Restoration From Hell!

[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

[CyRaX]

Hell this sounds like an intresting project!!! Good luck

[Davy]

Two thumbs up for deciding to bring it back to life. Please capture as much photos as possible and share with us.

Good luck!

[Ripper]

Good luck GTAm That sounds like quite the ambitious project.

[VVTi]

I salute you. Mine's going through a bad menstrual period these days...

Evil eye of all those people from Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Arugam Bay, Anuradhapura and Matara...

Edited June 29, 2012 by VVTi

[MasterDon]

Nice! Good luck GTAm!...AL just got a lot more interesting.An Alfa and a Triumph,two very worthy ladies being brought back to life.We should do a run somewhere when they are both done...meet up at the next sunday run?Got lots to catch up on.BTW let me know when the ICE club trackday is happening please...

[nexus]

hats off to you GTAm and good luck with your restoration.

[JadeyBlitzen]

Nice to see old gems like these brought back to life. weren't these the police cars they had in the original italian job?

[carboy2011]

good luck dude ,it is quite an ambitious project i must admit but im sure you can do it

where do you get parts for this? i assume you cant buy any in SL

As someone pointed out AL has indeed become alive these days with restorations !

  On 6/29/2012 at 9:32 AM, GTAm said:

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

[Kavvz]

  On 6/29/2012 at 9:32 AM, GTAm said:

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.

Bugger retired off your three restoration projects and now wants a forth as he's got another kid to put through college?

Jokes aside: Kudos to you for taking on the project. Please keep us updated via pictures and write-ups whenever you have time.

All the best.

Edited June 30, 2012 by Kavvz

[H.C]

All the best mate!

[GTAm]

  On 6/29/2012 at 12:26 PM, MasterDon said:

Nice! Good luck GTAm!...AL just got a lot more interesting.An Alfa and a Triumph,two very worthy ladies being brought back to life.We should do a run somewhere when they are both done...meet up at the next sunday run?Got lots to catch up on.BTW let me know when the ICE club trackday is happening please...

Thanks MD. Yes we should do a run once they both come out of surgery. Actually your post on the TR resto is what led me to post this. I thought it'll keep me motivated.

ICE Club track day is on the 25th of August.

[GTAm]

  On 6/29/2012 at 3:10 PM, carboy2011 said:

good luck dude ,it is quite an ambitious project i must admit but im sure you can do it

where do you get parts for this? i assume you cant buy any in SL

As someone pointed out AL has indeed become alive these days with restorations !

Carboy, sice I have experience with 03 rusty Italian projects before this I hope I am seasoned enough to last. I have a lot of confidence in my tinker, he's got natural talent. I always tell people that if he was born in Italy he would be working at Scaglietti! He's dead slow though, which is also good cause then my payment is spread out.

Parts - Nothing available here. I've located a bonnet and a boot lid in Oz and will be getting those down shortly. Mechanical parts are not an issue as they are common with the Giulia so everything is remanufactured and available from the UK, Italy and US. I usually buy from the UK although now with the Pound at 210/- bucks things are going to be tough.

[GTAm]

  On 6/30/2012 at 3:49 AM, Kavvz said:

Bugger retired off your three restoration projects and now wants a forth as he's got another kid to put through college?

Jokes aside: Kudos to you for taking on the project. Please keep us updated via pictures and write-ups whenever you have time.

All the best.

In fact he has an above average number of kids considering his pontential income level. One of them very young, so he not just a great panel beater

I gather the downturn in the economy (despite all those rosey numbers published by the cetral bank) is what made him come out of retirement. His elder kids are not able to give him the same support as before.

[GTAm]

  On 6/29/2012 at 3:05 PM, JadeyBlitzen said:

Nice to see old gems like these brought back to life. weren't these the police cars they had in the original italian job?

Those were Giulia Sedans. This was the replacement, larger but closely related. The Giulia sedans are more valuable. And these days are sought after for historic racing as their bodies are even more rigid that the Giulia coupe. The pick of the range is the limited production Ti Super which is lighter and more powerful and has some serious motorsport credentials. For example one came 5th overall in the 1963 Tour de France behind two Ferrari 250GTOs, and 250 Swb and a lightweight E-type. The Giulia Ti Super has only a 4 pot 1.6L engine!

I met the former owner of this car. He told me how competitive this car was when he raced it agaisnt more modern machinery. His favourite victory was at a Hill Climb in Kandy where he won against a Renault Fuego Turbo (driven by a race Meister) and a Isuzu Piazza Turbo. The technology is chronologically separated by over ten years apart from being turbo charged coupes against a four door sedan. Of course he now regrets selling the car.

[JadeyBlitzen]

  On 6/30/2012 at 3:41 PM, GTAm said:

Those were Giulia Sedans. This was the replacement, larger but closely related. The Giulia sedans are more valuable. And these days are sought after for historic racing as their bodies are even more rigid that the Giulia coupe. The pick of the range is the limited production Ti Super which is lighter and more powerful and has some serious motorsport credentials. For example one came 5th overall in the 1963 Tour de France behind two Ferrari 250GTOs, and 250 Swb and a lightweight E-type. The Giulia Ti Super has only a 4 pot 1.6L engine!

I met the former owner of this car. He told me how competitive this car was when he raced it agaisnt more modern machinery. His favourite victory was at a Hill Climb in Kandy where he won against a Renault Fuego Turbo (driven by a race Meister) and a Isuzu Piazza Turbo. The technology is chronologically separated by over ten years apart from being turbo charged coupes against a four door sedan. Of course he now regrets selling the car.

Now that's my kind of car. beating younger theoretically quicker cars with good handling.

[GTAm]

Can't see the posts I put up yesterday. So here they are again. This is what the end result should look like.

[MasterDon]

  On 7/4/2012 at 5:49 PM, GTAm said:

Can't see the posts I put up yesterday. So here they are again. This is what the end result should look like.

Sweet!...Our resident push bike enthusiast milindu will like this particular colour scheme too..

[milindu]

  On 7/4/2012 at 7:05 PM, MasterDon said:

Sweet!...Our resident push bike enthusiast milindu will like this particular colour scheme too..

Yeah. I was saying. The post seems to have gone missing.

[GTAm]

It's a long long way from deciding on a colour but yes this dark blue looks good. The original colour was red but silver is also on my mind right now as I saw one in the UK and it looked great. But enough dreaming, better get back to reality

[Komisiripala]

  On 7/4/2012 at 5:49 PM, GTAm said:

Can't see the posts I put up yesterday. So here they are again. This is what the end result should look like.

Looks like the fiat 132... Lovely car tho!

[Supra_Natural]

GTam, you are one brave soul machan!! All the very best with this dude, and do keep us updated please!

[GTAm]

  On 7/5/2012 at 6:51 AM, Komisiripala said:

Looks like the fiat 132... Lovely car tho!

Yes it's got a somewhat generic late 60's/early 70's 3-box euro sedan look. Without the Alfa shield it could be anything.

But it's what's under the skin that's quite sexy - Twin choke twin Weber fed 2.0 all alu Twin Can 132bhp with enviable of race pedigree, 5 Speed, RWD with a LSD. The Fiat 132 also had a very good twin cam - though iron block, so heavier although still lighter than the Lotus twin, and very poor handling. It was more of a stylish luxo barge compared with the Alfa which was a class leading performance sedan at the time.

They could have done so much more with the Styling. The UMC Mazda (Luce 1500/1800) was the proposed body (by Bertone of Turin) for this car. However some strange decision making process rejected that beauty in favour of this in-house boxy design. Mazda subsequently snapped that up.

[GTAm]

  On 7/5/2012 at 9:23 AM, Supra_Natural said:

GTam, you are one brave soul machan!! All the very best with this dude, and do keep us updated please!

Thanks Supra and everyone else for the words of encouragement.

[Komisiripala]

  On 7/9/2012 at 8:27 AM, GTAm said:

Yes it's got a somewhat generic late 60's/early 70's 3-box euro sedan look. Without the Alfa shield it could be anything.

But it's what's under the skin that's quite sexy - Twin choke twin Weber fed 2.0 all alu Twin Can 132bhp with enviable of race pedigree, 5 Speed, RWD with a LSD. The Fiat 132 also had a very good twin cam - though iron block, so heavier although still lighter than the Lotus twin, and very poor handling. It was more of a stylish luxo barge compared with the Alfa which was a class leading performance sedan at the time.

They could have done so much more with the Styling. The UMC Mazda (Luce 1500/1800) was the proposed body (by Bertone of Turin) for this car. However some strange decision making process rejected that beauty in favour of this in-house boxy design. Mazda subsequently snapped that up.

yeah i remembered cos my mom had one. a 2000cc 132. 8 sri with power windows and if i remember right it had a very very early rendition of EFI. i was 8 at the time so i may be wrong!