Our very own "barn find"...

[Evan Bottcher]

As an aside have you ever noticed the difference in widths between the outer edge of the seat and the outer edge of the sill on the left and right front side of

Yeah it's really noticeable when the seats, carpets and underlay are out.  Attached are a couple of shots of the passenger side floor - a previous floor repair had replaced the mounting point for the seat rail, but was obviously cut out of a driver side door and wasn't wide enough.  Sam welded in this reinforcement for the passenger seat rail to extend to the correct location.  Why are there two sets of holes though?

[pancho]

hmm - was there an option for sports seats in those days - aka the GTA 1600 style seats? Or are the Seats between the Sprint GT and the GT Junior for example on different mount points on the rails?

[Evan Bottcher]

Photo progress report from today.  The front panel is in place, with the RH front guard, and radiator upper panel.  Lots of detail in this work – gaps around the doors, bonnet, headlights, grille and heart.  When I arrived Sam was working on the headlight frames using my headlights and rims to fit.

The new repro front guard is good, but as expected it needs a lot of work to fit properly and gap to the bonnet.  Lots of finishing work still to be done here, but great to see the front of the car in one piece.  Sam expects to have this all done and in primer by next weekend, and will be ready to move to the rear of the car.

More photos here: http://alfa.bottch.com/2011/06/1750-gtv-june-2011-2/

[Evan Bottcher]

We spent a bit of time today talking about paint.  The car is going to have a fresh coat of it's original Hawthorn White (AR013), and Sam showed me the formula in one of his old books - a mix of white, black, and ochre.  Interesting to compare it to some of the other whites, including Farina White which has two different whites, black and some blue mixed into it.

I dropped off five original steel wheels (thanks Gary - from about four years ago!) for Sam to have sandblasted and then paint.  We agreed on a colour code listed for Alfa wheels 68-71 - fine silver metallic, with black and some blue.  Sam is going to mix and spray a small sample to check.

[ItalCarGuy]

Panel fit looks great Evan. Do you know what paint system Sam uses? I am hoping my paint guy gets AR013 right on my car too.

[pancho]

It would be good to see a few different white tone cars to compare. I am also looking at white but not dont know which code yet.

[Evan Bottcher]

Do you know what paint system Sam uses?

Some German brand starting with D - I didn't really notice, it's not like I'm going to shop around to be completely honest.  We were actually looking at one of Sam's old books from the 80s.  His new system uses the computer and he said might have a slightly different recipe for AR013.

[Ash Gordon]

Evan, 

Do you have a choice with the repro guards with / without indicator hole ?

Is it only later models that have the indicator in the guard?

Ash

[Evan Bottcher]

Hi Ash,

I think they all come with a side indicator hole.  Sam will weld that up.

The mk1 1750s have the front indicators above the bumper, and they curve around to provide a side marker.  The mk2 1750s have the front indicators recessed into the front panel, so they have the separate side indicators in the guard.

You'll notice on the new front panel fitted Sam has filled the indicator apertures.  I bought a new apron which is made specially for the mk1 1750 without those apertures, but then we realised how bad the whole nose was I decided to get a whole panel.

Attachments show the mk1 1750 apron, and the general-fitment full front panel.  You'll also note that the mk1 1750 only had two vent holes, I'm not going to change that (gasps from the crowd).

If anyone wants a mk1 1750 front apron, let me know.

[Evan Bottcher]

The front of the car is complete and primed.    Unfortunately it was facing into the corner so I couldn't get any real detail photos.  Sam is now working on the tail - to fit the boot floor and rear panel.  The repro boot floor requires the expected amount of work to fit.  The repro boot lid did not have the right curvature, and needs some mods to get the right panel gap.

Sam also showed me a sample of the mixed white (AR013 Biancospino) and a metallic silver for the wheels.  Both looked great.

[Evan Bottcher]

I started looking back at old photos - here's one from 1999 and one from 2006 (page one of this thread).  The photos make it look pretty good - amazing (but not surprising) how much work was underneath all that paint.  Long way to go.

[Evan Bottcher]

Question: which one of these badges should be on our 1968 GTV?

The original was missing the centre when I got it, so no clue there.

[cjheath]

My car has the second type. The current one is not original, but I'm pretty sure it's the same type it had when I acquired it in 1986.

[pancho]

Hi Evan,

Fromt he first picture it looks like the aluminium/plastic rectangular badge with bright blue writing - this is typically the stepnose models. The second is what I beleive they used in later cars. But you'rs is a 68 - so as per all things Alfa they might have used the old stock on some cars to use them all up and new badges on newer cars. I'll try and dig up some posts in regards to this that I read about a few months ago.

[Evan Bottcher]

As with all these things it's just a curiosity for me.  I noticed in my sales brochure that it had the white-type badge, but that would have been a very early LHD car.  I have a black-type badge already.