Rising tide lifts all boats

[gkb]

At the same time as the 193 Ceylon e9 is on BAT bid to $70K with 2 days left there is a very nice 1973 Alfa GTV2000 bid to $80K with 2 days left.

Vintage Porsches have been up for some time as have E type. I almost bought a GTV back in 1976 but did not have a spare room for the live in mechanic. Got my first 2002 instead.

 

[CSteve]

Ah, the old Fix-it-again-Tony that has prevented many of us from diving in. I too have been watching the Alfa, a beautiful car with a dash board and interior that is worth the price alone.

 

[jmackro]

As a long time Alfa owner, let me add a couple of comments:

- That '73 GTV on BaT is indeed beautiful. Someone spent a fortune having Alfaholics (a UK company that is sort of the Alfa world's answer to Singer) build their ultimate dream. The car appears to be the result of one man's taste, and fortunately for him, a few BaT bidders share that taste. But to my eye, the result is somewhat idiosyncratic: a car that isn't suited for either show or competition. And I'm skeptical how comfortable it would be on all-day tours. Perhaps it was engineered for brief blasts around the back roads.

I almost bought a GTV back in 1976 but did not have a spare room for the live in mechanic

- Alfas get a bum rap along those lines, probably driven by their horrible dealer support, but the cars' build quality was pretty similar to that of e9's from the same era. Alfas were assembled with Bosch electricals, ATE brakes, Lemforder suspension bits and other components that would be familiar to any e9 mechanic. The achilles heel of 70's era Alfas was their Spica mechanical fuel injection systems. Spica fuel injection is a lot like the Kugelfischer system used on Tii's, but few Alfa dealers or independent mechanics knew how to tune or maintain them.

 

[craterface]

As a long time Alfa owner, let me add a couple of comments:

- That '73 GTV on BaT is indeed beautiful. Someone spent a fortune having Alfaholics (a UK company that is sort of the Alfa world's answer to Singer) build their ultimate dream. The car appears to be the result of one man's taste, and fortunately for him, a few BaT bidders share that taste. But to my eye, the result is somewhat idiosyncratic: a car that isn't suited for either show or competition. And I'm skeptical how comfortable it would be on all-day tours. Perhaps it was engineered for brief blasts around the back roads.



- Alfas get a bum rap along those lines, probably driven by their horrible dealer support, but the cars' build quality was pretty similar to that of e9's from the same era. Alfas were assembled with Bosch electricals, ATE brakes, Lemforder suspension bits and other components that would be familiar to any e9 mechanic. The achilles heel of 70's era Alfas was their Spica mechanical fuel injection systems. Spica fuel injection is a lot like the Kugelfischer system used on Tii's, but few Alfa dealers or independent mechanics knew how to tune or maintain them.

I will add though, that the instruments on all my vintage Alfas have failed at one point or another, while the German ones never have, except for the clock on the E9, which is a common weak point. But you are correct, Alfas of the 50s to 1973ish were pretty well screwed togther.

I LOVE that GTV, such a wonderful build and so pretty. But my Junior Z drives fantastically well, even if it is funky looking.

 

[Ohmess]

That alfa is really cool. A buddy of mine who was a partner in an independent European auto shop before he retired says the same thing Jay said about Alfas. They were well made cars, but got a bad rap in the US.

I sometimes think about picking up an older Alfa, but I would be seeking a four cylinder with Webers so as to leverage what I've already learned about them. An early 60s Giulietta Spider would be cool.