[Alfateen]

I'm looking for an honest Alfa shop in the Burbank area to inspect a 1991 Alfa Spider Automatic that I am considering purchasing. Alfa Only is the closest shop but I am not from the area so I don't know who I'm dealing with. If I purchase the car I might fly out and drive it back some 700 miles. I need a good, honest shop that can do a thorough inspection of the car and possibly take care of any issues for me if I go through with the purchase. Owner is willing to take car to shop of my choosing. Any advice or recommendations welcome.

Thanks

 

[AR4me]

I would try Santo's in Northridge: http://www.santoservice.com/ - pretty close to Burbank.
Jes

 

[Alfateen]

Thanks Jes. I called Santos and Alfa Only and both had no problem looking at the car for me and helping me out. I was more impressed by my conversation with Santos than Bill at Alfa Only. Santos was very personal and easy to talk with while Bill was more reserved and less talkative. Using Mapquest, I plugged in the address of the cars owner and then the address of the two businesses. It looked like Alfa Only was only a few miles away where Santos was a 25 minute drive. Its hard to tell sometimes due to the way mapquest will route you around when there may be a shorter route. I'll see if the cars owner would mind taking the car to Santos to get checked out and serviced for me. Again Thanks for your recommendation.

 

[dretceterini]

Bill is a bit of a curmudgeon, and has been around Alfas for so long, he isn't big on dealing with "newbies". Good mechanic though...

 

[Alfateen]

Owner of car plans to call Bill, at Alfas Only, on Monday morning to make an appointment. I'll call him Monday as well and give him as much information as I can. I'll make arrangements to pay him for his time and opinion. If Bill thinks the car is in good condition and can make the 700 mile trip back to my place then I'll talk with him about getting the car ready for the trip for me. I know the car is missing the A/C compressor and has a few other minor issues that I'm sure Bill can deal with for me. I think the car might need a new fuel pump, a new fuel pressure regulator. I guess Bill can check the brakes, filters, hoses, belts, U-joints, Timing, valve adjustment and so on to make sure the car is ready for a long trip. Can anyone think of something I should ask Bill to check that he might not otherwise think about?

TIA