The typical PH love story starts with the need for a stop gap, a quick runaround for the winter months whilst the other car is being restored. However the runaround gets under the skin and more money is poured into than first expected, until a full restoration is on the cards.
This is what has happened to Spinakerr, a PHer who purchased an Alfa 164 as a runabout whilst restoring a Rover P5B. He found a black one for Shed money and tried calling the owner. The phone was disconnected and it seemed like a dead end. But, after struggling to concentrate the next day, Spinakerr started some serious detective work, finding a partial street name and knocking on a few doors he found the owner and it was purchased under the promise that he kept it running.
Three years later, the 164 has become a proper obsession, with plenty of trips to Auto Italia for replacement parts; the humble runaround has slowly but surely been restored to its former glory with a lot of help from the Alfa community and a few donor cars as well.
Congratulations Spinakerr, your Alfa Romeo 164 is our Reader's Car of the Week. Read the full thread here.