GTAm

Just started my most ambitious resto project todate. It's a 1970's Alfa Romeo 2000 Berlina. Neglected very badly for many many years the body has rusted to a point that is scary. I originally bought the car for its parts for my Giulia Coupe and even used some bits for my Alfetta GTV. I was thinking of scrapping it many times but I could not get someone to come and dismantle it. However recently my tinker who "retired" after completing my 3 Alfas called me and said he might be interested in doing some work again. I showed him this car and to my surprise he said that it could be saved. I was still quite skeptical though when I thought about the cost and effort required. I slept on it for a few weeks. The more I thought about it though, it was hard to scrap this car for several reasons. 1. It's a classic Alfa Romeo - I mean just how many survivors are around in this country? You can count them with your fingers. 2. Although not a great looking car by Alfa standards, it's an inoffensive 132 bhp 5 speed Sedan with a glorious engine and gearbox. 3. This particular car has some good race history in this country. 4. Almost every fitting and trim bits are intact. 5. I'm a bit mad

I love the Huayra. Exterior and interior has a "crafted" air to it absent from any other modern car I can think of.

Agree with everything except your first sentence Peri. I definitely think his arrogance has toned down a lot although his arrogance was no wehere near some other drivers past and present. And I think almost anyone would have got cocky at that age taking on and beating MS. Not being arrogant does not make one a wimp imo and arrogance isn't a neccessity to win a world title as many many past world champions have proved. Anyway interesting rumours flying around about Ferrari's future line-up, with Stefano saying that Alo and Vettel can "work together". .

Fantastic race. Nando deserved the victory. I used to dislike him before when he seemed quite arrogant. Now he seems the captain of calmness and very mature. I would say there was an element of luck with the safety car incident and Seb's car packing up. However give the guy half a chance and he grabs it with both hands. Must have been a nice warm feeling on the podium for Nando flanked by two former Scuderia world champs. What really Ferrari needs is qualifying pace. Maldo needs a good spanking but I think Lewis should have just given way given his lack of grip at that point, something a driver like Nando would have done. Massa - What bad luck.....

C*rm*rt has a poor reputation, but I think so does Colo'. Also with a booming Kia biz will they put the effort required by Mazda? I think Mazda could have done much better in their selection of another distributor. Anyway Mazda the parent company is in poor shape financially and this might have been a desperate move to boost sales in underperforming markets. Let's hope it works well.

Looks good. Hope it does its job well and eases congestion.

More info here - http://www.autoedizione.com/ferrari-f70-more-details-are-available/ One thing for sure, it's going to be one hell of a supercar!

Purely for looks I like the Challenger. However I think the Charger SRT8 is great value for money. Also I've read they are now greatly improved compared to when they were originally launched under Daimler. The car I'm excited about though is the new SRT Viper. That's going to send so many back to the drawing board I feel.

MD I'd go without the letters. You're absolutely right. It does clutter the front end. Anyway there is no mistaking this car for anything else

The 323 and the 3 were/are manufactured in Thailand as well. The Singapore cars could be from that factory. We had two cars at the same time. A Japanese import Familia Hatch and a Singapore import 323-badged sedan. There definitely was a noticable quality difference. The reliability of the two during our ownership was also polar opposites. The age of the cars two years apart, the Japanese one being newer. However I suspect the Singapore car was not from the same source.

Parts are a problem. A guy I know had one and the only way he was able to get parts was through a friend in the UK. Quirky looking and comfy like most French cars, but the electric steering is quite dead feeling. 206 Feels better. I would buy a good 406 instead if it my money.

Agreed. It just needs that wing to make it complete. If the wing is omitted then the front air dam and the roof spoiler have no place on it IMO.

I could be wrong, but I believe it should not be called a "Batmobile". Because this is a CSL with the optional "Batmobile" body kit. The kit was an option. I think the real "batmobiles" are the race cars. Anyway I recall reading up something to that effect when I was offered the car many years ago. Either way it's an outstanding machine. 206bhp, so rare and a truely beautiful BMW unlike many of the modern ones.

Yes it was. Funny enough the official name for that colour is "Ceylon Gold"! I think the car needs the original rear wing. That small spoiler just "spoils" an otherwise perfect car.

Yes and Yes

All in all the show lacked the punch it used to have. I think the organizers need to get a bit more creative next year.

The 'Cuda was a SL Police pilot car. There are two of them. The black and a white. They were auctioned by the SL Police in the mid 90's and I was present. I think they are both sixes under the "hood", so not Hemi's. Btw they have got power hoods (roofs)

Yes Peri. I thought that car should not have qualified to be displayed with those bumpers. The 240Z is such a gorgeous car but anyone looking at this one would not look twice. Also I don't think that colour suits it. Looks too 90's. I think a 70's colour will make it look the biz.

Isn't it amazing how many large companies like GM and Renault-Nissan have done and continue to invest millions if $$$ on electric cars and they never thought of Electric/Turbo/Wind ? And this guy can make the battery much lighter than anyone else ? If he really developed that battery then he does not need to go into all this trouble of manufacturing the car with all the risks and work required. He could just patent the (battery and this Electric/Turbo/Wind hybrid) and sit back and watch his bank account exploding!

Ah I see. Why "sadly"? You have a LOT more choice than all of us

Nice resto work MD. Restoration is such an tedious and expensive process but when you sit back and look at the result stage by stage, it is so rewarding and exciting! Any target date you have set? I can tell you that I have never ever hit any target date on any of my cars. Often missing targets by years! Btw your XJS is a coupe or conv?

Hi Don, have you been thinking of getting one on a special permit? Or through the usual "under two year" catagory? If it's under two years JTS is redundent as it would be the superior 1750TBi engine that's available. More bhp and a lot more torque. There are plenty available in the UK, although there are a lot more diesels.

Ah I see you are refering to the diesels regarding water pump and timing belts. Sorry I was talking of and have been focussing only on the petrol engines. In fact there is only one diesel Alfa in the whole country! Yes the timing chain issue in the petrol JTS 159 is a straight forward fix and not present after 2008 when there was a very minor "facelift". At least this is according to AROC-UK owners where there is no serious reliability topic discussed since the cars were launched. I just re-checked to make sure. The JTS (petrol) blocks are GM sourced and the head is Alfa/FPT. Some of the JTDs have GM involvement too. But I'm not sure to what extent. I assure you build quality issues are on par if not better than most brands out there. Many including myself have learned to not read too much into JD power surveys. See here - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=860365&d=11111.43958&nmt= As you can see Alfa was placed 2nd in 2009 in Germany ahead of BMW, Audi and Toyota and on par with Merc. Only Daihatsu was ahead. In 2011 in UK JD Power survey Alfa was in a joint 10th place with VW and Toyota. http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/buying-and-selling/2011-05/alfa-jd-power/ I'm not saying Alfas are the most relaible car in the world or that German cars are the most unreliable. I'm just saying German companies are well managed and have a lot better PR and Alfa probably has had the worst PR ever until now . Gee 4000 miles a year!! What you need is a petrol.

I take it this is a very old wheel? I would expect a modern alloy to be made of Aluminium and not be chrome plated!?

Hi Don, Not sure where you read this, but the timing chain stretch happend only on early cars. When it is indicated it was a matter of changing it with an improved one and that is that. This is a very minor fault compared to what many German brand have faced. Never heard of water pump faliure (which was sometimes present in the 156). Timing belts again was a 156 issue. In fact the 159/Brera/Spider range has been perhaps the most reliable and well built Alfas in a long long time. I am a member of the UK owners club and the 159/Brera/Spider forums are almost dead when it comes to technical problems and reliability issues. Whatever is there is very minor. Why were sales slow? The 156 was a great car and a very successful car by Alfas post war commercial standards. However what killed the reputation was the way Alfa (Fiat) handled the gremlins (especially the timing belt issues). Believe me German manufactures had and have much bigger reliabity problems. First generation VW TSi engine, Early Porsche Boxter engine and gearbox failures, Mercedes 7-G tronic gearboxes going bust etc etc. BUT and this is a big BUT, the way the Germans and the Italians handled this is where the difference is. When Alfa dealers used to call HQ, there was no unit to look into these. The technical persons who answered were vague at best and failed to offer any solution. In short poor management. This left their customer high and dry. Soon Alfa dealers earned the worst reputations naturally. By contrast when German brand have such problems the customer is treated to a 5 star service. Engines/gearboxes replaced promptly FOC, car velted and waxed and you get it with a full tank of fuel. The result is sky high reputation and image. With this back ground the 159 was never going to succeed easily, however good it was. Added to this the Brera and Spider were too heavy to be sporty and this annoyed Alfisti. These three cars were developed with Fiat's then partner GM. In 2005 GM and Fiat fell out and Fiat took GM to court which resulted in GM having to pay Fiat $2bn before GM went bust. The fallout meant no further development on the 159 platform was possible without GM's consent, which of course they were not keen on giving. With no updates the only improvement Fiat could manage was the introduction of the 1750 Tbi engine. Too little too late. Then it became more cost effective to kill off the models than keep them alive. With the Euro/Italy crisis getting worse, the relaunch will begin in the US not in Europe.