Friday 26th March 2010

SOTW: Alfa Romeo Alfetta

Shed feels it's time for a spot of Latin passion, saloon-style

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We've had to wrest Shed of the Week from Garlick's over-excited grasp this week. After last week's luxo-barge triple, he was threatening to raise the SOTW stakes further with hot hatch quadruplets.

That would be a dangerous precedent though - before you knew it we would be writing about 10 or 20 Sheds, and Garlick's ever-twitchy wallet would be drastically depleted, so we told him to calm down and have a quiet lie down in a dark room for half an hour.

Mind you, the SOTW we've ended up going with could well prove as much work as four hot hatches. So we present for your perusal a 1983 2.0-litre Alfa Romeo Alfetta - which is either a brave or foolhardy choice, depending on how much of an Alfa fan you are.

The Alfetta saloon might not have the glamour of its GTV coupe cousin, but the two cars are much the same beneath the skin, meaning rear-wheel drive, independent front suspension, a De Dion rear set-up, and a 5-speed transaxle gearbox.

The Alfetta started life in 1972 with a 120bhp carb-fed 1.8-litre engine and a sharply creased oh-so-70s suit (designed in-house). By the time this particular beauty rolled out of the Alfa factory gates, the Alfetta saloon was in its final incarnation, and had gained 1980s styling embellishments such as chunkier tail lights and door handles, as well as - in this case - a fetchingly period two-tone paint job.

The quad headlights seem to mark this car out as a range-topping fuel injected Quadrifoglio Oro, but the interior shots show it to be missing that car's trip computer (probably a good thing). But whether it's carb-fed or fuel-injected, you'll still be looking at a reasonable 128bhp.

This car doesn't come with the Alloys in the pictures, but the original Alfa items will be put back on (which, in Shed's humble opinion, are far lovelier anyway). There's also a long MOT (until next January), but the rust around the front wheelarches does seem to be a minor concern. Still, what's sub-£1k Alfa without some level of worry?

Advert is reproduced below (it's not exactly War and Peace)

£995 (buy it now)

For sales is my friend's Classic Alfa Rome Alfetta SL, is in good working order.
Long tax & MOT, the orginal Alfa alloy wheels (in photo) will be put back on the car.

Join SOTW on Facebook

 

[JayMan]

Whoever buys that better have platinum cover with the AA.

[900T-R]

Never mind the rusty arches, look at the state of that left rear door!

[Lancs Jag Boy]

£995, are you taking the piss? It's not a classic, it's not £995.
No way.

[pompey_monkey]

Is that a pen holder on the dash??

[Johnspex]

I've often been surprised by how good some of these SOTWs appear. They seem much better than I thought you could get for £1k. However, this looks EXACTLY what I would expect for that kind of money.

[miaspa]

Leave the ATS cups on it and I'd roll in that. Maybe drop it a few more inches.

[AMG-Al]

Sadly.................... A heap!

[soad]

Do like the dashboard, steering wheel and a gearchange lever. Looks quite quirky.

Would i buy one? No, at least not in this state.

Edited by soad on Friday 26th March 13:48

[Zircon]

A heap maybe - but a very EXCLUSIVE heap! This is what a valuable future classic looks like gentlemen. Have you seen one in the past 10 years?

Edited by Zircon on Friday 26th March 13:42

[Strawman]

Ace, hardly ever see these any more, I wonder how many are still on the road.

[Stuart]

Has someone been stored in the boot while someone digs a shallow grave? That stain is ominous.

[LayZ]

No, this is a SOTW fail.

Bad old Alfa with nothing going for it, especially when you can get a 75 V6 for similar money.

[AMG-Al]

Zircon said:

A heap maybe - but a very EXCLUSIVE heap! This is what a valuable future classic looks like gentlemen. Have you seen one in the past 10 years?

Edited by Zircon on Friday 26th March 13:42

So - same idea as, say, a 1300cc FIAT Strada, not seen many of them lately either.

Edited by AMG-Al on Friday 26th March 13:48

[pSyCoSiS]

I think it looks nice, in it's own way. Vey BMW-esque at the front !!

[ManOpener]

miaspa said:

Leave the ATS cups on it and I'd roll in that. Maybe drop it a few more inches.

The more I look at it, the more I'm tempted to buy it. It can't be any worse than a British motorcycle to keep running...

Far better looking than most of the other motors you can pick up for under £1K, and what's a bit of surface rust when its disguised by acres of 70-80's cool?

[dinkel]

Strawman said:

Ace, hardly ever see these any more, I wonder how many are still on the road.

Exactly, and that's why I am so dissapointed: a good one - sorted and covered in Tectyl - will set you back 5K or so.

Only then you'll enjoy an Alfa like this.

If not: gone within a few - maybe 2! - years.

[nelly_h]

What a great looking car... but would never touch it in a million years.

If you look up "Rot-box" on wiki it's got a picture of this

[Fartgalen]

Oooffff ! That's a nasty shed.

[TEKNOPUG]

Is that a compass on the dash?!

[HereBeMonsters]

I love it. Nothing 6 months of solid work, enough welding to embarrass a Glasgow shipyard and a platinum account at your local parts dealer wouldn't fix.