Ok, I admit it. Yes, I have owned British vehicles in the past, and I must even confess to having at least one product of the wet little island to this day. Despite my severe Italian car and motorcycle fetish I was actually raised by a father who had a strong passion (some, including he himself might say sickness) for British cars. I succumbed briefly to this illness myself having owned a 65 MGB and a Triumph or two during my youth. These cars were somewhat more affordable and common than other sportscars but my exposure to them also introduced me to Alfa Romeos for the first time and I had an immediate attraction to them. I had a girlfriend who owned a late-model Spyder and I remember the way the car sounded, looked, and handled. Compared to my ponderous, heavy, bloated MGB the Alfa was sweet, sexy, and elegant. It was like a pair of Ferragamo loafers next to the MG's Doc Martens.
I loved the way that Alfa drove and despite its numerous mechanical maladies I was smitten. I decided that I would own an Alfa someday. Over the past 15 years I've made several attemps at Alfa ownership. I remember a Duetto Spyder that my father and I looked at and drove that I wanted so badly. It was far from perfect however and I ended up passing it by. In the mid 90s, after finally selling the MG and relying on a modern BMW for daily transport I yearned for something that had classic car feel. I located an early Giulietta Spyder in Monterey and drove to the owner's house with the cash to buy it in my pocket. The car's condition was horrible however and I drove home without fulfilling my long standing desire to own an Alfa. I bought books about Alfas, I gazed at them lovingly at car shows. Chela and I attended Concorso Italiano every year and lusted after the cars in the Alfa Corral.
In 1999 Chela and I moved in together and I gave her my BMW 740i to drive. I began looking for a classic car to drive and restore and during this search I narrowed my choices down to BMW CS Coupes and Alfa Romeos. I wanted and needed something that could be driven daily and for various reasons I selected the CS. I spent the next two and a half years restoring my CS, but never lost my lust for Alfas. The CS and the GTV do share some common bloodlines of course as the CS coupes were descendants of the 3200 BMW which was designed by Bertone, who designed the GTV. An Alfa GTV is something like a "shrunken" CS in many ways. The lineage is obvious.
Finally, in the Spring of 2002 I finished the CS. My wife Chela was wonderful and supportive throughout the long and painful process and when the CS was done I told her that the next car I did would be for her. Luckily for me she has excellent taste in vehicles and she told me that she's love a little Alfa coupe to run around in. So it was settled. The next car we restored would be for Chela, and it would be an Alfa GTV.
I like most every version of the GTV ever made. Here in California pre-74 cars are desirable because they're exempt from smog. As a performance enthusiast I appreciate the increased HP of the 2 liter models, but the aethetic in me has always loved the look of the 1600 and 1750cc Giulias. I subscribed to the Alfa Digest and began scouring eBay and the local classifieds for suitable cars. Then one day someone forwarded an ad from craigslist to the Alfa Digest. It described a 1967 Giulia GT in non-running condition. I called the owner first thing Friday morning and made plans to view the car the following morning. I spent most of that day gazing at the pictures of the car that the owner had posted online and told Chela we might have found her Alfa at last.
Saturday morning dawned and we loaded up the dogs in to our truck, then picked up my brother Andrew en route to Daly City where the car was located. Andrew is an avid Italian car collector and owns four Fiats. He's also an excellent wrench and is a good person to have around when making decisions about whether or not to purchase 35 year-old vehicles.
I must admit that I had a feeling we'd be buying this car. I felt that if the body was not too badly rusted it would be a great car regardless of what the engine and interior look like. Alfa engines are fairly simple and there were enough of them made that donor parts are not terribly expensive. A good rust-free body is 90% of the equation in choosing a restoration candidate.
The history of the Alfa in question is not clear. The gentleman I purchased it from had owned it for 3 or 4 years but had never done anything with it. He claimed the prior owner had owned it for a very long time and had passed away only to be sold by the widow. The car had been repainted in a pseudo British Racing Green color, probably at Earl Scheib or Maaco. The paint itself is not bad, but the way it was painted was horrible. Nothing was removed and many parts were not even masked off before the paint was applied. The car had been sitting for at least two years. The brakes were frozen, and many of the trim parts were in boxes inside the car. The front bumper was missing as were most of the lights and trim. The engine bay was a disaster.
We brought a lot of tools, some gas, and a battery and after poking around the car we decided to see if she'd run. With a little fuel and a few cranks of the engine she fired up somewhat hesitantly, which is to be expected from a car which had be stored for so long. Andrew, Chela and I met back at the truck to make a decision and it did not take long for us to decide that although the car needed lots of love, it was a great car for our purposes. We made the owner and offer, cash changed hands and we were now the new owners.
The rest of the day was spent dealing with the logistics of getting a trailer and hauling the car back to Summit House, but at 3:30 PM on Saturday, November 2nd she rolled of the trailer in to our driveway of her new home.
The next morning Chela and I went out to see exactly what was in those boxes and get to know our new car. The dogs were also interested as the picture below depicts. Corsa decided that the Alfa was a good place to spend the better part of an hour and I took this picture of him getting to know the newest addition to the family.
So how about we end this walk down memory lane and get on with the restoration. Are you ready? Sure you are. Let's go!