105 Fan

[Balfa]

Hi All,

Thought it would be nice to introduce myself.

I'm a long time 105 owner, having owned two 2000 GT Veloce's in my time. I'm still learning a lot about my car and 105's in general.

I am currently in the process of restoring my current 105 on weekends in Sydney while working Canberra and originally being from WA. My 105 was manufactured on the 23rd May 1973 and was shipped to Australia on the 28th May that same year.

I've mainly joined the forum to learn from others who have gone through the restoration process before me. I've also been meaning to attend the Canberra AROCA chapter - which I will hope to do for the April meeting.

Just quickly about my restoration job so far:
- I'm still currently working on the rust repairs with myself doing the manual labour and a relative doing the skilled work.
- While I don't have the skills and funds to do as an immaculate restoration job as some that I've seen on this forum, I'm fairly proud of the work we've done thus far.
- I've aimed to mod the car to suit my tastes and requirements i.e. a daily driver.
- Most parts I've sourced from the usual places i.e. alfaholics, highwood, wolf steel, etc.
- Through the restoration work I've picked up a few extra parts along the way that I would love to swap/sell to obtain the parts that I don't have. This I will hopefully do as I become better known on the forums and AROCA.

I've attached a picture of my car the day that I started to strip her down.

[Brad M]

Welcome, and i'll be following your progress with interest.

[MD]

Welcome Balfa.

As a former owner of several 105's I can appreciate your enthusiasm. Often it is just that which gets you through any prolonged project.

For what its worth here are my perspectives about restorations:-

1 Never lose sight of the end game unless you plan to get buried with you car.
2 The half baked approach winds up costing the most with the least returns
3 The full on detailed approach costs the most but maximises returns come sale time.
4 The partial restoration with most emphasis on performance enancements returns best enjoyment out of the car for what it was made for. Paint scratches, minor dints and floppy glove box lids are all irrelevant. It's how it goes that matters.

And finally, the hybrid car that is only really appreciated by people who are discenrning enough to know and have mechanical aptitude to realise the true value of the changes that have been made. The sort of changes I am talking about are improvements on every aspect of the original car with much less compromise than the bean counters from the factory embarked upon to ensure a price tag slot in the big world of car sales.

The resale price of such a car is not a forgone conclusion and is commensurate with the level of appreciation

Chose wisely.

[Balfa]

Brad - Thanks for the welcome Brad. While my restoration job isn't in the same class as some work I've seen on this forum and alfabb, I'm considering posting up the odd progress picture or two. I will see how I go.

MD - You make some really good points, some of which has crossed my mind since beginning my restoration journey.

To answer some of the questions and to share my mind set:

• I'm never going to sell the car unless I have to.
• I've been infatuated with the 2000 105's since I first had a ride in a friends
• Even if I did want to sell it, I'd never get the money I've spent on it
• This makes my restoration job a very personal thing with only my requirements in mind
• This will no doubt raise the obvious comments like "why didn't you polish every bit of chrome/nut/screw while you were at it" - to which my response would be "Its a work in progress and I'm focusing on the stuff that matters for now so I can get it on the road and enjoy it" 

Speaking of which I'm keen to begin this weeks work on the car which will be the door sills. I will also need to strip the paint/bog from my old steel doors to see what the rust is like and get some forum advice when I have some photos of them.

Cheers,
Ben.

[AikenDrum105]

Welcome Ben !  You've come to the right place !    I'm sure you know of it already, but the excellent alfabb.com is a great, slightly US-centric, resource as well.

MD,  you missed:

6)  just drive it around held together with patina for a couple of years, fixing with blue-tac now and again and then sell it on for roughly what you paid - downpayment on the the next itch you'd like to scratch....

Or is that just me ?   

When I had the 6 shades of red Duetto as my daily for a few years,  I was asked in the carpark at work, "so do you plan to fix that up, or is that just how you roll ?"     It still bakes my noodle whether that was a compliment or not....

Cheers,

[Craig_m67]

Turned out to be three colours red.. with primer and fill makes nine... (Number nine, number nine, number nine)


Obviously there was bog blown all over the place.
.. her name was always Juliette

[Balfa]

Thanks Aiken, Craig et al.

When I get the time I will start a thread in the 105/115 series section with a few progress pictures and questions.

I need to set the expectations low though because I know I could be doing some of the work smarter/better but that is the purpose of me being on this forum - so I can learn some stuff.

Cheers,

Ben.