you pointed out significantly detract from the car's value?

[BlackbirdM3]

[QUOTE=cg138;4609450

Do those issues that you pointed out significantly detract from the car's value?[/QUOTE]

They might. The true 105.51 was a '69 model year only car. It was the US Spec 1750 GTV. They officially built 640 for the US market. Last time I seriously researched it, there were about 200 known, and less than 100 in good shape. There were many things that were unique to the '69s. The most significant was the use of better steel. They seem to rust a bit less than the later cars. From there, the first gen SPICA fuel injection was different (and in many ways better) than the later version. The seats were different (similar to the Euro 1750 seats, but with fixed headrests that stood above the seat back rather than retracting down into the seat back) Obviously color is subjective. The wood veneer on the dash looks a little odd. It could be a deal breaker, but not always. I must say that the correct Mahogany is really stunning. Its got a slight reddish color to it that really pops when its new. (it was also a solid piece of wood. I figured it would be a thin piece when I pulled mine off one day. I was blown away that it was a solid piece of mahogany. Again, the interior color on the seats might be great for some, not so hot for others. If it were me, I'd likely pass on the car knowing that it would cost a small fortune to fix it. (It would drive me up a wall.)

Will

[LateFan]

If people aren't aware of the reasons for this quirk, the US emission regulations that went into effect for the 1968 model year caused Alfa to just skip that model year in the US until they could come up with a better system. They had been using Webers since time began.

They kept selling leftover '67s into 1968. Mine was titled as a '68 because it was picked up in the spring and brought back to the US. Caused me no end of issues with the highway patrol and emission testing until I re-titled it.

For 1969, they switched from Weber carbs to the SPICA mechanical injection system, which ran cleaner. So what looks like a Duetto Spider is actually a '69 1750 Spider. The 1600 Duetto was only '66 and '67.

Same with the GTV - it went straight to a '69 with the injected 1750. The '67 GTV (or Sprint GT) has the narrow single headlights. The '69 had the new 4 headlight design with 7" outers and 5 3/4" inners. It was probably the cleanest design of any of the GTVs.

They did the same thing in 1970, skipped a US model year. They redesigned the Spider, with a different windshield shape and the squared-off trunk. The '71s are still 1750s, but the '72s came with the 2-liter SPICA-injected engine and limited slip diffs. Didn't rev like the 1600, but more torque. Alfa lore has it that the '73 was actually the fastest stock model, before the next round of emission rules choked everyone's engines. The later 70s were a downhill slide into plumbing, backed off timing, lower compression, air pumps, and big bumpers (for everybody, really - the Malaise Era).

They kept selling the GTV until 1976 I think, but the last US GTV was the '74.

At some point in the 80s, the 2-liter went to a Motronic system with 10:1 compression, and was actually quite a good engine despite being a very old design by then.

[LateFan]

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[LateFan]

That top car in post #897 is a 1969 1750 GTV with the simple grill.

This is that same car, with the small taillights, and the sweet interior Will was talking about.




This is a later 2-liter with the bigger taillights..


and the later grille..

[BlackbirdM3]

The '71 1750s have the later body with the same seats as the 2l cars. They retained the good dash, but everything else aside from the engine itself was from the 2L. This was my car about a month and a half after I pulled it out of the barn.



Showing off the very awesome Marchal driving lights. These are the brightest most well focused lights I've ever seen. Amazing lenses.



Note the floor mounted brake and clutch pedals. That changed for the '71 cars


Nice view of the '69 US spec flying buttress seats.



Hard to believe this was what the car looked like only a month and a half before...




Its funny, everything in this picture is now gone. the buildings and the car.





I really miss my GTV.

Will

[LateFan]

That's a nice one.