Hi All,
Just bought my third Alfa.....my first ever car was a 1.5 Super Sud bought in '85 which I loved....I blew a head gasket on it which screwed the engine so had it replaced with a 1.3ti lump and that was a lovely handling bit of kit........blew that up too though so the affair was over.....until 3 years ago when I saw a very tired looking S3 spider for sale and thought 'weekend car' .....I'm a transport manager so spoke with the body shop I use and after a fair bit of umming and ahhhring they agreed to take it on.....after many phone calls to Classic Alfa and Alfa Mick (I'm sure we all know an Alfa Mick or Dave or John?), parts were gathered and fitted, credit cards were stretched and my second affair was well on it's way and has been particularly great this year as I'm on Gardening leave this summer so have been all over the UK in her.......Now to the crux of this post, my head was recently turned by an ad for a Duetto Spider project.......yes that one....I saw that the V5 was wrong and that the VIN is wrong too but, the fact is, the car feels right.......I bought the car for a great price for a '67 project or a slightly high price for a '76 S2. I've had it looked at by my body shop and they are not phased by what they see. They think the welding is solid but unfinished....there are issues and more will, no doubt, arise.....I called Classic Alfa and ordered panels and work will commence over the next month or two.
Regarding the V5 issues my first step will be to contact the DVLA and have the engine cc corrected as it is a 1750
I have contacted Italy to get the definitive answer on what the VIN in the car shows in their records.....my hope is it's a quirk of Italian origin, my expectation is it's listed as a Series 2 2000 in Prototype Yellow.....we'll see.
Next I will endeavour to get the car itself identified.....I have scraped the paint back in several areas and this confirms what the previous owner states, it was white when he bought it in the early 90's and painted red around 95....I have annual Mot's that confirm this change. Regarding the paint, there are two layers and the layers are consistent over the entire car so if this is a hybrid it was done a long time ago when the price differential wouldn't have been worth the effort. I believe in 1993 the car cost 4.5k....
My question to you all is what features define a 67 duetto?
In my view the car is beautiful.....she starts and drives well with the usual sticky second gear. I received a spare gearbox with the car which I'm gonna get rebuilt for my series 3.
My hope is that the Alfa community will endeavour to help me prove it is a 67 car as, surely, that would be a good thing?
All in all I'm happy with the deal....The affair continues with a beautiful Italian girl with a chequered past and dubious parentage, what could possibly go wrong!
Just bought my third Alfa.....my first ever car was a 1.5 Super Sud bought in '85 which I loved....I blew a head gasket on it which screwed the engine so had it replaced with a 1.3ti lump and that was a lovely handling bit of kit........blew that up too though so the affair was over.....until 3 years ago when I saw a very tired looking S3 spider for sale and thought 'weekend car' .....I'm a transport manager so spoke with the body shop I use and after a fair bit of umming and ahhhring they agreed to take it on.....after many phone calls to Classic Alfa and Alfa Mick (I'm sure we all know an Alfa Mick or Dave or John?), parts were gathered and fitted, credit cards were stretched and my second affair was well on it's way and has been particularly great this year as I'm on Gardening leave this summer so have been all over the UK in her.......Now to the crux of this post, my head was recently turned by an ad for a Duetto Spider project.......yes that one....I saw that the V5 was wrong and that the VIN is wrong too but, the fact is, the car feels right.......I bought the car for a great price for a '67 project or a slightly high price for a '76 S2. I've had it looked at by my body shop and they are not phased by what they see. They think the welding is solid but unfinished....there are issues and more will, no doubt, arise.....I called Classic Alfa and ordered panels and work will commence over the next month or two.
Regarding the V5 issues my first step will be to contact the DVLA and have the engine cc corrected as it is a 1750
I have contacted Italy to get the definitive answer on what the VIN in the car shows in their records.....my hope is it's a quirk of Italian origin, my expectation is it's listed as a Series 2 2000 in Prototype Yellow.....we'll see.
Next I will endeavour to get the car itself identified.....I have scraped the paint back in several areas and this confirms what the previous owner states, it was white when he bought it in the early 90's and painted red around 95....I have annual Mot's that confirm this change. Regarding the paint, there are two layers and the layers are consistent over the entire car so if this is a hybrid it was done a long time ago when the price differential wouldn't have been worth the effort. I believe in 1993 the car cost 4.5k....
My question to you all is what features define a 67 duetto?
In my view the car is beautiful.....she starts and drives well with the usual sticky second gear. I received a spare gearbox with the car which I'm gonna get rebuilt for my series 3.
My hope is that the Alfa community will endeavour to help me prove it is a 67 car as, surely, that would be a good thing?
All in all I'm happy with the deal....The affair continues with a beautiful Italian girl with a chequered past and dubious parentage, what could possibly go wrong!