Written off Italian V6...back from the dead!
Discussion
Hi guys
After watching a few youtubers who buy salvage cars and get them back together, i thought I would it a go as my next prohect.
I've always liked the Alfa GTV (916) in 3.0 V6 form and started to look out for one on ebay and Copart.
After a few weeks, a car popped up on Copart as having little front end damage and I started to bid! 63,000 miles and with desirable red leather interior - from the pictures it looked an easy fix.....
I started to get very excited and watched the bidding on an hourly basis! These seem to start at about £5k and go up to £10K for a really nice car.....bidding stalled at about £2K
I then decided to google the registration and low and behold, the car was a well known car on the Alfa forum.......
I then saw the real damage......
On the forum it was revealed that the car had been sideswiped whilst parked and the front wheel and suspension had taken the main damage. Broken wheel, broken suspension, broken bonnet, scuffed doors and wing - repair estimate of 5K! Obviously it was written off.
Eventually I won the car and got it delivered to my driveway. It looked absolutely horrendous and I began to wonder what I had got myself in for! But it started at and sounded sweet!
First and biggest job was to repair the front suspension. I stripped everything down and it looked like a new front lower arm, new drop link and new tie rod was needed.
With that done my attention turned to the bodywork.
First job was to remove the bumper and assess it.
Once off I could see that there was very little damage. The front clip had simply pushed off the inner wing and once straightened it all bolted back on nicely.
The scuffed door and wing simply needed machine polishing with a abrasive compound and all of the damage came out!
I then managed to source a mirror (wrong colour) and wheel from a scrappy and painted them with rattle cans!
Once everything was back together I then spent over a week wet sanding, machine polishing and working on the paintwork to get it as good as I can.....these were the results as of yesterday
It's getting there!!!
Next thing to do is get it through an MOT and then it will be on the road! I had a cheeky drive in my village on the way to get the alignment done and it makes a lovely noise!
Few jobs to sort out - bonnet alignment is still not great, I need to fit a new inner front wheel arch liner, and the passenger side door could do with repainting (nothing to do with accident - older repair).
Hope you enjoy the write up - will keep you in the loop on next steps.
I managed to track down the owner yesterday who tells me he has 10 years' of invoices to send me!
After watching a few youtubers who buy salvage cars and get them back together, i thought I would it a go as my next prohect.
I've always liked the Alfa GTV (916) in 3.0 V6 form and started to look out for one on ebay and Copart.
After a few weeks, a car popped up on Copart as having little front end damage and I started to bid! 63,000 miles and with desirable red leather interior - from the pictures it looked an easy fix.....
I started to get very excited and watched the bidding on an hourly basis! These seem to start at about £5k and go up to £10K for a really nice car.....bidding stalled at about £2K
I then decided to google the registration and low and behold, the car was a well known car on the Alfa forum.......
I then saw the real damage......
On the forum it was revealed that the car had been sideswiped whilst parked and the front wheel and suspension had taken the main damage. Broken wheel, broken suspension, broken bonnet, scuffed doors and wing - repair estimate of 5K! Obviously it was written off.
Eventually I won the car and got it delivered to my driveway. It looked absolutely horrendous and I began to wonder what I had got myself in for! But it started at and sounded sweet!
First and biggest job was to repair the front suspension. I stripped everything down and it looked like a new front lower arm, new drop link and new tie rod was needed.
With that done my attention turned to the bodywork.
First job was to remove the bumper and assess it.
Once off I could see that there was very little damage. The front clip had simply pushed off the inner wing and once straightened it all bolted back on nicely.
The scuffed door and wing simply needed machine polishing with a abrasive compound and all of the damage came out!
I then managed to source a mirror (wrong colour) and wheel from a scrappy and painted them with rattle cans!
Once everything was back together I then spent over a week wet sanding, machine polishing and working on the paintwork to get it as good as I can.....these were the results as of yesterday
It's getting there!!!
Next thing to do is get it through an MOT and then it will be on the road! I had a cheeky drive in my village on the way to get the alignment done and it makes a lovely noise!
Few jobs to sort out - bonnet alignment is still not great, I need to fit a new inner front wheel arch liner, and the passenger side door could do with repainting (nothing to do with accident - older repair).
Hope you enjoy the write up - will keep you in the loop on next steps.
I managed to track down the owner yesterday who tells me he has 10 years' of invoices to send me!
Edited by sshenton1975 on Saturday 5th March 18:33
AC43 said:
I'll bet it does - what's the exhaust? A Supersprint or a Tubi or something?
Thanks for the nice comments guys - not sure which exhaust it is but its a bit raspy!!!Quite a bit of fettling to do to get it completely sorted but I think it was worth saving........
Looking forward to seeing the service history to see if the belts have been done recently!
I've always loved these from a distance... my Dad had a 156 (sadly only the 1.9 JTDm) when I was a very young lad and that somewhat inspired a love of Alfas. And although I consider the GTV to be one of the most beautiful cars of its era and the Busso to be one of the greatest engines of all time, unfortunately living 50m from a low-emissions zone, a general lack of mechanical competency, and the fact my 6'4" frame will reportedly have a very hard time in one of these have always stopped me from entertaining the idea.
That's a very long way of saying bloody well done for saving this one, I have a feeling far too many GTVs are going to go to/have already gone to the scrapheap and we'll collectively mourn that in 5-10 years time.
That's a very long way of saying bloody well done for saving this one, I have a feeling far too many GTVs are going to go to/have already gone to the scrapheap and we'll collectively mourn that in 5-10 years time.
Edited by Sofa on Tuesday 1st March 00:35
Sofa said:
I've always loved these from a distance... my Dad had a 156 (sadly only the 1.9 JTDm) when I was a very young lad and that somewhat inspired a love of Alfas. And although I consider the GTV to be one of the most beautiful cars of its era and the Busso to be one of the greatest engines of all time, unfortunately living 50m from a low-emissions zone, a general lack of mechanical competency, and the fact my 6'4" frame will reportedly have a very hard time in one of these have always stopped me from entertaining the idea.
That's a very long way of saying bloody well done for saving this one, I have a feeling far too many GTVs are going to go to/have already gone to the scrapheap and we'll collectively mourn that in 5-10 years time.
As someone of the same height (and more torso than legs) I can confirm that you aren't getting in there comfortably. Always struggled with Alfa's, really wanted both a 156 GTA and GTV Cup over the years but was never going to fit without some serious modifications to the drivers seat mounting.That's a very long way of saying bloody well done for saving this one, I have a feeling far too many GTVs are going to go to/have already gone to the scrapheap and we'll collectively mourn that in 5-10 years time.
Edited by Sofa on Tuesday 1st March 00:35
One of the very few times I've found being tall annoying.
Cracking job BTW OP. Looks great and a car with real character.
Looks awesome and for 2k well worth the money!
Had a Busso GTV a few years ago in red with tan interior which has now sadly gone to scrap but still have my TS GTV tucked away in my parents garage.
Is everything ok with the rear of the car? It might just be the shadows but the rear drivers side wheel looks a little off?
Had a Busso GTV a few years ago in red with tan interior which has now sadly gone to scrap but still have my TS GTV tucked away in my parents garage.
Is everything ok with the rear of the car? It might just be the shadows but the rear drivers side wheel looks a little off?
stumpage said:
henrytvr said:
Is everything ok with the rear of the car? It might just be the shadows but the rear drivers side wheel looks a little off?
I've was just about to post that. Doesn't look right as if it's sitting to far forward. 
It is a bit odd looking now you mention it. One of those "once seen cannot be unseen" moments.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff