RE: Alfa Romeo 147 GTA: PH Carpool

[Ruskins]

velocgee said:

only1ian said:

Did you ever consider poly bushing it?

I thought this was the 1st mod the Alfisti [modern] did? In that bushes were made of cheese. Certainly transformed my 156, though.
.

Yeah but it also has the side effect of making the ride even harsher which i am not really after as I am doing 3 -5 hours in it to reach tracks. Genuine wishbones seem to last ok, cheap ones last about 5 minutes.

Edited by Ruskins on Thursday 8th June 09:04

[bobski1]

s m said:

What's wrong with these ones or are you just interested in passing when you say you are waiting for one to come up

95k miles - Verde Boreale Green

http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/116120025/2...


71k miles -Red

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/282419682321?clk_rv...


88k miles - Blue

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-53-reg-Alfa-Romeo-1...


55k miles - Blue

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/222532368432?clk_rv...

55k miles - Black

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-FUTURE-CLASSIC-ALFA...


43k miles - Red


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-FUTURE-CLASSIC-ALFA...



They don't seem that rare?

I've only ever seen 1 on the road, but tbh I only checked PH & AT, forgot all about ebay...

[Guvernator]

bobski1 said:

I've only ever seen 1 on the road, but tbh I only checked PH & AT, forgot all about ebay...

To be fair to you I had a look at that list and would pass on most of them tbh. A few of them have too many miles and in fact only two are in an acceptable colour for an Alfa GTA and one of those is an auto!

Strange as when I was browsing this time last year, there seemed to be quite a few for sale, wonder where they've all gone?

[RicksAlfas]

s m said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-FUTURE-CLASSIC-ALFA...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282419682321?clk_rvr_id=...

The first one is unusual. I've never seen the velour seats before. Must be a Japan thing.

I bet the second one is a peach. Peak Alfa have an excellent reputation.

[s m]

bobski1 said:

s m said:

What's wrong with these ones or are you just interested in passing when you say you are waiting for one to come up

95k miles - Verde Boreale Green

http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/116120025/2...


71k miles -Red

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/282419682321?clk_rv...


88k miles - Blue

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-53-reg-Alfa-Romeo-1...


55k miles - Blue

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/222532368432?clk_rv...

55k miles - Black

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-FUTURE-CLASSIC-ALFA...


43k miles - Red


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-FUTURE-CLASSIC-ALFA...



They don't seem that rare?

I've only ever seen 1 on the road, but tbh I only checked PH & AT, forgot all about ebay...

Fair enough, that was just a quick Ebay search but there's a few others on other sites/garages

I thought you were one of those who go on to say "Oh yeah I've seen all of those but really I'm after a specific colour with less than 30k miles, full dealer history and it must have all the rare options on and be no more than 15 minutes drive away ....." ......which is a different thing entirely and makes an uncommon car very rare

Keep your eyes open and I'm sure one will turn up though

I see one of the contributors on Modern Classics has just bought one too as a knock-on from doing an Alfa GT feature

[Guvernator]

s m said:

Fair enough, that was just a quick Ebay search but there's a few others on other sites/garages

I thought you were one of those who go on to say "Oh yeah I've seen all of those but really I'm after a specific colour with less than 30k miles, full dealer history and it must have all the rare options on and be no more than 15 minutes drive away ....." ......which is a different thing entirely and makes an uncommon car very rare

Keep your eyes open and I'm sure one will turn up though

I see one of the contributors on Modern Classics has just bought one too as a knock-on from doing an Alfa GT feature

That'll be me then

I don't mind travelling for the right car but if it's going to be a long term keeper, then it needs to very close to the right spec and condition which in the case of an Alfa means it needs to be Alfa Red (or white at a big push) manual, decent history\condition and ideally less than 60k miles on the clock.

This is the reason why it often takes me AGES to find the right car.

[s m]

Guvernator said:

s m said:

Fair enough, that was just a quick Ebay search but there's a few others on other sites/garages

I thought you were one of those who go on to say "Oh yeah I've seen all of those but really I'm after a specific colour with less than 30k miles, full dealer history and it must have all the rare options on and be no more than 15 minutes drive away ....." ......which is a different thing entirely and makes an uncommon car very rare

Keep your eyes open and I'm sure one will turn up though

I see one of the contributors on Modern Classics has just bought one too as a knock-on from doing an Alfa GT feature

That'll be me then

I don't mind travelling for the right car but if it's going to be a long term keeper, then it needs to very close to the right spec and condition which in the case of an Alfa means it needs to be Alfa Red (or white at a big push) manual, decent history\condition and ideally less than 60k miles on the clock.

This is the reason why it often takes me AGES to find the right car.

That's me as well - I'll travel most anywhere if I see a particular example of a car I want. I tend to keep car a fair while though

I suspect most people are like that to a certain extent. You can usually find XYZ car...it's trying to find XYZ car with A and B and in colour C that's more difficult

[rxe]

Ruskins said:

Yeah but it also has the side effect of making the ride even harsher which i am not really after as I am doing 3 -5 hours in it to reach tracks. Genuine wishbones seem to last ok, cheap ones last about 5 minutes.

Edited by Ruskins on Thursday 8th June 09:04

You need to be careful with poly, but it is a good mod.

- Upper wishbones, good idea, only downside is that some of them squeak. Thankfully mine don't.
- Lower wishbones - leave well alone, I've head dreadful stories of them falling apart and just generally being pants.
- ARB bushes - make no discernible difference to the ride or handling, but do last forever which is an advantage at the front.
- Rear hub bushes - sharpens the back up a bit, but the main advantage is that once done, they are easy to replace next time.
- Rear transferse arm bushes - never bothered, they are consumable items.

To make these handle, you need:

- All the rubber bits in good order
- Eibach -30 springs (so standard Veloce spec)
- Either FSDs (nice) or B6s (harsh) or B4s (OK)
- Or coilovers - Eibach Pro-street are a fine compromise when faced with the expense of KWs...
- Thicker ARBs (white line or eibach)
- Quaife or Q2 LSD
- 17" wheels are good, 18s are harsh, 16s are OK and 15s are "bouncy castle".

Get all that lot on and go attack some bends. You'll be surprised how capable the car is....

[Unlucky]

Stevie Wonder would love these cars -anyone with blood in their veins has to like the noise-and the autoblipper on down changes makes it sound even better.
Yes the Germans make blah blah blah but that engine has soul and really they are quite a bargain and can be used to shuttle children about and shop etc while doubling up as a sex machine at the weekends-plus they will no doubt appreciate due to the lowish numbers sold.
Buying an Alfa is a bit like going out with a thrashy kind of girl-your inner accountant thinks it's wrong but the brains in your underpants shout YES!

[SidewaysSi]

Unlucky said:

Stevie Wonder would love these cars -anyone with blood in their veins has to like the noise-and the autoblipper on down changes makes it sound even better.
Yes the Germans make blah blah blah but that engine has soul and really they are quite a bargain and can be used to shuttle children about and shop etc while doubling up as a sex machine at the weekends-plus they will no doubt appreciate due to the lowish numbers sold.
Buying an Alfa is a bit like going out with a thrashy kind of girl-your inner accountant thinks it's wrong but the brains in your underpants shout YES!

What sort of sex machine? Would have thought it is slightly bigger than even the biggest rabbits.

[S10GTA]

Just keep an eye out for rust, they've started doing it for fun now.

[Craikeybaby]

I had a go in one of these when they were new, at the time the quickest thing I’d driven. It sounded awesome!

[Vroom101]

There's​ a blue one that I see occasionally in my town. Always puts a smile on my face.

Always loved this era of Alfas, but never owned one. I did have a test drive in a 2.5 V6 156 once upon a time. It was back in 2005, on July 21st. In Shepherds Bush. The day the Jihadis tried to blow up Shepherds Bush tube station. That was a stressful day!

The car in the article looks lovely. Not usually a fan of white cars, but that pulls it off with aplomb.