GTV6-Restomod

[gtvsix86]

After reading the latest AutoItalia magazine write up I thought I should share my journey
I wont lie I have felt nervous spending so much money on my car however it was never intended to go this far but circumstances changed throughout the journey but reading the opening paragraph from the article which I have posted a snippet of helps calm my nerves a little that more people are doing the same.

Nobody really knows how it happens, but there comes a time in the life of certain car models when they're 'discovered' – when they transform from being 'regular' classics to something much more special. One day, a light switches on in people's heads and they say, "Actually, this is a great car, not just a good one." If you could bottle this formula and predict when it will happen, you'd be a millionaire many times over. It's a journey of 'appreciation' in both senses of the word: enthusiasts appreciate the car more, and the car's value also appreciates. One of the factors in this equation is someone, somewhere deciding that it's worth spending a lot of cash on a car to make it just how they want. This scenario happened long ago with the Tipo 105 Alfa Giulia GT: people started not just restoring them to original spec, but improving and updating them – a movement called 'restomodding'. Many restomods are true works of art – witness Alfaholics' spectacular Giulia GTA-R, for instance, where pretty much every aspect of the original is reworked. There seems no lack of eager customers prepared to spend significant sums to achieve their dream spec, looks and driving character. What happened with the Giulia GT is undoubtedly the template for the two cars we see on these pages: the Giulia GT's successor, the Tipo 116 Alfetta GTV. Of course, the Alfetta-based coupe achieved 'everyday classic' status some time ago, and if you want a nice example today you'll be paying a pretty penny. But how well does the more radical restomod approach work with the Alfetta?

I strongly recommend buying AutoItalia it is always good read

I will post my journey slowly over the coming weeks. 

[gtvsix86]

I think I was destined to always fall in love with Italian cars with my Dad being a car nut and I grew up around Lancia's and Fiats. I remember being a young teenager and seeing a GTV6 for the first time and was hooked and had to have one. Every time I saw one on the road I would point it out to my Dad and when the time came for my first car I was so fortunate that he helped me buy first car.

[gtvsix86]

In the late nineties in High School I found out by surprise one of my good mates Justin also had GTV6 and together I have fond memories of Information Technology class and not doing any work but viewing
AlfaGTV6.com ~ Home of the Alfa Romeo Transaxlewww.alfagtv6.com and searching the Gallery section taking side profile pictures of our cars and then using Photoshop to superimpose aftermarket rims on the cars and cut the pages to lower the cars.  .. Then printing out the pictures and sticking them on our folders

[gtvsix86]

After a few years of ownership I come to the conclusion I needed to sell the car to help buy some land with my wife to be. The car was immaculate and GP edition around 90 odd thousand kms, with no rust the only fault was the red paint was showing its age and needed a polish. I sold it to a South African spray painter as he drove away I did shed a tear  . My dream car was gone and now I bought a Ford Falcon. He did come back a few months later to rub salt into my wounds after he had it detailed as he lost my Vic Roads paperwork and still need to transfer it into his name. Here are some pictures my Dad took so I could remember. He changed the rims maybe not to everyone's liking. 

[LALFA]

Looking forward to the read. To be honest I'm still guilty of checking the web when I should be working.

[gtvsix86]

Fast forward a decade of no Alfa and the itch was back. Late 2011 I saw two GTV6 GP's for sale one in Melbourne and one in Sydney. I put on my charm as was able to twist my Wives arm into the possibility of allowing me get a classic car. It was a Saturday morning and took the wife and of course my old man to check out the car in Melbourne. We arrived and he wasn't home he was still on his way back from work so we stood in the driveway and waited. After a few minutes I locked eyes with the red beauty and spotted the car coming around the corner. I smiled from the inside out and knew I had to have it. Went for a test drive and it sealed the deal for me and my wife and old man knew my love affair for the GTV6 was back. I got the feeling the seller was sitting on the fence and wasn't sure if he really wanted to sell the car so I told him the story of how much I regretted selling my car and if I had my time back would have found a way to keep it. Told him I didn't want the same thing to happen to him and to think about no rush as these cars are hard to come by.

Went home without putting a deposit and later that afternoon got a phone call back from the seller saying he sold the car to someone else who came later in the day and offered more than the asking price. WoW Wee and empty feeling came over me I hope the seller doesn't miss the car like I did but I realised that when buying something you want bad nice guys will not always win you may need to be ruthless.     

[gtvsix86]

Looking forward to the read. To be honest I'm still guilty of checking the web when I should be working.

Me too buddy

[gtvsix86]

So after missing out my old man tried to convince me to call the guy from Sydney but it just seemed to difficult to buy a car from Interstate. Nevertheless my Dad was like my best mate and he wanted me to get it so he rang the seller and made the deal happen. It just so happened we had a truck going to Sydney at my work so everything was falling into place to get the car back to Melbourne for me. I was super excited and couldn't wait for the car to arrive.

The car arrived at work and now the story gets tough on my wallet. I do stress and don't want to upset anyone on this forum and that I don't blame the seller who by the way is really nice guy but the car was not what I thought it was going to be it is my fault for not getting it independently checked I take responsibility with the car being so rare I took the punt and was ruthless and just made it happen. The car had recently had its yearly registration renewed in NSW so I that gave me confidence as I believe NSW do a roadworthy every year. I also spoke with a reputable Alfa Mechanic who serviced the car for the client about the condition of the vehicle and everything checked out that this was a great car.     

[GeeTV]

Subscribed 

[martym00se72]

Following with interest!

[gtvsix86]

Thanks GeeTV and Martym00se72

I hope people are enjoying the Provenance of Alfa for me and my journey into the Restomod

I would also encourage anyone else to tell us their story as well and don't be shy as I have made some mistakes along the way and hopefully it can help us all in the future

I will say I have met some wonderful people along the way and some incredibly talented workmanship and we are very lucky to have here in Australia

[gtvsix86]

Driving the car the home the steering was vague and all over the place along with a vibration also the drone of the exhaust was really off putting. What stood out to me straight away was that it had one of those cannon mufflers you find on Japanese import cars which explained the drone and spoiled the sweet Busso note. It also had 3 different tread tyres on the car which I hoped explained the handling. Cosmetically there was three cracked headlights, two drill holes in the hatch which were  filled in by rubber grommets (must have a had an aftermarket spoiler fitted), some service rust under the rear passenger window, some bubbling on the roof near the drivers side door, all window seals shrunken, window trimmings painted black with one barely glued on and also the gtv6 bonnet tea tray painted black which was cracking. On the plus side the car looked like it had recently been painted and the red was shining and it had the sexiest wheels on it 17 inch Milano's  . The other silver lining was that the car had nearly 12months rego on it so it gave me the opportunity to save up for a Road Worthy.     

[gtvsix86]

I had been out of the Alfa game for while and nearly 12months had passed and I saved up what I could and it was time to task someone with the Road Worthy. I wasn't sure where to go and my uncle had some dealings with Lou from Alfa Corse and he was only a 10 minute drive from my house so I thought they would be a good place to start.
As I said in one of my earlier posts I have met some wonderful people along the journey and Lou is right up there with the best. He is a magician on the cars he works on what a superstar and he got my car running and driving better then new. It needed some extensive work done and I got a shock with some of things he found wrong.
Unfortunately the first thing he told me was it has been involved in a accident from the front and he could see bad repairs in the engine bay. My heart sank!
This wasn't too bad because the car was over 25 years old so you would expect maybe a small accident here and there on most cars but then it got worse. I then find out that it had an undersized steering rack possibly out of an Alfetta and it was also worn out. So we needed to replace the steering rack with correct type also new ball joints rack joints tie rod ends and rack and steering boots. Brakes were no good 2 new front disks and pads and rear pad... and to top it off the headlights and exhaust failed the RWC and we needed to replace the middle and rear sections which were a horrible backyard abortion.
Wow wee my head was spinning 
 
The car when I bought it had every receipt known to man spent on it in two folders so I thought to myself this car must have been loved and why was it in the state that I found it? The internet can be a wonderful tool at times 

[gtvsix86]

I went through the receipts and noticed that the car was originally a Melbourne car and found the original sale ad on the internet before it went to Sydney. In the picture the car had a red grill like all GP models but my car now had the black grill. So I assume the accident was recent and they changed the grill and painted the whole car. I then noticed the receipts of whoever bought the car originally in Sydney were missing well that was interesting. So I was curious as to what happened and why no records of it? So I rang the gentlemen I bought the car off and he told me who he bought the car off. I gave him a call and got donuts I don't know why I thought he would be helpful but he denied ever having an accident, I asked him why the grill was changed then he had no answer just said he got the car repainted for a freshen up.

Oh well it was a mystery then so I let it go as I had more important things to now worry about and that was where could I get my hands on three headlights and a new exhaust. I am aware now that parts are hard to come by as Alfa stop making parts when a car is 10 years old. But I was new to the scene and when I was told good luck finding three new headlights for a RHD car and that no one in Melbourne has stock of a standard exhaust and that it would have to be shipped from Italy... I was starting to have some major regrets. What had I DONE!

[bonno]

Hi gtvsix86
Thank you for sharing your journey on your GTV6 Restomod. Your experience and love of Alfas is similar to mine that began back in the 1970’s with the 105 series 1750 GTV and getting married and 3 children on the way put an end to that. Wind the clock  forward 30 or so years, I  purchased my Alfetta GTV4, which was in need of a refresh to bring back to as new condition. Some suttle enhancements, such as fitment of later model recaro leather interior and refurbed OEM polished wheels form part of the refresh project and are included on  forum for reference purposes. With regards to your experience with new OEM replacement headlights, I have attached a link on what I ended up doing to maintain RHD configuration.
http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=19660.0
Regards
bonno