WTB: Giulia GT/GTV stepnose

[ItalCarGuy]

I agree, as long as the floor isnt rusting out of the car, there is no need to be able to eat off the underside. I am choosing not to do the whole underfloor strip on my Super as I could never keep it clean with the amount of daily driving I do in my Alfa.

[pancho]

Dave - might not be what you're after - BUT you could always consider buying this unit - it seems to be somewhat complete and original and then spend 15k on getting it up to scratch?

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?R=11234801&__Qpb=1&vertical=car&__Nf=p_YearRange_Range|BTWN 0 1970.0&eapi=2&__N=1216 1246 1247 1252 1282 4294967249&silo=stock&seot=1&__Ns=pCar_RankSort_Int32|1||pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__Nne=15&Cr=4&Range=Price:Min,Max~1|Mileage:Min,Max|Year:Min,1970|Seats:Min,Max|EngineSize:Min,Max&trecs=8&__sid=13382C1613C1

I recall seeing it advertised for 12.5k and then it went to 13k. Anyone know of this car ?

[massiveluvbuddy67]

Dave - might not be what you're after - BUT you could always consider buying this unit - it seems to be somewhat complete and original and then spend 15k on getting it up to scratch?

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?R=11234801&__Qpb=1&vertical=car&__Nf=p_YearRange_Range|BTWN 0 1970.0&eapi=2&__N=1216 1246 1247 1252 1282 4294967249&silo=stock&seot=1&__Ns=pCar_RankSort_Int32|1||pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__Nne=15&Cr=4&Range=Price:Min,Max~1|Mileage:Min,Max|Year:Min,1970|Seats:Min,Max|EngineSize:Min,Max&trecs=8&__sid=13382C1613C1

I recall seeing it advertised for 12.5k and then it went to 13k. Anyone know of this car ?

The first sentence in the advert should ring alarm bells...why would you make such a statement?

[pancho]

I read that quickly and though - huh ? What did I say wrong.

"Probably the only Alfa 105 Veloce left in Melbourne,"

Yeah, perhaps the owner might not know much about GT's or is using it as a marketing ploy. I recall seeing another seller market his GTV as the 'rare' 1300 engined model. It was a bit of a Frankenstein GTV - but even though I emailed him and pointed a few things out he didn't care and continued to falsely advertise the car. As with everything - buyer beware.

[ItalCarGuy]

Dont want to diss it too much but 'rust under doors', and those bubbles on the stepfront say 'painted over something real nasty...'

[DaveT]

Thanks Pancho, yeah I've been steering clear of that one precisely for the points you, Phil and Derek have made. Unfortunately the ad wording doesn't inspire confidence and from the photo's at least it does looks like it could be hiding some horrors...I think the owner would have to be very negotiable to get some interest happening with this one.

[Davidm1600]

Yep, I agree, and I think it can be guaranteed it is not the only one left in Melboune !!  This sort of car two/three years back probably would have been listed for 1/2 the sort of asking price that it now is sporting.  My brother in law sold his basically very tidy GT Veloce Sprint back in 2002-3 for about $6-7k. It was definitely better than this one. 

With one at that price you would want to go over it very carefully.  IMHO, the one Pancho bought, from appearances would have been a better purchase (value for money), and yes I know how much work (time and I sure $$$) that this car is taking to bring it back to its glory.

That is the problem with our old 105s, they can cost a lot to bring up to the desired condition. 

[DaveT]

I'm interested in what you guys think of this idea...

I've decided I'm not too bothered about originality, I can understand why cars restored to original spec with their original engine command a premium and part of me wishes to see as many of these cars kept original as possible. The other part of me just wants to have fun in a car I love the look of and really enjoy driving...in short I'm finding it very hard to resist the lure of a quick step front with well sorted suspension and brakes in the vein of a GTA rep...yes Pancho I have for a long while now been reading your threads....with secret, drooling jealousy! In fact I came very close to buying your car when it first popped up for sale...the only thing preventing me was I didn't have a bathroom at the time and for the first time in my life I did the responsible thing and fixed the bathroom before buying another car...what an idiot!

Now I might be about to be thrown off the board, scolded and ridiculed for this suggestion, but I was just looking at ebay (always dangerous) and there's a couple of decent looking GT Juniors on there. I was wondering, as I'm sure other have before me, how difficult/expensive it would be to 'stepfront GTA' a Junior, looking at the Alfaholics site I'm estimating $4000 - $5000. What are your thoughts on this, a viable alternative or a sacrilegious frankensteining of what are in their own right lovely 105 coupes?

Cheers
DaveT

[pancho]

Dave, it depends on what you want to do here. It's a very slippery slope - let me tell you from first hand experience as I am sure you are aware. 

What do you want to upgrade and what do you want to achieve ?

Others will also most likley advise - but for me personally I fear that $4-5k wont go very far if you are getting it done externally and want something that wont either break something when you give it some stick and or lack in one department. i.e. if you do the engine up to get some good power ~160 and upwards, then you need to look at suspension and brakes and bushings and and and.... get a spreadsheet together and start pricing things up to see if it's worthwhile.

From what I've seen online at the moment (stepfront wise) I haven't seen anything thats good value. I did however see a nice white Stepnose a few weeks back that didnt meet reserve at 27k on ebay.

[Davidm1600]

Dave, I know what you mean, I too am not buying any cars nor have for at least 4 years now !!  Sacre blueau !  But regrettably I have a whole house to restore, so definitely no funds, not even at the moment (still) for the 3 projects I have underway, at different stages.

However, your idea of a GTA rep stepnose, like so many that have been built up, damn those Alfaholics guys  , yes I too would love one in a flash.  So, and back to your idea of re-creating a stepnose out of a flushnose Junior, you wouldn't be the first one to have thought of this idea.

Definitely the Alfa purists would say no way, don't go there, but on the other hand, there is a thread on the AlfaBB about this guy with obviously very deep pockets who is building from scratch a full alloy bodied Stepnose with a very serious driveline, suspension, brakes etc etc and this car is being done from a base 2L GTV.  So anything is possible for sure.

In terms of costs, in the first instance there is the change to the front, assuming that the bonnet is the same, it would only be changing to the front top panel, guards for the vertical park lights, grill set up and perhaps hinge assembly. Definitely some complex metal work but not impossible. But then of course there are all the other costs for parts etc to build a GTA rep. The bottom line being just how far you wanted to go and the limits of your budget.  

Personally I don't have any real issues with the idea, it would be your car afterall.  Given that there are a number of very interesting GTV projects around at the moment, such as the guy who is intending installling the driveline of a late model Maserati into a 1750 GTV, and the guy over in WA who is installing a V8 Ferrari into a Stepnose. There is a guy over in the US who took the bodywork off a '72 GTV and put it onto a GTV6 chassis.  So anything is possible I guess.

[DaveT]

Thanks Pancho and David. I know where you're coming from with the slippery slope thing, and yes I may be teetering on the precipice of it. The way I was thinking was it seems a good Junior can be picked up for much less than a similarly good step front, so if the rest of the Juniors body is good (not worried about perfection but straight and solid with pretty good paint) I wondered how much it would cost just to change the front to a step/GTA front. I estimate about 4 to 5k just to do this, but if the intention was to leave the rest of the car largely unchanged, I thought for a fraction of the cost of a concourse step front I can probably have just as much fun with a 2ltr Junior that's been 'step fronted'.

[pancho]

Thats a lot of Moolah for a nose job.

You're going to need new front guards (the stepnose ones are different in the blinker area, new bonnet and new nosecone, perhaps a new radiator crossmember as well as a new Undernose frame (not sure what this is called). ~ at least 4k in panels and shipping alone. New grill centre, new grille sides and perhaps new headlight rings as well as blinkers. - looking at I'd say over 5k for all that + labour.

Funnily enough I will be cutting the front end off my Stepnose and replacing with NOS panels - SO you could buy my front end and get it fixed up.

Even after this you will only have a visually changed car.

[DaveT]

Yeah it is a lot of money for a nose job and I dare say a can of worms would be opened during the procedure, inevitably leading to the 'need' for all the other GTA goodies...

It's starting to get slippery and I'm not even at the start of the slopey bit...

I'm getting excited, I need to restore patience, calm and logic...just not too much, would anyone ever buy an old Alfa if they were too patient, calm and logical?

[twistybits]

How's the search going Dave T.
If your prepared to really roll your sleeves up then you might consider bringing this back to life (wart's and all):
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ALFA-ROMEO-Giulia-Sprint-GT-Restoration-Parts-/390366610030?pt=AU_Cars&hash=item5ae3a9c26e
The patina suggests that it wont be hiding much!

[pancho]

It's hiding lots, I shudder to think of the cost of reviving this car to a registerable with the new laws now in place.