I stand at the crossroad, patchwork Duetto

[pancho]

Call Austec at Moorebank to find out more re blasting media pros and cons.

[Craig_m67]

I've been researching the pros and cons for... far...too... long...

I'm comfy with a complete dip but logistically (syd vs bris) it's a pain, they also can't epoxy dip/paint, so flash rust in the nether regions become an issue.

So, decision made.
Dipping the doors/bonnet/boot/dash - maybe the wings as the nose is coming off anyway
(although there is a shed load of scary spot welds on the wings)
Sand blasting the body

First door (and it's new skin) is at PJs now for a test dip and epoxy.  I'm going to use 3M epoxy to reskin.. Looks easy

Where's the best place to get original sound proofing.. Alfaholics/classic/highwood?



As you can see, I've done a bit of stripping by hand already.. Its just going to take too long and I want bare metal everywhere. Do it once, pay once yada yada

BTW My boot is a tad crumpled. If anybody knows of a solid unmolested (never dented) one please let me know, the std. patch panel (I have) looks labor intensive to fit and my philosophy(?) for the body is to return as new..no bogs or patchwork welds.

That black Duetto to looks spectacular .. Black wouldn't highlight the curves like a nice metallic blu though.. would it (bueller)



I feel another year of painful internal monologues about colour coming up .. And I'm colour blind  

[pancho]

how often do these duetto's come up for sale and what would one expect to pay for one? I have a friend who is very keen on ownership.

[Davidm1600]

I suspect the answer is relatively simple Pancho.  Out here in Aus, only occasionally, as fundamentally they are pretty scarce.  In the US, far more often and in differing conditions from resto projects (read cheap to buy) to immaculate and read relatively pricy. 

Out here these days they are far more expensive than Kamn tail spiders, and from the relatively few I have seen in recent years you would be pretty lucky I would suggest to find one sub $15-20K and that wouldn't necessarily get you an immaculate one.

[Craig_m67]

I've only seen two advertised (mainstream) since we returned from the UK in '09.

Both cars are likely known to this board or the alfaBB.  I never viewed either in person, however i was considering traveling to see the first in Sydney as i'd seen it many times at the Canberra italia day (have old photos of the nose for reference... Duetto thing). Lovely car (and owner), restored asking about $24K.

The second was more recent, a Brisbane car which also looked lovely, asking $35K.

I've seen two basket cases on aust. eBay, I don't remember if they were RHD/LHD to be honest, they missing lots of parts and I was coveting their unblemished boot lids. They were in the $5-10k range.

I've no idea how many there are in Aust., I suspect more than people expect.  I've seen two in Brisbane when I least expected it.  One was particularly cool. White with the "original" hardtop. Fricken sweet, made my day.  Actually I'd be interested to hear from all and any Duetto owners, be interesting to see where they all are.

And before you ask, no. I will not be selling mine again. It broke my heart to let her go the first time and I jumped at the chance to have her back. As you know the accumulated parts, bits and pieces that go into these restos are completely uneconomic.  I don't think I could even be  persuaded swap her for a 101/750 spider (denial, first weapon in an Alfa owners armoury).

[pancho]

What about this colour combo Craig - red seats with Navy blue (sorry, there should be a code for it).

[Evan Bottcher]

There's a couple of blues that might be: http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/car-restoration/3895-1972-alfa-romeo-color-chart-reference-materials.html

[Craig_m67]

Some progress 

This door was pulled apart for a new skin as the original had a large dent and kilograms of bog. I hand prepped the frame as you can see in the original photos but was unhappy with the flash rust in the cavities I couldn't get into.  So, I had the frame (alkaline) dipped then lightly blasted. The skin was hand prepped before everything was epoxy primed.

I'm chuffed to bits, looks great. I'm planning on using 3M epoxy to put this back together.. interested in any and all opinions on why I shouldn't ??




Bonnet is next (dip). Only blasting if stubborn rust is found.
I'm going to hand strip the other door skin to see if it is okay.

Then the boot/trunk 
I already have the lower patch skin but I'd much rather get a perfect one, the work involved to fit the skin looks horrendous ... Anybody know anybody in Brisbane who could do that (fit the skin patch) ... I've a lead on a 1750 trunk from the states which looks nice although it has all the holes for the 1750 badges etc. Need to agree a price so I can figure out if shipping will make it uneconomic.

[pancho]

Looks great Craig!

How will you get etch primer ect into the underside of the bonnet cavities (between the skin and the frame areas) after dipping the panels ?

You'll find that shipping a bonnet of this size from the US will be between $450-600 or so. It's crazy expensive - I wanted to get some smaller items brought over and the pricing from TNT, DHlL ect was still overly priced.

[ItalCarGuy]

Fantastic work Craig!

[Craig_m67]

So this the paint I am working with... and the reason we're going back to metal for those of you who said "roll it as it is".. It's been rolled, passed to the left and smoked for far too long, trust me.



That's lovingly original AR514 under badly applied, purportedly AR501..

It's a funny thing red.. When I first saw AR514(farina) I hated it.. It was bad 70's, clean the pool porn, wackawacka guitar colour for me.  I wanted proper AR501 - or really porsche guards red(?). The older I get though, the more I appreciate the AR514 (and 70's porn).  Simple really does work.

That said, I'm tired of red (sorry).  I always find the bright Australian sunlight makes red looked washed out and dusty here.  Present procrastination thinking is periwinkle(?)AR349 blu metallic like thus (below).  Anybody have good photos for this or indeed ideas for a period Italian metallic purply/sky blue?  To be honest the beige epoxy primer is the most beautiful thing the car has going for it at the moment. And yes I've said it before, I'm colour blind so this is a most difficult choice


(UK car from alfaBB)

Bonnet and scuttle are off for the same treatment as the door.
The nose and wings are next, anybody have experience of where to sawzall first
.. already have a replacement nose (+bump)

[Craig_m67]

Took the LH front wing, door and rear panel back to metal this weekend.. the wing has some battle scars, the door on the other hand is surprisingly whole. The rear arch has a crack/split although that was obvious before. There are also a few bumps which look like they'd be simple to pull or knock out. All the other metal looks great.  I think I might go Harrods Sheik chrome instead of AR349 periwinkle blue

The whole side of the car was coated in thick filler, producing kilos of dust and finally some nice lines. The metal seems fine, who knows what they were thinking when they repainted (iced) it. It's certainly sheds lighter and more lithe looking now.  (I got carried away with a new strip wheel, hence why the door handle is still on)

Also got the bonnet and scuttle back from the dippers, the latter looks great the bonnet is a sad beaten, cracked history of poor parking... or the odd shag on the bonnet.. who knows, either way it's perhaps more economic to replace.. If anybody knows of a local new or perfect used, please let me know.





Craig

[AikenDrum105]

Fantastic work.

I love how, in the back of a few pics,  the TwinSpark lurks.. biding it's time ....

[Craig_m67]

Two new wings and outer sills ordered...  
I should really fire up the Kempi and see if I have any welding talent before I get too carried away with my new sawzall (AEG)  


Actually, if anybody wants the old wings.. or parts thereof, let me know.. so I cut nicely

[Craig_m67]

Ta da..




Anybody got a lead on a new Duetto bonnet.. Mine is toasty