Rebirthing a GTC

[arco27]

During the 80's I owned a GTC that was full of bog, but a nice driver. In 1989 someone offered me a good price for the car, so I sold it and it went to Japan.
As soon as it was gone I missed that fun car a lot and started searching for an other on. That is when I made my "barn find". I found the 1966 GTC chassis number AR 760 101, engine Number AR 00502 17261, Touring Conversion Number
17549 perched on two wooden boards across a unused Swimming pool and covered with an aluminum boat for protection. The car had been given to an Italian guy by his parents as a wedding present and was delivered to him new in 1966 by a Sydney Alfa dealer. At first glance it looked relatively sound even tough it had a 1750 engine, as well as seats out of a 1750 series 1 coupe fitted.
There was also some crummy after market steering wheel. Luck for me, the owner had kept the original engine. After long negotiations and paying an astronomical price (half of what I sold my first GTC for, I finally loaded the car on a trailer and took it to the shed of one of my friends and started working on it. Little did I know that it would be a 9 year labor of love. I won't bore you with all the gory details but will let my photographic record of the restoration speak for itself

[arco27]

The story continues, I un-drilled every spot weld on the car

[arco27]

Things start taking shape again

[arco27]

After painting and rustproofing the chassis, the outside panels can go back on and be painted and the car returns to my friends mechanical workshop

[arco27]

Mechanical bits, suspension and interior gets fitted

[bshorey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arco27 Little did I know that it would be a 9 year labor of love. I won't bore you with all the gory details but will let my photographic record of the restoration speak for itself

[arco27]

Nine years of weekends of hard labor, the end result: a stunningly beautiful car.
All parts are original, some like the GTA steering wheel, the limited slip diff and the ATE brakes are period option.I sourced the new parts used for the restoration from all over the world, USA, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. All internal engine parts and the suspension parts are brand new.

[BlpltGTV]

Your car looks great. Nice work. I'd love to see one of those in person.

Will

[Paradiso]

BRAVO!

Wonderful job, may you enjoy it for many years to come.

[arco27]

Finally some arty pictures of the completed project.
Unfortunately I had to let the car go, due to a lack of storage facilities, but it found a good new home in Melbourne, Victoria.

[BlpltGTV]

I hope you can go visit it. I could never sell either of my cars, way too much time and energy has been put into them to let them go.

Will

[arco27]

Thank you fellows for your kind comments. Yes it was very hard to let the GTC go. Having four cars was just too much of a luxury for my budget. I had great fun re-building the car and searching for the parts, but the time came, when it was standing in the garage most of the time and getting very little use. I live on a farm in the countryside and a lot of our roads are unsealed, so every new stone chip on that beautiful body hurt. I think that we are only custodians of those beautiful machines and the time had come to let someone else enjoy that GTC. Having said all this, I still miss my little red friend. Sometimes I think I will need a new challenge soon, so if anyone knows of a "dirt cheap" 33 Stradale, let me know. The 4R could go on the market to finance such a project.

[aussie alfa nut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arco27 Thank you fellows for your kind comments. Yes it was very hard to let the GTC go. Having four cars was just too much of a luxury for my budget. I had great fun re-building the car and searching for the parts, but the time came, when it was standing in the garage most of the time and getting very little use. I live on a farm in the countryside and a lot of our roads are unsealed, so every new stone chip on that beautiful body hurt. I think that we are only custodians of those beautiful machines and the time had come to let someone else enjoy that GTC. Having said all this, I still miss my little red friend. Sometimes I think I will need a new challenge soon, so if anyone knows of a "dirt cheap" 33 Stradale, let me know. The 4R could go on the market to finance such a project.

[aussie alfa nut]

http://www.alfaclubsa.org.au/info/2007-Alfesta.htm sorry about that

[GiuliaSprintGTA]

Many, many compliments!!!!