[crackie]

I have been bringing my GTV6 back to its (near) original glory over the past 2 years. It has finally passed smog/licensed and on the road legally, so I can finally say that the major parts of the rehab project are done. This car lived most of its life with 2 long-term owners, so I had a good candidate to start with, especially mechanically.

This is particularly gratifying because my very first car, also back in 1985, was a beater 79 Alfetta GT...because what I really wanted was a GTV6. Better 30 years later than never. ;-)

Below are some before and after pictures throughout the project, achieved with much advice and spare parts from this board (thanks everyone!). Some of the major items:

+New paint (and needed body work) - first new paint in the life of this car
+All trim plastic repaired and painted
+Lots of little exterior things – new badges, including GTV6|2.5, re-chrome grill piece, rear license plate filler, etc.
+New front seat covers – all leather now
+Tightened all sags in door cards
+Interior dye/paint to get everything matching (e.g. faded vinyl parts matching leather, especially)
+Various misc interior parts, too many to list
+New gearbox synchros
+Full Gordon L-Jet tune-up routine…nice way to learn a bit about L-Jet after only working with Spica.

Some before pics of paint and "2-tone" (and ripped) interior. Paint doesn't look too bad here, and it wasn't terrible, but it had worn so thin that primer was showing through on many of the body creases and couldn't buff without getting down to primer. And a touch of rust in the usual place (but that was all…not bad!).

 

[crackie]

And some during pics:

 

[crackie]

And some finish exterior pics:

 

[crackie]

And interior + engine pics:

 

[tmundy]

Nice job Scott. I must admit the engine bay picture turns me on, better not tell her indoors

Cheers, Tony
1983 GTV6

 

[GTV6Norway]

Nice car, nice work..! It's lovely to see yet another GTV6 being taken care of - and again shine for everyone to enjoy
____________
Mr. Knut RT
Norway
- '86 GTV6 3,0

 

[racingswim2006]

Great work, Scott!

 

[ghnl]

Yes! Very nice. I like the before/during/after pictures.

 

[Angelo19]

That engine bay looks sharp, nicely done.

 

[MCain]

Beautiful, what's a nice paint job in Portland going for these days?

 

[Zinhead]

Nice job on the restoration.

 

[AlfafaninNY]

Great to see this ! I LOVE the engine shot. VERY nice.

 

[alfaloco]

Scott-- that is a gorgeous 6! Hats off to ya on a terrific restoration, inside and out. And that engine bay? Wow! Love the black/red cam cover and plenum treatment.

I had to smile when I read your comments about all the interior bits and pieces... sounds like what our son Mike and I went through with his '86. We got matching dye from World Upholstery for the door panels and other tan areas, to match his new seat theme and material. He even had the headrests recovered, which was a real challenge for the fellow who did the seat recovering. And Santa showed up with new mats from Coco Mats.com, too.

We know how you feel... and it's a great feeling!

 

[crackie]

I wish I could take credit for the engine colors, but that was the PO who did that when he rebuilt the heads. I'm an "original" guy for the most part, but I think this was a nice diversion from original.

How much does a good paint job go for in Oregon? Well - I was quoted anywhere from $8-12K by a few shops…and that wasn't even bare metal if memory serves. Given that was more than I paid for the car and way more budget than I had, I didn't go that route. Instead did it with a friend who paints professionally. We both did what we could in our spare time over about 9 months to make it happen.

 

[PatPellegrini]

Looks Great!!
Inspires me to follow the same paint scheme for my engine compartment.

 

[NickyDeeNM]

In my best Cartman voice, "SWEEEET!"

Nick

 

[Alfaonly]

Your car looks familiar

Scott, wasn't your car on craigslist here infrequently for a few years? I remember the engine paint and even talked to the owner a few times but never went to see it. Looks like you turned it into a nice car. David

 

[Vivace]

Nice!

It's so great that the original Alfetta taillight holes are still in the body. Would you consider setting it up with the red / amber Alfetta lenses?

 

[crackie]

David - Yep - that's the one. It was up in Vancouver. I had been out of Alfas for about 20 years, but always wanted that exact car. It was mechanically sorted leaving me to just do the window dressing to make it nice. So it was an easy project to suck me back in. ;-)

Mike - I've seen folks here on the bb do just that. I think "racingswim" (Rob) has a thread about it somewhere if memory serves.

 

[Alfaonly]

June AROO Tour

Vancouver! that's right. He didn't want me to come look at it until he took the steering wheel off and fixed the turn signal contacts or something. I think I bought a 944 about that time and forgot about it.

So I volunteered to plan an AROO evening tour and dinner next month, would you like to get some seat time in your car? If so, I'll keep you posted.

I got my first Alfa in '85 too but it was a '74 Spider.