1969 Alfa-Romeo 1750 GTV
In fact he finished every sentence with "mate". Like "I'm stuffed, mate".
Said his name was Jeano, although it might have been Gino. I thought he'd said "I'm Jeano, mate", but maybe I misheard. "She was right there, mate. She's red, you couldn't miss her, not with all that grey and silver crap that the Krauts make, mate".
"You're right", I said.
"Yeah, mate. Imagine what it's like at an Inter Milan home game, mate. All those red Alfas and Ferraris and Maseratis. You'd never find your car, mate!" I said not all Fiats are red, but he ignored that.
"Are you sure its level 2, not level 3?", I asked.
He looked at me. No sound. No mate. Just a Gordon Ramsey-style expletive and my new best friend was gone forever. I hope he found his Alfa. I flicked my remote key and my grey car lit up as a welcoming beacon. Grey but at least it wanted me.
I'm tipping the lost Alfa was a GTV of some vintage because that is all we tend to see in Australia these days. There is the odd Giulia saloon or Spider, some Alfettas and Alfetta GTV's, the odd Sprint, maybe even one or two Alfasuds. Yes, there's probably two that survive.
Longevity and the Alfa brand of the second half of the 20th century are not words that normally go hand in hand. Mention rust and Alfa and you score triple Scrabble points. I'm sure the new stuff is fine - the 156 and the like. But earlier than that - Nope! There's a new Alfa now, the 8C. Costs Jag or Maserati money so you'd be thinking that should be OK for the long run.
Restoration is the key to the older stuff. New sills, the odd floor panel, maybe a new bonnet. Problem solved.
And the GTV deserves to be the best known and best preserved of all Alfas. Most everyone would know it as the work of stylist Giugiaro, then working for Bertone. The body shape lasted, virtually unchanged between its launch as the Giulia Sprint in 1963 and its retirement as the 2000 GTV in 1976 (when the Alfetta GTV took its place).
It was not a cheap car back then either. In 1966, Motor Magazine compared it to cars in a similar price bracket that included the Jaguar 2+2, Porsche 912 and a Lotus Elan + 2. To be fair it did also note that you could get the same performance from a Lotus Cortina at almost half the cost. There's no denying this is a deluxe coupe that travels in good company.
The twin cam engine is legendary, as is the 5-speed gearbox. Also legendary is the driving position - that of the long arm/short leg variety. But don't over-rate this. My arms aren't abnormally long, as I'm told every time I visit my tailor, but I am always able to sit comfortably in a GTV.
The car shown here was given a thorough restoration in the early Nineties and the quality of the resto shows, especially in the interior and engine bay. Since then, it has only been taken for the occasional weekend drive. The red paint/black trim combination looks in good condition and it starts, runs and stops as good as you would expect. The owner wants to negotiate on price, so best have a really good inspection before you do any deal.
It's interesting when you drive cars from this era. Some feel no different from cars twenty years older. Others feel like they would make good company with cars twenty years younger. The GTV is one of the latter. Good one, mate! Trevor West
WHAT, WHERE, WHEN & HOW MUCH
Model: Alfa-Romeo 1750 GTV
Year: 1969
Dealer: private sale - car is located in South Australia
Price: Best Offer
0-100 kph: 9 seconds
Best point: Guigiaro's finest
Worst point: The big 'R'
Recommendation: A good one is a classic
Trivia: Love a good acronym - like RUBBISH - Rudd's Urban Best & Brightest In Stupid Harmony. Or VOLVO - Very Odd Looking Vehicular Object. Anyway, the point of all this is ALFA, which stands for Anomina Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili. . . . . mate!
