Restoring Alfetta Sedans?

[All torque]

Excellent work on the resto! It's great to see such an appreciation of the sedan around here. I have one myself, and it's pretty damn immaculate (albeit non original in colour.) I'll chuck some more pics up later on.

[Touringspider]

I have a 1976 sedan which I have just started working on and am pretty excited about. It is kind of neat since it makes a nice set with my 76 Fetta Gt since they are both silver. I am only the second registered owner, but the car has been sitting since 1989. It has spent its entire life in the Phoenix area, so it is incredibly rust free and straight other than a small spot in the usual place by the windshield (yeah, I know that can mean uglier things in the actual windshield channel). It still has all the original stickers under the hood, all of the emissions equipment is in place, and even the crossover tube is still there. It appears to have been repainted once, and that has faded to a flat grey.

The interior has the usual Arizona issues of a cracked dash and sun faded seats. It also has almost 20 years of filth inside, but a even a quick session with the shop vac and some 409 improved things a ton. At least the seats are not torn and the headliner is in excellent shape.

My goal for this one is to make a presentable driver with a minimum of expenditure.

The car almost didn't make it home. It had been sitting on a friend's trailer at a storage lot since last summer, and I had finally gotten the new house to the point where I could move it over. To make a long story short, about half way home all the wheel studs on one trailer wheel (it is a single axle) sheared off and the wheel flew off, the trailer fender got ripped off, and parts of the spring hanger went flying in a sea of sparks. Nothing like seeing your wheel rolling beside you and then seeing it go between the Land Rover and the trailer (at which point I am expecting it to nail the rear window). Anyway, when all was said and done, the fetta was undamaged, the Rover was undamaged, nobody got hurt, and the loose wheel didn't hit anybody or anything and ended up in a drainage ditch. AAA got the fetta home, and we are going to repair the trailer tonight and get it back to my friends storage area.

Arno Leskinen
AROC-USA National Concours Chair
102
115
116 coupe
116 sedan

[gt601]

Arno, If you don't care too much about the car being original, you can get a GT dash to go into the car as I have done to my '77. It is almost a perfect fit except for a small gap at the windshield that I still need to fill in with some sort of flexible trim. It would seem like it is easier to get a good GT dash than it is to get a sedan dash. Here is a pic if you haven't seen it before. Pardon the crooked horn button

Paul

[Touringspider]

Paul:

I had seen your interesting conversion in another thread. It looks good in there. I think I will try the "$30 dash repair" technique first.

Is the upholstery in your car original? Mine has what appears to be the same fabric and stiching pattern, but in gold. I was unsure about mine since none of my reference materials show that exact velour pattern, nor do they indicate that a silver car would have had gold cloth. On the other hand, my upholstery looks very "factory" and doesn't look like a replacement job. I don't intend to replace it anyway, but I was just curious.

Thanks,

Arno

[sfalfa]

Arno,

Most likely you have a replacement interior either from a later Series 2 ('78-'79) sedan or Milano.
Series 1 sedans all had vinyl interiors (velour wasn't an option according to a factory brochure I have on series 1 sedans) in tan, black, or a dark "pigskin" brown. My silver '76 had the latter color interior.

[ossodiseppia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfalfa Arno, Most likely you have a replacement interior either from a later Series 2 ('78-'79) sedan or Milano. Series 1 sedans all had vinyl interiors (velour wasn't an option according to a factory brochure I have on series 1 sedans) in tan, black, or a dark "pigskin" brown. My silver '76 had the latter color interior.

[Touringspider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfalfa Arno, Most likely you have a replacement interior either from a later Series 2 ('78-'79) sedan or Milano. Series 1 sedans all had vinyl interiors (velour wasn't an option according to a factory brochure I have on series 1 sedans) in tan, black, or a dark "pigskin" brown. My silver '76 had the latter color interior.

[sfalfa]

The coupes came with velour or vinyl (later leather) options from '75 onwards.
Edit: As you suggested - it's quite possible that Euro sedans came with velour, especially in 1.8 and 1.6 guise. My friend and I always joke that due to the extreme labor union issues in the mid-seventies at Alfa, that every car is unique. I've had three sedans and all of them have weird little bits that seemed to be picked up off the factory floor and added to the car.

Osso: did your car have a clear plastic spare key holder (rectangular box) with a cloverleaf embossed on it that came with the car? I found one under the rear seat of my silver '76 - always wondered about it.

[gt601]

Quote:

Is the upholstery in your car original?

[Hammer68]

Heres some pics of my 1976 1.8l that ive just started on.

[gt601]

Hammer, That looks like a keeper to me. If you come across a set of orange rear turn lenses pm me. I can't seem to find them.
Sweet ride.Nice wheels too.

Paul

[sfalfa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gt601 Hammer, That looks like a keeper to me. If you come across a set of orange rear turn lenses pm me. I can't seem to find them. Sweet ride.Nice wheels too. Paul

[fiatosca]

For those who have been following my resto, the saga continues. I took the OZ Superturismos to Weldcraft in Canton, MI for repair and they did not want to fix one of them. So I purchased some 5 spoke Liquidmetal rims from Discount Tire in 4x100mm size and had Weldcraft redrill them to 4x98. Cost me 30 bucks a hole but they look great. I wrapped them in a new set of 205/45-16 Yokahama Parada S tires. If anyone is interested in purchasing
a set of scruffy 16" OZ Superturismos in 4x98mm I'd be willing to deal...otherwise I will post them on eBay.

[fiatosca]

NOS grilles!

[fiatosca]

A few restoration progress photos. My painter came over to the house last week and sanded and rubbed the car. It is absolutely flawless. Also check out the custom hood hinge pin. Originals were large rivets - not real robust. Starting to address motor now with fresh Dean Russell built cylinder head.