RE: Alfa Romeo Alfasud | Spotted
Discussion
I remember a guy from school having a 1.5ti as his 1st car, it could literally leave all our Escorts, Capris and Minis, he let me have a drive and it reved like a motorbike and we all were amazed it had twin downdrafts from the factory but it could really move for the time!....those were the days
In my experience, if you bought them carefully rust wasn't an issue; they didn't all do it but the ones that did were going to rot badly were showing signs very early in their lives. That was fine for me; they were all cheap as chips s/h.
I did get through plenty of UJ's, drive shafts, gear boxes, indicator stalks, heater motors and all manner of other moving parts though including at least one engine.
I did get through plenty of UJ's, drive shafts, gear boxes, indicator stalks, heater motors and all manner of other moving parts though including at least one engine.
Callum43 said:
I remember being mightily impressed back when they were new . Has anybody had recent experience of a good one and if those famed qualities still make it a good drive ?
It certainly looks a good example of one but at £20k not an easy sell . But , as they say , find another .
This was Dad's after the restoration:It certainly looks a good example of one but at £20k not an easy sell . But , as they say , find another .
Edited by Callum43 on Monday 28th February 16:56
Just a 1.5 Super (single twin-choke carb, 5-speed manual, four-doors, cloth seats), so it had to be worked very hard on all the West Country hills but all the dynamic sparkle and sensory overload was there. It genuinely drives and handles like a slow and grippy Lotus Elan.
He ended up with a load of spares including the 1.3 twin-carb engine from a Sprint and some Ti interior bits, so the Super ended up with a Ti dashboard. We vacillated endlessly on whether to rebuild the Sprint engine or to swap all the external bits over and turn the 1.5 into a 'Veloce' spec unit but in the end decided to leave it standard.
The interesting thing was when the time came to sell it...tumbleweeds. It turns out that there aren't that many people who want Alfasuds out there in the world, and of those very few want a 'standard' one - 'Sud fans all want a Ti, a QV, a Sprint etc. It took ages to shift and even when he got interest it was all from people hemming and hawwing about "oh, I really wanted a Ti but this one is in such good condition...but I really want a Ti so, no thanks, I'll pass...". He finally sold it to seemingly the only person in the British Isles who liked Alfasuds of all sorts, having slashed the asking price several times and leaving himself thousands of pounds out of pocket for the restoration costs (but he never does a project for the money - it's his hobby and, as he is fond of saying, even when he loses money it's actually fairly cheap compared to what some people spend in their free time and it keeps him happily employed at home).
Some cars are just not desirable except to a small band of nutters (and I don't think there are any cars out there that don't have an enthusiast following of some sort). I suppose the dodgy image of the 'Sud and the appalling survival rate mean that it just doesn't cross most people's radars.
Ha ha..! My Sud story, a tale of cruelty to children! Dad took us to the local garage for our 1st new car! Wow, we went in and sat inside a lovely Sud - green cloverleaf… ooh aaah… we left after all the paperwork was done - and started waiting, pick-up was 3 weeks out… Spent those 3 weeks getting car mags, reading the stats - bragging to mates at school about the incoming missile… Pick up day arrived, in we went… Dad says - wait here - it’s round the back of the garage… we waited and in some minutes ‘it’ appeared… some kind of horrible error had occurred… IT WAS A BLOODY BRIGHT RED ZASTAVA - 3 door???!!!! What the hell??? Drove home - in tears… the shame, barbaric actually… Back then Alfa dealers also sold Zastava’s (Yugo’s)… Am sure would qualify for special local authority counselling if that happened now…
The one in the ad is a bit wrong. Odd stickers on the wings and single headlights. I had a 1982 1.5ti with twin headlights.
I spent a day doing valve clearances, ignition timing and setting the carbs up. Throttle response was only matched by an E36 or E46 M3. Handling was great. Braking dubious. Rust terrible.
A good friend bought a Fiesta RS Turbo, the Sud couldn’t keep up so I had to buy an Uno Turbo. I’ve known since then that a turbo is generally the answer.
I spent a day doing valve clearances, ignition timing and setting the carbs up. Throttle response was only matched by an E36 or E46 M3. Handling was great. Braking dubious. Rust terrible.
A good friend bought a Fiesta RS Turbo, the Sud couldn’t keep up so I had to buy an Uno Turbo. I’ve known since then that a turbo is generally the answer.
I haven’t read all of this so some of the following may have already been said.
All Alfasud Ti’s were 2 door on the early versions and 3 door on the later cars. There were no 4/5 door Ti’s sold in the UK. This is a Gold Cloverleaf which was a ‘luxury’ version whereas the sporting versions used the Ti tag. There were variations on the Ti theme, Ti ‘S’, Ti ‘X’ , Veloce and 105 Green Cloverleaf.
The R word has already had an airing as it predictably does with anything old and Italian. From my own experience my ‘80 ‘W’ Ti S needed extensive rust repairs and a full respray at c. 55k miles and 4 years. That’s like having rust issues on a 67 reg car today!
My later, ‘84 ‘A’ 105 Green Cloverleaf was better but still miles away from even a Ford or Vauxhall of the time.
Oh and the big ends went on the first one at around 50k…
And the fiddly inboard front brakes…
However I still have fond memories of both, and would have another in a heartbeat, but it would be pure nostalgia as they just don’t stack up in the modern world.
All Alfasud Ti’s were 2 door on the early versions and 3 door on the later cars. There were no 4/5 door Ti’s sold in the UK. This is a Gold Cloverleaf which was a ‘luxury’ version whereas the sporting versions used the Ti tag. There were variations on the Ti theme, Ti ‘S’, Ti ‘X’ , Veloce and 105 Green Cloverleaf.
The R word has already had an airing as it predictably does with anything old and Italian. From my own experience my ‘80 ‘W’ Ti S needed extensive rust repairs and a full respray at c. 55k miles and 4 years. That’s like having rust issues on a 67 reg car today!
My later, ‘84 ‘A’ 105 Green Cloverleaf was better but still miles away from even a Ford or Vauxhall of the time.
Oh and the big ends went on the first one at around 50k…
And the fiddly inboard front brakes…
However I still have fond memories of both, and would have another in a heartbeat, but it would be pure nostalgia as they just don’t stack up in the modern world.
Earl of Petrol said:
I haven’t read all of this so some of the following may have already been said.
All Alfasud Ti’s were 2 door on the early versions and 3 door on the later cars. There were no 4/5 door Ti’s sold in the UK. This is a Gold Cloverleaf which was a ‘luxury’ version whereas the sporting versions used the Ti tag. There were variations on the Ti theme, Ti ‘S’, Ti ‘X’ , Veloce and 105 Green Cloverleaf.
The R word has already had an airing as it predictably does with anything old and Italian. From my own experience my ‘80 ‘W’ Ti S needed extensive rust repairs and a full respray at c. 55k miles and 4 years. That’s like having rust issues on a 67 reg car today!
My later, ‘84 ‘A’ 105 Green Cloverleaf was better but still miles away from even a Ford or Vauxhall of the time.
Oh and the big ends went on the first one at around 50k…
And the fiddly inboard front brakes…
However I still have fond memories of both, and would have another in a heartbeat, but it would be pure nostalgia as they just don’t stack up in the modern world.
I think you’d be hard pressed to name any classic that stacks up in the modern world. Having one as a daily driver would be mental, but I don’t think anyone does..All Alfasud Ti’s were 2 door on the early versions and 3 door on the later cars. There were no 4/5 door Ti’s sold in the UK. This is a Gold Cloverleaf which was a ‘luxury’ version whereas the sporting versions used the Ti tag. There were variations on the Ti theme, Ti ‘S’, Ti ‘X’ , Veloce and 105 Green Cloverleaf.
The R word has already had an airing as it predictably does with anything old and Italian. From my own experience my ‘80 ‘W’ Ti S needed extensive rust repairs and a full respray at c. 55k miles and 4 years. That’s like having rust issues on a 67 reg car today!
My later, ‘84 ‘A’ 105 Green Cloverleaf was better but still miles away from even a Ford or Vauxhall of the time.
Oh and the big ends went on the first one at around 50k…
And the fiddly inboard front brakes…
However I still have fond memories of both, and would have another in a heartbeat, but it would be pure nostalgia as they just don’t stack up in the modern world.
The rust thing is well documented.
Poor Russian steel, bare shells being left outside at the factory (by the sea and next to a chemical plant) filling cavities with hygroscopic foam as “rust protection!”
Chances are if it’s survived this long it’s probably okay though..
DeltaEvo2 said:
I liked both, the Golf and the Alfasud, same designer, Giugiaro, but the Sud's handling and the note of the engine were better for me. It also felt more modern and spacious. The black one, from previous post, is very, very nice.
I've always though that the Mk1 GTI, although pretty, was dynamically very overated. Compared the Sud, the damping was awful and the brakes even worse (there was a linkage over to the servo on the left from the brake pedal on the right which made the brakes horribly spongy).The Mk2's were a lot better and some of my mates started drifting off to them, Siroccos and, later, Corrados as the Sud aged and the 33's became starved of development.
Two cars that turned my head as the 90's arrived were the Mk1 MR2 - which had the sweetest chassis - and the 205 1.9GTI which had so much more torque than any Sud or 33. The writing was seriously in the wall by then.
But in 1981, when I first drove a Sud, there really wasn't anything to hold a candle to it, driving-wise. You have to remember that the Escort Mk2 has only just gone out of the production at that point. The Mk3 was famously lauded as an Alfasud beater in a Car test, something the late regretted. My dad actually bought one of them in 1980 and it was dynamically woeful in comparison. By that point I'd been bitten by the Sud bug and went on to run two of them and then a 33 until a company car arrived in 1993 and that was that.
2xChevrons said:
Callum43 said:
I remember being mightily impressed back when they were new . Has anybody had recent experience of a good one and if those famed qualities still make it a good drive ?
It certainly looks a good example of one but at £20k not an easy sell . But , as they say , find another .
This was Dad's after the restoration:It certainly looks a good example of one but at £20k not an easy sell . But , as they say , find another .
Edited by Callum43 on Monday 28th February 16:56
Just a 1.5 Super (single twin-choke carb, 5-speed manual, four-doors, cloth seats), so it had to be worked very hard on all the West Country hills but all the dynamic sparkle and sensory overload was there. It genuinely drives and handles like a slow and grippy Lotus Elan.
He ended up with a load of spares including the 1.3 twin-carb engine from a Sprint and some Ti interior bits, so the Super ended up with a Ti dashboard. We vacillated endlessly on whether to rebuild the Sprint engine or to swap all the external bits over and turn the 1.5 into a 'Veloce' spec unit but in the end decided to leave it standard.
The interesting thing was when the time came to sell it...tumbleweeds. It turns out that there aren't that many people who want Alfasuds out there in the world, and of those very few want a 'standard' one - 'Sud fans all want a Ti, a QV, a Sprint etc. It took ages to shift and even when he got interest it was all from people hemming and hawwing about "oh, I really wanted a Ti but this one is in such good condition...but I really want a Ti so, no thanks, I'll pass...". He finally sold it to seemingly the only person in the British Isles who liked Alfasuds of all sorts, having slashed the asking price several times and leaving himself thousands of pounds out of pocket for the restoration costs (but he never does a project for the money - it's his hobby and, as he is fond of saying, even when he loses money it's actually fairly cheap compared to what some people spend in their free time and it keeps him happily employed at home).
Some cars are just not desirable except to a small band of nutters (and I don't think there are any cars out there that don't have an enthusiast following of some sort). I suppose the dodgy image of the 'Sud and the appalling survival rate mean that it just doesn't cross most people's radars.
wpa1975 said:
robemcdonald said:
Market prices on cars like this are irrelevant.
If you want one you’re going to have to pay the price. It’s not like there is a massive choice and you can simply go and find another “round the corner”
You would have to be nuts to pay £20k for an Alfa SudIf you want one you’re going to have to pay the price. It’s not like there is a massive choice and you can simply go and find another “round the corner”
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