Let me Introduce Myself - New Alfetta GT owner

kenh · January 21, 2009, 01:37:58 PM

Hi,

I have just become the owner of an 1976 Alfetta GT which I "liberated"

from Victoria to north of the border up Kellyville way in Sydney. I have always longed to own one of these cars since it was first released in the impressionable days of my youth. The car is in need of some work in order to bring it up to roadworthiness again so it will probably not be seen out on the road for a while, although the motor runs the brakes appear to be locked on so will have to do some work on them first up.

Having been a bit of a car freak/petrol head for all of my "adult" life, did some car club lap dashes and hillclimbs back in the mid 70's and been doing some rallying over the last 15 years (mainly navigating but a couple of years of driving) I bought the car with a view to it being a project with three possibilities:-

1. Complete strip down and rebuild to its "original" glory;
2. Doing enough work on it to get it registered again and as an occasional runaround/track car;
3. Strip it down and turn it into a rally car because I've always preferred running something different to the Datsuns/Toyotas/Commodores that dominate pre-85 classes.

Upon reflection, and realising that parts are going to get harder to find for it, I'm not sure that rallying would be ideal so I am thinking that it might be a rebuild to use as a daily driver / potential track car. I think I will be asking a lot of questions in the coming months as while I have a bit of mechanical knowledge I think there will be a lot of things that I will need advice on. I also need to set up a part of the garage to be able to work on it. If anybody can provide me with places that I am likely to be able to get spares and/or an Alfa friendly mechanic in north western Sydney it would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, thanks for reading this and I hope to meet some of the NSW members some time soon.

Ken

Scott Farquharson · January 21, 2009, 02:44:30 PM

Congrats and welcome!

k76 · January 21, 2009, 03:27:45 PM

Congrats! Nice to see another GT in NSW. I look forward to see what you end up doing.

I too love rallying, but as panel damage is pretty much inevitable I'm not thinking about doing it with the Alfetta GTV. Panels for them are difficult to get hold off, front wings are welded on, good shells are hard to find etc...

redalfaracing · January 21, 2009, 05:00:38 PM

can i say that they make awsome rally cars, but if you prefer an Afetta sedan also does( and is easier to get and repair). welcome

Craig Sinclair · January 21, 2009, 05:27:07 PM

Congrats Ken. Was this the car recently on Ebay? Lack of room stopped any ambitions of adding another to my collection. I have one runner which I use for club and track days, plus another two for "Ron" in storeage, They are getting rarer, but probably not more valuable! Good luck with it.

kenh · January 21, 2009, 08:47:21 PM

Craig,

Yes, it was. The auction finished just before Christmas but I wasn't able to get down to pick it up until a week ago. The price was fairly cheap so saw it as an opportunity to finally get one.

Greg,

I hoped that they were good on the dirt but have only ever seen a couple around as rally cars so wasn't sure how viable it was. I think I will need to talk to you more.

k76 & Scott,

Thanks for that. I will try and keep posting about the progress.

Bob Morey · January 22, 2009, 08:59:59 AM

Hi Ken, glad to hear of another GT owner. I have had mine for about 4 years and use it for navigational rallies & as my daily driver - I love the car.
Genuine GTs are fairly rare and some parts are hard to find, particularly original driveshaft donuts. I've completely overhauled my car mechanically so if you are stuck for parts I may know of a supplier.

Bob

Paul Newby · January 22, 2009, 11:30:24 AM

Hi Ken,

Congratulations, I own a 75 GT, which is a road registered Group S race car, which I built up from a wreck 10 years ago. There are quite a number of GT and GTVs in Sydney that are being raced and supersprinted. If you are interested there is an historic meeting this weekend at Oran park where at least a couple of GTVs will be racing. You should come out and have a look.

Im not far from you at Galston, so send me a PM and I can fill you in or who is who in Sydney for parts, servicing and the like. Oh, and have a look at some of the other threads on this forum for all sorts of advice on Alfetta GTs - racing and rallying.

Cheers,
Paul

kenh · January 22, 2009, 11:48:35 AM

Bob,

I'm thinking I will be in need of some parts for it (probably lots actually). One of the driveshaft boots is ripped and one of the Watts linkage bars is bent so will need to source those at some stage. I would be expecting that the donuts will need replacing as well.

The information I have received on the car is that it is actually a 1974 built car which was sold in Rome (I am presuming to Alfa Australia) and coloured Alfa Red with anthracite velvet interior. Seeing as anthracite is a form of coal I am presuming that means black.

kenh · January 22, 2009, 11:53:22 AM

Paul,

Thanks for the information, I will try and get out to Oran Park but can't promise anything at the moment. If I see your car (the one in your avatar?) I'll come and say hello. Will send a PM regarding parts, many thanks.

I have been looking at the 116 thread and have already gained some interesting information.

Ken

Paul Newby · January 22, 2009, 12:13:53 PM

Ken,

I won't be racing myself this weekend. Indeed I'm having the GT serviced tomorrow (at Manning Motors - Rob Panetta) in time for the VRA Drive Day at Wakefield Park on 13 February. Then it's off to Phillip Island in March and Bathurst in April.

I would be very surprised if your GT is a 74. They weren't introduced into Australia until September 75. My car is an 11/75 compliance (chassis #1910) and had the 10548 cams and twin Webers like the early 1800s had. The 76 1.8s had the 10520 (emission) cams and Dell'orto carbs. The difference was 118hp as opposed to 122hp. The earliest GT that I've seen is a 10/75 compliance and a chassis number in the 1600s. (The 11611 numbers start at 1000 by the way.)

The early GTs had a multitude of variations with propshaft donuts. It is all a bit confusing and a lot of the earlier donuts are no longer available, or very expensive. My car runs a late series propshaft. Mmm, not sure how easy it is to replace bent watts linkages. It may be easier to source another de dion axle and replace it.

Paul

kenh · January 22, 2009, 01:47:56 PM

Paul,

The date surprised me too as the compliance plate says 6/76! Hmmm, may need to do a bit more research. The chassis number is slightly later than yours (#1993) so was built around the same time. I didn't even look that closely at the carbs yet, I just assumed they would be Dellortos. I'll have a closer look tonight.

It is just the right hand link that is bent but I realise that it might be an obvious by-product of the whole rear being out of alignment. I will take some measurements to check.

Ken