Blast from the past

[colcol]

I heard that the early Skoda's were a Renault 10 built under licence in Czechoslakia, some have confirmed this, some have denied it, truth is some where in between.
Did Peter Manton of Mantons Motors race a Mini in the 60's?
The Dealers and Service Providers that have been around for a long time would be the place to take your Alfa, the Johnny come lately's haven't got the experience, my 2 cents worth anyway, Colin.

[aggie57]

Funny - the 2000 Spider/GTV brochure I have has a Henly's business card stapled to it.  And the prices are written inside for each car.  $7k something for each if my memory is right.

In the eighties we got fantastic support from Frank Porter at Alfa City in Peel St, North Melbourne.  Henly's really didnt want to know us, and Talbot's helped occasionally but it was Frank that helped most.  Apart from Frank's obvious passion for the marque and his racing exploits, he understood the mutual benefits to be had by engaging with the club and getting to know it's members.  He proved the mantra that Alfa club members don't buy new cars to be total guff, something that more recently Damon Earwaker at Dixons also understands. 

People who passed through Alfa City and were very active in the club included the likes of Warrick Jolly (still active in the trade at Mercedes Melbourne on Kings Way and I think still a club member) and Darryl Blackmore, and of course Frank's son Derrim. 

We had a famous technical night at Alfa City once, where Frank opened up the workshop and we put a few club members cars up on the hoist.  It was in the days when the current club competition rules had come into use and several members were testing the limits of what was "standard spec".  One maroon Giulia Ti belonging to a certain Mr Blackmore was duly selected and we all crowded around underneath.  When we got to one part of the car, I think it may have been around the bellhousing area, there was an exclamation from the group, a hasty denial from the owner and general laughter and finger waving.  Lots of fun!

Darryl also sold me my first GTV6, around 1990/91.  It was a 1985 model, one owner with 100k on the clock but very straight.  The previous owner had neglected its service, a head gasket was suspect, and the dual plate clutch was worn.  $12k as is, off to have a 75 single plate clutch fitted and a leaky tensioner seen to, then 5 years of great service including many club events until getting a 3-litre transplant in 1996.  Sadly destroyed at Eastern Creek later that year but a good deal from a great supportive dealer.

[pep105]

Colin great thread.

I used to like knowing where my Alfa's were first sold, Henly's, Alfa City & Straightway, only one I don't have any history of is my GT Junior.

Autosprint- A good friend of mine Jamie used to own and run Autosprint with his dad and uncle.
Jamie (or Chuffa) was the bloke that greeted you at the front desk, a great people person and a really nice guy.
He studied industrial design and worked for a few years but later went and joined the old man (Marino) in the business.
They ran a small showroom and I was always curious on what they had on offer, would usually would stop on the way home from a
hard Saturday night on the turps from Brunswick/Johnston St as they always left the lights on. Now and again id stop in for a coffee and there was always a story.

They once had a beautiful Pino Verde Duetto which sold for about 22 grand back in the late 90's.

There were 2 mechanics Rob and a big bald import (Italian) bloke called Gianni. They used to deal in Maserati and Ferrari spares as well. Once Jamie and his dad and uncle wanted to sell the business Rob & Gianni bought it and carried it on for some time. I think it's an Apple store or computer shop now. Sad to see no alfa's in the showroom

Veloce Spares - Anyone remember Veloce spares ? First went there in 1991/92 was run by a big Jamaican dude Andre.
They were located in Essendon Airport which was handy for us North Westeners (why should the pompass arses have all the benefits ? ). Andre had no power so he didn't operate a hoist or have the luxury of lighting, it was a wrecker initially and later conducted some mechanical repairs. I remember going there once to source some shims for the Fiat, I had all the sizes listed (head had come off again ! ) and Andre gives me a big bucket of brand new secondhand  Fiat shims . With the aid of a micrometer and the pressure of the sun going down (remember no lights approaching 5pm) I was able to get the shims I needed and i think he charged me a couple of bucks and that was it. Vince Sartor bought Veloce Spares off Andre in 1995 and cleaned the place up, installing a hoist and lighting etc. He was there till about 98 then he moved to Airport West and closed up in late 99. 

Another great thing about Veloce Spares was the location. When Vince serviced your car there was a bit of a (unofficial) test track out the back of the airport where you could test drive your car post service, once talking to Vinnie out the front a bloke in a GTV enters the street sideways, pulls up, gets out of his car and says Yeah car goes great Vinnie - Thanks......

[colcol]

I know Vince Sartor, he is a nice bloke, i used to go out to Essedon Airport at Veloce Motors for bits and pieces, i don't know how i found out about the place, .......note to Service, Spares and Wreckers, advertise in the magazine or we won't know you.
Vince also worked at Milano Motors in Thomastown a while, now i heard that he has a place somewhere in Thomastown?, no advertisments, don't know.
Does anyone remembe a Wrecker in Thomastown or Lalor or Epping called Florio Motors?, i used to go there when i first got my 33, purchased a front sway bar of a Alfasud to put on the 33, it wasn't as good, seemed Alfa romeo knew more than me after all, Colin.

[colcol]

My 33 was sold originally by Alfa City in Peel St. in February 1985, it was built in October 1984, then it was sold to me by Talbot Motors in April 1986, in a strange irony the book of which i gleaned all this information, is mimicking the old school Alfa Romeo's, the staples are all rusting, they may have been in the same batch of steel purchased from the Russians, one of the the conspiritors involved in the Fiat Technoligy to Russia and Russian steel to Italian Car Makers, Mr Mario Andreotti, [not the racing car driver], but the deputy Prime Minister in Italy, for all those years, passed away the other day in Italy, Colin.

[Anthony Miller]

Vince can be found in Temple Drive Thomastown

[aggie57]

Yesterday afternoon I saw a lovely silver 2000 GTV in Burke Rd, Camberwell and it had an original Talbots of Collingwood sticker in the back window.  Very Nice.

[Malcolm]

Hi All, being a newbie to this forum caper have been trying to send a message about some great news here in good 'ole Sth Aust, Guess in some cases this is also a blast from the past, you see Sth Australia had three recipients of the OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) in the Queens Birthday Honours, Peter and Margaret Hall, Peter is the long standing and current President of the MSCA SA and Clem Smith, current owner of Mallala Motorsport Park and has for many years, Clem at 86 has been dedicated to Motorsport for the past 60 years.
To all three we offer our congratulations and may they continue to enjoy what they do so we can enjoy what we do, go racing or circuit sprinting.

[ItalCarGuy]

One of the mechs musta been a little guy as I had to get them altered a fair bit to get more length out of them and I'm pretty average height.

Derek your airbag ( stomach) hasn't gone off  has it

Ha! You nailed it!

[colcol]

Max Kirwin...Alfa Romeo, circa about 1984 on one of my other Dealers of the World books, was on the corner of Plenty road and Greensborough road in Bundoora or Greensborough, only there for a short time, used to go and look and admire Alfa Romeo's on the weekend, amazed at Alfasud bonnet fit even from new, the bonnet gap to mudgaurd at the front was about 6mm, at the back near the windscreen it was 8mm, always used to think one or two used ones had been pranged, then there were about 6 new ones in a row and the gaps were all consistant, they must have all meant to be out like that, Colin.

[GTV-074]

Just thought I'd add these..... just scanned the relevant pages from a 2/65 dealer booklet, then a 4/72 and finally 2/79. Scanned them for the VIC dealers but if interested let me know and I can throw up the other states.

Anyone got a circa 68, 69, 70,71 version?

Cheers.

[ItalCarGuy]

Here is the list from 1967

[Craig C]

Also, Straightaway Alfa in Cheltenham were known by another name before that..I remember going there to buy some used bits for my Super....
Anyone remember the name?

Maybe another Alfa Dealership in Cheltenham?, But Straightway have been operating there since at least 1932 when they helped out the local constable chase some baddies after his bike got a flat tyre.

"Constable Christopher Coe, without his bicycle because of a punctured tyre, sought help at Straightway Motors, near the police station on Point Nepean Road. There he enlisted the aid of Claude Dunn, a racehorse transport agent of Collins Street, Mentone. Dunn drove him to Highett station. Stationmaster Hunt and Snelling briefed him on the situation. Coe then approached the two men who were sitting on the platform waiting for a Melbourne train, told them he was a constable of police and that he had a gun in his pocket, and he then asked them to accompany him quietly to the station office. This they did."

[GTV-074]

Derek... thanks for that.... I love that list .."Hollywood Motors - Footschay"! (should be 'Footscray' for our interstate friends!).

Craig, yes you are probably right .... it might have been a place very close... Perhaps Delta Cars ?

Cheers.

[pep105]

I remember Delta cars in Cheltenham or Huntingdale?

There was also Salerno motors nearby both of which dealt in Italian cars.
Salerno closed in 99 and Delta not long after that.

A mate of mine bought his first Fiat a 124 BC from Salerno way back in 92.

Nearly bought a really mint Alfa 75 2.5 from Salerno and after I initially test drove it
was going to go back to do the deal, but noticed it had been sold onto Delta and they wanted
a grand more.

As a result the negotiations stalled as I refused to pay the extra grand and they offered peanuts for the GTV as a trade in.
It was a really nice example, a bit disturbing as
I still remember the rego CYF-575, and was advertised in unique cars. Probably no great loss as I ended up with a Twinspark but the V6 sound was awesome.

I really liked the Straightway sticker on my old 75 and love seeing old Alfas with original
Dealer decals, very cool albeit rare.

Was Delta originally something else ?

Does anyone remember Alfamotive ?