Should have done this years ago

[Guy Smiley]

G'day everyone,,

Thought I'd better jump on here and say hello. I reckon I'm going to need your help real soon and hope to leverage the wealth of knowledge here to keep my babies rolling.
I really don't know much about the cars other than be gentle, enjoy and take the visa card everywhere. LOL

So I purchased my first Alfa in September 2012. A 1990 33 16 valve and liked it so much I purchased a 1992 Permanent 4 just a month later.
Yeah Yeah I know there's a name for this type of behaviour. A little compulsive maybe but hey I was running more than 20 years late. I wanted one since high school. Why not buy two?
Anyway, I've been whirling around in my new toys with a stupid smile on my dial that no one understands so thought I'd find some likeminded folk.

The Cars;
A 1 owner, 33 16 Valve FWD needs a bit of work. A little rust on one side of the boot where the spoiler meets and some new arm rests on the front doors wouldn't look go astray. Needs new springs in the front but it goes like a cracker and sounds great. Lots of fun to drive. Actually was lots of fun to drive. 3rd gear is pulling the clip of the linkage at the moment but it's in good hands.

Permanent 4 is beautiful and needs to be treated with respect. I feel pretty guilty actually.  I picked this up from a great chap who's clearly spent many years and many, many thousands of dollars on her. The car has a couple of 1st Place trophy's from NSW Club,  2011 and 2012. That pretty much says it I guess. I reckon letting the car go must have been a tough experience.

Just joined the NSW Club and looking forward to attending events real soon. Already looking for parts so I'll pop a couple of posts in shortly.

Say g'day if the mood takes you.

Regards Hamish

[colcol]

Welcome to the forum Guy, the permament 4 was $38,000 when new, and i beleive there was only about 25 sold in Australia, keep an eye on the cam belts, the time and distance should not be exceeded, as spares for 16 valve engine parts is starting to dry up, as they are now a 22 year old car, and when you do the belts, do the water pump as well, as the belts are out of the way, you wouldn't want a water pump failure a week after changing your cam belts, also keep an eye on the oil levels in the engine and change it on time, is the rust on the hatch perforated the metal or just some surface rust?, this was a problem in the series 1 33's, but by the time the series 3 16 valve turned up, Fiat had purchased Alfa Romeo and was spending some money on them, and i beleive had even put in a galvanising line at Pomigliano De Arco where they were built, my 1984 33 TI always manages to put a smile on my face, and you have 2 33's, how good is that!, Colin.

[33collector]

More photos of the p4 please
I've noticed that the badges on the rear of every 33 seem to either be in different order or not straight.
I have a few spare permanent 4 badges with the correct spacing if you would like as yours seem very crowded in the corner, also have  the wheel centre caps for the p4 rims.

Any idea why this happens colin? Why the 33's rear badges always seemed to be on angles and in funny orders?

[colcol]

Yes i know why the badges are never in the same place, because when the factory build it and they find there is a run in the paint or a bit of dust or ding, then the badge is moved a few mm either way to cover the blemish, thats why cars don't have pre drilled holes in the boot and hatch and mudgaurds, it is to give 'wriggleroom', to correct any quality issues, as opposed to respraying the car.... this also applies to other makers as well, oh and pre drilled holes usually start rust, and then when the car gets hit up the bum, the body repairer sometimes doesn't write down where the badge should go back on, there was even a 33 driver in the club who owned a red 84 TI who put an 'AIR CONDITION' badge on the hatch after someone ran a trolley into it at Woolworths, and Alfa had different badge suplliers who had different ways of making badges, just don't get me started on ALFA ROMEO badges on grills with their different colors and diameters and pin sizes and centre distances, Colin.

[33collector]

Haha, I just couldn't think of buying a new car that had badges so different from the car next to it. OR on such angles. Im glad mybadges seem normal in comparison to others i have seen.