Alfa cherry popped
 

They say you have to own one before you die

So I bought two

We shall see if I live to regret it

I know some of you like the odd tale of an old car so...

We all know about the crazy hike in prices of older cars of late

I had my own view about what was currently undervalued, or at least available at 'typical' old car prices but it was only a matter of time before the silliness reached those cars as well and it's now started

I therefore decided to back my judgement and buy a couple of Alfa GTVs

The first is a tidy V6 3.0 GTV (2002) which has gone straight into secure dry storage with my S2000

The second is a dirt cheap 2.0 spider (1997) which is going to be my daily fixer upper

I'll post more details on the rolling resto idc but in the meantime would be interested to hear from anyone with past ownership experience, SE England parts and independent experience

Gad,
Close friend of mine owned several GTVs. (3 at once iirc !!). I'll ask him if he has any info you might find useful.

i do like the GTV regardless of the fact it'll break (yours shouldnt break not moving) that engine is a lovely thing and it certainly looks the part compared to a Golf R32
saw one of the older (70s?) GTVs on a trip up to Donny recently, full on track prepped and it went well but handled better.. a result of that light weight i imagine

Is yours tin top?

Spiders less of my thing but there's a barn find one on ebay atm (seems in no way cheap enough tbh)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1989-G-AL...oAAOSwPHxbJPii

never owned one, in my lifetime they have mostly been fairly massively flawed

the one in your ebay link is 'The Graduate' Alfa

never liked them myself - think they are a bit effete

my cars are the 916 model (I think, I am still learning)- the big engined one that has gone into storage is a hardtop, the one currently keeping the garage busy is a 2.0 spider

I have taken the sensible precaution of buying another spider as a spares car :LOL:

so I have gone from 0 to 3 in a week

I didn't spot that they were both GTVs.. doh

Mate had a 75 twin spark when we were.. err.. younger. It was well engineered but a few warning lights.. solid motor though and was clearly different to most other stuff. Brother had a Guilieta years ago, again good engine, gearbox on the back axle for weight distribution

I dont know whether these are like that but the v6 is a peach I believe.. certainly sounds good (that's important to me)

I'm sure you'll have some fun

yes that's certainly true

if you're lucky it was in the 70s for a mechanical MOT failure

more likely it was rust and has only rusted more!

the spider fixer upper I've bought had been standing so there's a degree of re-commissioning but I drove it 40 miles (direct to MOT) with no problems. In fact it got better the further it went as old fuel was purged and everything warmed up, brakes loosened, etc

however, it's now providing an interesting alternative to Sudoku for the mechanics

once they've worked it out, perhaps with the help of bits from the spares car, I can get on with the fettling stuff I enjoy

I've barely driven both and the big 'un probably won't move for years now but initial impressions confirm road test reports:

big engined car is faster (you don't say) and has the best soundtrack but is nose heavier
2.0 is more nimble and still sounds good for a four
so 3.0 for cruising and 2.0 for more fun driving
spiders shake a bit (I'd say no different to a contemporary E36 BMW 'vert)

I'll get some pics up when I get my hands back on the spider next week

it's all about the electrics innit

It's partly the (slightly) increased mass of a V6 over an inline four, but also the front cylinder bank pushes the weight further forward. There's not really been a transverse-V6 that isn't nose-heavy.

If the SH-AWD stops working, my Leg End feels pretty ponderous too.

I've known a few people (of Sicilian descent) own the Spider 916. Predictably, they did seem to spend a fair proportion of the time in pieces in a corner.

Trick with the 2.0 seems to be to ensure the valve clearances are correct and it has a new drive belt/tensioner. IIRC, the earlier 'true' Alfa 2.0 had a chain.

Electrickery is of course, random.

But I'm sure you knew all that already.

yep, agree about the weight/position although as one naturally inclined toward large capacity engines I sometimes struggle with the less is more concept

cambelt is on the garage's to-do list

I didn't know about the valve clearances but that be done when the cambelt is done as I understand the cover has to come off to do that job

am also quite interested in the twin spark arrangement - eight plugs for a four doth not compute in gadworld

funny electrics definitely to be expected but as the cars are simple (by today's standards) then issues should not be insurmountable or inaccessible even if they are sometimes illogical

what is surprising is that the buggers were galvanised and how many of the panels are plastic/composite