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GTA 752545

3K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  vsharp 
#1 ·
Fresh from restoration, RHD GTA 752545 made its first public appearance at Motorclassica Concours in Melbourne, winning its class. Congratulations to all those involved.
PS, the little Giulietta Ti came second to a '65 Bentley Continental Flying Spur.
 

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#2 ·
I was in Melbourne at Motor Classica yesterday and looked over this car and it looked very nicely done. I noticed it has reproduction wheels and was also told this was the car once owned by Mario Marrasco. When I lived there in the '70s I used to buy used parts from Mario and saw his car a lot. It's hard to believe this could be the same car because he cut the front off and made it in fibre-glass and also cut the rear guards and added the Autodelta big flares. He also moved the 16v Autodelta engine back into the cabin and changed the front suspension too.
I remember an Alfa club racer called Bob bought the GTA gearbox and Lsd diff and 45 Webers for his own 1600 race car. Another guy bought the Campagnolo GTA wheels and aluminium rear arm for a Bathurst car (a white 2000GTV?) Mario also showed a GTA engine with a big hole in it and the sump from a conrod braking.
I also read somewhere in another forum that he crashed it and his GTA was a write off?
 
#5 · (Edited)
Thanks Alister!
PS, I shouldn't say anything more about the Giulietta in this GTA thread...it sidetracks the topic! I know I shouldn't have shown the Ti in the picture really, but 2 cars I worked on with awards at this event was just too tempting! Sorry! Actually I'm sure the Ti had more interest shown by the general public than in the GTA....it's just too cute! I must remember to NEVER bring the wife's Ti out in company with my own GTA!
Cheers,
Vin, Vince , whatever....
 
#4 ·
Hi Carcare,
You are correct with some of your thoughts but not all. This car absolutely was the MW Motors/Mario Marasco car. It was never scrapped after Marasco crashed it at the Hume Weir track, but modified, widened & "updated" to '70s type sports sedan spec (like say, IMSA). I was called in right at the beginning to I.D. what the car was or wasn't (for the current owner) & it was confidently identifiable as a genuine GTA by the underlying GTA chassis points, mostly in the rear half which was largely untouched (excepting the widened rear fenders). The rear ID stamping was untouched. Certainly the front had been modified as you suggested, but has now been reinstated as it should be. The 16v engine Marasco had in it was an Angelini not A/delta.
I would suggest that it was most likely ex-AROCA president Bob Gardner who might have bought the c/ratio, rear axle etc from Marasco, as Bob's 1600GTV was a fantastically fast car. (Bob was tragically killed in a racing accident in the early '80s). Both Beninca & Avanti Motors ran white 2000GTVs, so possibly one of those got the GTA wheels etc. I must investigate that.
You are possibly correct about the holed GTA block & sump as this I've heard before from the MW Motors driver/mechanic Syd Fisher.
There was a GTA numbered (replacement?) block with a head sitting on, found with the car, & these have been used as the basis of the present engine, which I built with all brand new billet everything internally. Correct 45dcoe14s sourced from Ulrich of this forum. Yes the sump is a repro OKP item. The gearbox & rear axle likewise have new & correct ratios etc. Dunlop brakes have been reinstated all round, & yes the wheels are new repros in raw finish. Even a correct brass/copper radiator with IPRA marking was hand-made using my own car's as sample. Overall the car is very close the correct 1965 RHD GTA specs in most areas, there being a few minor things to follow up yet. A credit to all those involved for bringing this one back to life.
Regards,
Vince.
 
#6 ·
There must have been a lot of work done to restore this car considering what I remember of it. it looked nothing like it does now. It looks pretty good actually. How original would it be considered in the world of GTAs?
You are right about Bob Gardener he was the bloke I remember buy some parts off Mario. Yes I think he was president of the club or something around that time.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Hi Carcare,
Well yes, there was a considerable amount of repairs & replacement needed to finish up at this point. I'm sure that one of the reasons people thought the car was written off was that Marasco made such huge changes to it rather than repair it to standard & it was not easily recognizable as the same car. Different color, wide body, set back engine, different suspension, different wheels....you get the picture.
The front end had to be reinstated with an early crossmember, rails etc, & guards/nose with alloy replacements. Mechanically it is up to proper GTA specifications, including original GTA uprights etc. All this was quite difficult because virtually everything GTA is different to the other models.
While I have a list compiled of things still to be done or sourced, the car is quite accurate to original GTA in its present form. This is 5th original RHD GTA that I have worked with (plus 2 1300 GTA) over the years, & I feel we have a good understanding of these cars now. This was recently reinforced by another RHD GTA that a friend has acquired. It has sat in original, unmolested condition since the 1970s, complete with everything down to the floor coverings & complete GTA tool pouch! I've NEVER seen one of those before!
On the scale of GTAs, I would think that 545 has been restored to much more accurate original presentation than most, given the large number that have been stripped for racing, but not returned to factory specification. At least it is documented as a RHD GTA & has the provenance trail with records to show this. Only 2 previous owners & no complication certainly helps.
 
#9 ·
Hi Ulrich,
Sorry for slow reply, I've been away for a few days.
I don't think there would be a problem there, the body people are very experienced with 105 Alfas & the replacement parts came from the usual Italian makers via Germany. I can say that for sure they are 'pumped' little wider in the rear arches to clear the big Dunlop CR65 historic race tyres.
This was done back when the owner had plans to make it a historic race car.
 
#10 ·
Hallo Vince ,

nice to hear from you. Long time ago from our Weber 45 deal.....if you need some old original Webers , i got a few sets.....

to the wheelarches , i does the same with may early GTA , pumped a little bit for clearence to the Dunlops , they are really very big . If not , you cannot make the correct setup and high in the rear , correct?

My son does his first racewin with our 1300 GTA streetlegal .....

Perhaps , i want to sell the car, if you have a customer .....please advertise

Uli
 
#12 · (Edited)
..
to the wheelarches , i does the same with may early GTA , pumped a little bit for clearence to the Dunlops , they are really very big . If not , you cannot make the correct setup and high in the rear , correct?
..
Uli
Here is what was listed for the GT Veloce 1600 which had 15x4.5, 15x5.5" or 15x6" for group 2 FIA 5126 see diagram, it shows offset is different for the different widths. The GT Veloce were running 15" so there must be some merit in that their wheels were taller than the 14x6" GTA wheels so may have solved the issue of 'correct set up' something that may have been overlooked with the factory issued wheels made for the 1965/66 GTA's in 14x6" and 14x6.5" . I'm not sure about the various reproduction wheels if they had sorted this out, so you didn't have to modify the body, (possibly not).
Regards Steve
 

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#11 ·
Hi Uli,
Yes the Dunlop vintage racing are very big & a problem for the early version 105. I believe this is the very reason the first small version rear fender flares were homologated in '67 I think. At the moment 545 is fitted with smaller tyres.
I'll send you a PM about 1300 etc.
Regards,
Vince.
 
#13 ·
Hi Steve,
As the diagram shows they had it sorted for the sizes shown with GTV. 1600 GTA is made physically a bit different in the wheel house anyway to improve things, however the problem only became an issue using 14x7/.5" wheels fitted with the Dunlop racing tyre of 220mm side-wall width. Apparently it was the faster option & the arches needed a bit of "massaging" to give clearance for cornering. All the original GTA wheels have specific offsets for the different GTA uprights & brakes. Not so all the reproductions wheels.
regards,
Vince.
 
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