RE: Shed of the Week: Alfa 164 Twin Spark
Discussion
g3org3y said:
For £250, cash!
I've spent more than that on nights out before. Someone local buy it now!
You must have realised by now that Pistonheads is full of people who will happily spend £250 on a meal for two but when presented with a £250 car <whiny nerd voice on> will say "ooh, yes, but that model year was prone to the camshaft double sprocket bracket widgit developing a rattle around 120,000 miles and I reckon within 30,000 miles you'll be looking at having to put a new one on that....I'm oot".I've spent more than that on nights out before. Someone local buy it now!
J4CKO said:
Good shed, £250 is nothing for a car with MOT, especially a vaguely interesting one.
That has been old by an older chap I expect, the cable tied trims and badges are dead giveaways.
May even be a smidge of profit in this one, get it, clean it up, get some nice photos and then stick it on an Alfa forum for £895
I've got a horrible feeling that the "badges" on the bonnet leading edge and wing mirrors might actually be these...That has been old by an older chap I expect, the cable tied trims and badges are dead giveaways.
May even be a smidge of profit in this one, get it, clean it up, get some nice photos and then stick it on an Alfa forum for £895
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stick-Click-Bright-Led-Lig...
If so they are nothing to remove.
confused_buyer said:
You must have realised by now that Pistonheads is full of people who will happily spend £250 on a meal for two but when presented with a £250 car <whiny nerd voice on> will say "ooh, yes, but that model year was prone to the camshaft double sprocket bracket widgit developing a rattle around 120,000 miles and I reckon within 30,000 miles you'll be looking at having to put a new one on that....I'm oot".
Sounds like our good friend MPC William Balls-Gross wanting 1/3rd off the screen price of a 13 year old E39. In fact TVRBoy should call his two favourite Traffic Officers and tell them he's found just the car for them, something of a classic that was worthy of comparison to the legendary E34, and it's well under their budget.Even Welshbeef spends twice as much as this on red wine for his Beef casserole. In fact his monthly Mars Bar budget is probably more than the price of this beautiful Alfa 164.
£250? You can't even get a decent Dashcam for that!
£250? That's only £90 more than that amazing Lego Tecnic Unimog.
Edited by carinaman on Friday 26th July 11:10
Speaking from experience.... I have had 3 164s, two twin sparks and a 3 litre cloverleaf that I only recently sold to buy back my 156 GTA i would beg anyone living close with £250 who fancies an alfa to go and buy it. As per someones elses earlier post my first 164 was bought for £300 with 6 months tax and a years MOT for a banger rally to Italy. It went so well that insted of scrapping it in Italy like the plan was my mate drove it back and ran around in it for a year or so until the clutch started to slip... I dont think the Stelvio pass had helped ). The next was a 1997 TS bought for £400 in beautiful condition in and out and I ran it for two years until the MOT man pointed out about £300 of repairs so I sold it on to a mechanic who got ith though the mot and used it for another couple... Until the dreaded rot got too bad on the rear subframe.
And that is probably the normal cause of "death" with these now... Bodywork is normally excellent, but subframes rot. The engines seem unburstable, chains not belts on the TS. They are remarkably frugal on a motorway run too, easy over 30mpg... Go buy it...
). The next was a 1997 TS bought for £400 in beautiful condition in and out and I ran it for two years until the MOT man pointed out about £300 of repairs so I sold it on to a mechanic who got ith though the mot and used it for another couple... Until the dreaded rot got too bad on the rear subframe.And that is probably the normal cause of "death" with these now... Bodywork is normally excellent, but subframes rot. The engines seem unburstable, chains not belts on the TS. They are remarkably frugal on a motorway run too, easy over 30mpg... Go buy it...
The Crack Fox said:
Great shed, great write up, at £250 for an unusual Alfa this is exactly what SOTW is about for me.
I've had my eye on these for some time (and it's replacement, the 166), I can't understand why they're so stupidly cheap though...
As a previous owner of a 164 Cloverleaf 24V and an Alfa 166 3.0 I would happily recommend the 164 but ask that you avoid the 166 in Sportronic form. My Cloverleaf is (probably) one of the best cars I ever owned. Looking at my car history you may say that's not saying too much however it does include a WRX in '03 form lightly tweaked by TSL and an E39 530i manual. I've had my eye on these for some time (and it's replacement, the 166), I can't understand why they're so stupidly cheap though...
I did spend a reasonable amount when I first got it sorting with cambelt sorted, full service, decent pads, and a stainless exhaust and the thing positively howled in delight at 5000+ rpm. It was quick, steered well and didn't once let me down. It had previously been polybushed too.
The 166 was a disappointment. The sportronic was awful and then let go, handling was wallowy and it had constant niggles and needs. I now have a 156 V6 sat on my drive which was a whole lot better (though the wife now prefers her Suzuki Swift Sport. I can't live without an Alfa V6 so haven't got round to selling it yet or deciding what to do with it.
So, this shed, whilst it is an Alfa 164, falls some way short for me as its a twin spark and not a V6 which is the soul of the car. Looks a bit saggy too so probably not a great steer which would just waste your £250.00 for nought. You could probably buy my Alfa 156 for not much more (that's not an advert by the way).
confused_buyer said:
g3org3y said:
For £250, cash!
I've spent more than that on nights out before. Someone local buy it now!
You must have realised by now that Pistonheads is full of people who will happily spend £250 on a meal for two but when presented with a £250 car <whiny nerd voice on> will say "ooh, yes, but that model year was prone to the camshaft double sprocket bracket widgit developing a rattle around 120,000 miles and I reckon within 30,000 miles you'll be looking at having to put a new one on that....I'm oot".I've spent more than that on nights out before. Someone local buy it now!
honestly what can go wrong ? Just check that headgasket is ok...Fantastic shed, but I almost guarantee that you cannot run a £250 Alfa for a year without spending at least the purchase price again . It will still be a cheap car, but it will always need something sorting, and the parts prices can be eye watering for those used to Fords, Vauxhalls and the like.
I speak from experience with a 156 V6 bought for 4 months ago £300 (with sensible-ish miles, a full Alfa dealer and specialist history, and £,000's worth of invoices). It now comfortably owes us more than twice the original investment. A cambelt kit and water pump were £250 just for the parts, for example. I've never paid more than £100 for these parts on any other car. Wheel bearings @ £30 a side, clutch kit @ £80 (thank you eBay). It's a car with that wonderful Busso V6 engine that (at the moment) runs well and cost less than a week in a caravan park on the Dorset coast - still an absolute bargain. But it's not a £300 car any more, or even close to.
If you go into this with your eyes open, it could be fantastic, but it won't be a drive and forget job. Old Alfas just aren't like that.
I speak from experience with a 156 V6 bought for 4 months ago £300 (with sensible-ish miles, a full Alfa dealer and specialist history, and £,000's worth of invoices). It now comfortably owes us more than twice the original investment. A cambelt kit and water pump were £250 just for the parts, for example. I've never paid more than £100 for these parts on any other car. Wheel bearings @ £30 a side, clutch kit @ £80 (thank you eBay). It's a car with that wonderful Busso V6 engine that (at the moment) runs well and cost less than a week in a caravan park on the Dorset coast - still an absolute bargain. But it's not a £300 car any more, or even close to.
If you go into this with your eyes open, it could be fantastic, but it won't be a drive and forget job. Old Alfas just aren't like that.
Edited by Limpet on Friday 26th July 12:07
gforceg said:
J4CKO said:
Good shed, £250 is nothing for a car with MOT, especially a vaguely interesting one.
That has been old by an older chap I expect, the cable tied trims and badges are dead giveaways.
May even be a smidge of profit in this one, get it, clean it up, get some nice photos and then stick it on an Alfa forum for £895
I've got a horrible feeling that the "badges" on the bonnet leading edge and wing mirrors might actually be these...That has been old by an older chap I expect, the cable tied trims and badges are dead giveaways.
May even be a smidge of profit in this one, get it, clean it up, get some nice photos and then stick it on an Alfa forum for £895
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stick-Click-Bright-Led-Lig...
If so they are nothing to remove.
Always fancied a 164 when they came out. Back when they were new, I remember they were regularly featured head-to-head against 5 series in Car magazine etc, and I think they beat it to car of the year at that time?
IIRC they handled sweetly apart from crazy torque steer.
£250, excellentness.
IIRC they handled sweetly apart from crazy torque steer.
£250, excellentness.
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