New addition to the club

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Hi all,

Finally received all my Alfa Club Vic documents in the mail last night, and thought I would write in and say g'day!

I have always admired Italian cars- yes, your Ferraris, Lambo's etc were all very appealing to me as a youngster but as I grew older my tastes expanded.  Bizzarinnis and Maseratis along with Lancias and Alfa Romeos came more into mind.  I had always liked the look of the 105 series coupe's and noted that price wise they were much more accessible than some of the more exotic machines (would you believe at 16 I thought I could just find a Lancia Stratos and run it on my p plates, my reasoning being that as no-one knew what it was it would be affordable!).

Anyway, a friend and I nearly bought a rusted out 105 as 18 year olds but thought better of it.  But the seed was sown and the idea of owning one sat in the back of my mind.  Last November, I became inspired one morning and looked online for an available car.  I found this- a 1974 1600 GT Junior.  I liked the look of the single headlights, and news that it had a freshly rebuilt 2 litre engine made it even more promising.  I took it for a drive and that was it- I had to have it!

I am slowly improving the car (as well as my driving skills- keen to do some courses) with the aim of running it in some club track events.  With Bruno at Maranello Motors looking after the car I am confident that I am in good hands!  The car already had the larger uprights, so Bruno machined the discs and rebuilt the calipers, and put new pads and braided brake hoses in.  We also have stiffened the front suspension and have koni shocks installed.

Next steps are to put some minilite-style 14 by 6 inch wheels on it with 195/60 (or 55) tyres. 

Anyway, thought I would share a pic taken shortly after I bought it, up at Lake Mountain.

Regards

Adam

[Fast Eddie]

Welcome, well done and Good luck!!!

You are in good hands on both the car club front AND your choice of mechanic.

[Scott Farquharson]

Welcome Adam!   Hope to see you at the track sometime soon.

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Thanks for the welcome guys!

Scott, I look forward to seeing the Dulux GTV6 running around the tracks, hopefully scaring some of the bigger cars!  Personally I can't believe how well Colin Bond and AJ did in the '85 group A series- I know a couple of them still exist, but are they raced historically? I have not seen them in any Victorian event that I have been to.

[Scott Farquharson]

Hi Adam,  Hugh Harrison has the remaining Ignis car (it was the Italian built factory car) but the other car, the original Network Alfa Grp E car, was basically destroyed (what's left is a sports sedan in Syd).  Hugh ran the car at Historic Sandown in 05 and PI Classic in 06 and has of course run the car at club events over the past many years but it unlikely to be seen at any historic meeting in the near future due to Hugh's other committments/priorities (teenage son Trent doing National F Ford Championship!).

The Dulux car needs a gearbox rebuild and a bit of a tidy up due to 6 years of historic racing so probably won't be back out until PI next year.  We also have a problem with tyres - they don't make them anymore - so we are trying to find a viable substitute.

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Here are some pics of my little GTJ- taken at Lake Mountain just after I bought it, so before the suspension and brakes were done!

Can't spend any more money on it at the moment with this Italian trip of mine coming up, but next on the list are some minilite style 14 X 6 wheels and 195/60 tyres.