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1750 Series 2 Door Arm Rests

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6.2K views 18 replies 6 participants last post by  Shire_GTV  
#1 ·
Hi guys,

I know its probably been covered somewhere here in the past but I can't seem to find anything relevent using the search function.

In the Series 2 1750 I've just acquired the arm rests are mismatched and both need replacing anyway. What I need to workout is what is apropriate for a Series 2 1750. Alfaholics list "early GT" type door arm rests and 2000GTV arm rests. Are the "early GT" arm appropriate for a Series 2 1750 or they something different again?

Photos would be useful too for future reference if someone searches again.
 
#2 ·
The Series 2 1750 armrest is a thin one piece molded affair in black while the Series 1 and earlier GTs have a wider two piece armrest with silver accent. The top of the two piece matches the door panel color. Some US Series 1 1750 GTVs were apparently fitted with later one piece armrests from the factory however.

The armrest at the top is the two piece, early armrest. Your S2 should have the one piece pictured at the bottom.
 

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#3 ·
In the Series 2 1750 I've just acquired the arm rests are mismatched and both need replacing anyway. What I need to workout is what is apropriate for a Series 2 1750. Alfaholics list "early GT" type door arm rests and 2000GTV arm rests. Are the "early GT" arm appropriate for a Series 2 1750 or they something different again?
My car suffers from a similar problem in that the original panels were lost. Hopefully, there are others more knowledgable about this, but I _think_ the series 2 cars were equipped with both early and late style door panels and arm rests. At least, I've seen numerous photos of series 2 1750 GTV's with both styles. While it may be that the cars with early style panels/arm rests simply had them installed from earlier cars, Max usually does his homework on these cars so the Alfaholics recommendation is probably right. One thing you can look for is whether or not the top part of your panels are embossed. If they are then you probably had the larger, late style arm rests.
 
#18 · (Edited)
For anyone looking for replacement arm rests, I have an old 2000 Re-Originals catalog listing at least 2 types, *0116x early or *0117 later with added prefix's by model/yr and they were $95 each back then, said to be new OEM. Give Matt a call I guess. I think my spare late US urethane set might be spoken for.
 
#4 ·
I was not going to enter into the area of door cards in this post but it does raise the question of whether a particular arm rest style should be paired with a particular door card style?

Given the pics that papajam has supplied, I can assume that no one is remaking the S2 type arm rest. I can understand as it looks quite ugly compared to the earlier ones. Maybe I'll have to use the earlier style cards and arm rests?

Italiansedanman: Are you about? Could you post a pic of your door card and arm rest. I know your cards look different again if I recall correct due to your interior being an original leather interior from the factory.

Cheers
 
#7 ·
Adam,

The picture in your post #6 is just the bottom part of the "early" armrest. I put the quotation symbol for the word early because when it comes to the non-US 1750GTVs, both S1 and S2 were equipped with the "early" 2-piece type sold by many Alfa vendors. The soft, one-piece type (the bottom one in the picture provided by Jim; made of urethane maybe?) is just for the US model S2.

Hope this helps,
 
#8 ·
Questioning myself here.

On second thoughts it looks to be the lower half only of the two piece early GT arm rest
 
#9 ·
Thanks Tiger,

That is precisely the answer I was looking for.

"The early two piece style is correct for RHD euro spec S2 1750 GTV's"

Now, about those door cards....

Cheers
 
#11 ·
Once again, the alfabb comes through with good information! I'm much relieved: I saved the door panels and arm rests from my long ago 1600GTV. Now I know they're also period correct for my 2nd series European car. Thanks, guys!
 
#12 · (Edited)
Ummm ... I beg to differ with you, Jim, but if you have early 1600 GT armrests then they look nothing like any of the versions pictured above - and I've never seen that style fitted to a 1750 of any year. The ones I am referring to are a hollow one-piece vac-formed vinyl 'shell' filled with a dense foam (that has probably crumbled to dust by now :rolleyes:) and they do not have any chrome embellishments etc. See the photo I've attached, this is the really early style that I'm talking about. The Sprint GTV might have come with the early 1750 style armrest but don't quote me on that. Many Sprint GT's now have this slightly later armrest as the originals are almost impossible to restore correctly if/when the stuffing deteriorates. Ask me how I know!!

Alex. :)
 

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#13 · (Edited)
Alex,

Jim said that the door cards and the armrests are from the 1600GTV (Giulia Sprint GT Veloce; 105.36 for LHD), not the early GT (Giulia Sprint GT; 105.02 for LHD). Alfa used the two-piece type armrests starting with the 1600GTV and went all the way to the S2 1750 (non-US), in addition to the S1, 2, and 3 GT Juniors. The armrests found on the early GT are unique to the GT and the GTC and you are right that they have been replaced with wrong ones (including some non-alfa ones) after the filling has deteriorated (my mother's '64 GT has the correct armrests, but the are hollow and do not serve as armrests anymore:eek:.

Jim (180OUT),

As for the interior door panels, I think that Alfa stopped using the early type (ones found on all step nosed cars except for the GTAs) at the end of the S1 1750 production and started using thin ones that are similar to the ones found on the 2000GTVs (but with different pattern) for the S2.

Edit: Here's a picture showing driver's side interior door panel (and the US style armrests) for the US model S2 1750GTV (source: Centerline Photo Galleries).
 

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#14 · (Edited)
The Sprint GTV might have come with the early 1750 style armrest but don't quote me on that. Many Sprint GT's now have this slightly later armrest as the originals are almost impossible to restore correctly if/when the stuffing deteriorates. Ask me how I know!!

Alex. :)
[/QUOTE]

Alex, my arm rests are like the top examples in Pappajam's photo, i.e., plastic bottom, chrome band, padded top. They are/were quite different from the Sprint GT/GTC interiors that I've seen. My car was a late production 1600GTV which I imported in '68 so it is entirely possible that it was fitted with arm rests used in later cars. Or, as was sometimes the case with Alfa, the later Euro GTV's (and Jr.'s) were fitted with hardware left over from earlier production runs. I understand your plight w/ the GT arm rests: they were funky when they were new. One guy got so disgusted trying to deal with them that he made replacements out of hardwood! :)

I think it also fairly common, given the age of these cars, that the "bitsa" pathology has affected many cars. By the time I got it from it's second owner, my car had taxi-cab quality seat covers and equally crude door panels: when it was painted years ago, the shop threw away the original door hardware!

Tiger, I've suspected the same thing re: the embossed door panels. On the other hand I've seen lots of cars (Euro 1750 GTV 2nd series) running around with the old style door panels. These panels could have been replaced w/ earlier panels, of course, or they could have possibly been assembled that way at the factory. The parts manuals were pretty good at recording mid production changes (at least large ones) so they may be of some help here. I'm thinking there may have been a mid 2nd series change recorded. My manuals are all packed away so that's just something I can only speculate about. Besides, idle speculation is lots easier than having to do the grunt work to find out 'fer sure. :)
 
#15 ·
Jim,

Yes, it is very possible that Alfa changed the interior door panel sometime during the S2 production run. Just FYI, my mother's S2 1750GTV (manufactured Nov. 1970 so it's a very early S2) has the thin, embossed type and I know that the interior on this car is original and never been reupholstered.

Tiger, I've suspected the same thing re: the embossed door panels. On the other hand I've seen lots of cars (Euro 1750 GTV 2nd series) running around with the old style door panels. These panels could have been replaced w/ earlier panels, of course, or they could have possibly been assembled that way at the factory. The parts manuals were pretty good at recording mid production changes (at least large ones) so they may be of some help here. I'm thinking there may have been a mid 2nd series change recorded. My manuals are all packed away so that's just something I can only speculate about. Besides, idle speculation is lots easier than having to do the grunt work to find out 'fer sure. :)
 
#16 ·
I'm gonna have to go and look what cards are actually in my car now.

I'm pretty sure, from memory, that they are like the early GT cards although they only have the lower crome strip, not the upper one and they don't have the vertical ribbing shown by tiger in post #13. The cards with the vertical ribbing is what I recall being in Italiansedanman's S1 1750 GTV, although with leather and the vertical patterns actually stitched rather than embosed.

I'll be back with photos tomorrow.

Cheers
 
#19 ·
I checked my car today. It seems my door cards ARE the ones with the vertical stripes on them. It's just that they are so patched with mold that I failed to notice the stripes underneath.

New door card and handles to be ordered soon.