Ebay. Alfa. 500 mile drive home.
Discussion
So, last weekend in a moment of weakness largely ignoring my 'budget' I purchased a one way ticket to Aberdeen to 'view' an Alfa. I mean, it's a bloody long walk home but I'm definitely just viewing it.
Important points? 3.2 V6 (not a busso), red, causes an event in my trousers at 50 paces.
My commute recently halved so it makes sense that my mpg should also halve. Plus I just want something to daily that I turn and look back at, and whilst I love the Ovlov, it's handsome rather than... well, Italian
It'll be fine because I'm only viewing it, and the 500ish mile drive home is guaranteed to be both a) fine, and b) not going to happen.
I've heard of world leading fish and chips on the drive, sorry, walk home, so that will help sustain me and the friend who is coming along to sit in the passenger seat, sorry, walk alongside me for the trip home.
I fail to see how this could possibly go wrong.
Important points? 3.2 V6 (not a busso), red, causes an event in my trousers at 50 paces.
My commute recently halved so it makes sense that my mpg should also halve. Plus I just want something to daily that I turn and look back at, and whilst I love the Ovlov, it's handsome rather than... well, Italian
It'll be fine because I'm only viewing it, and the 500ish mile drive home is guaranteed to be both a) fine, and b) not going to happen.
I've heard of world leading fish and chips on the drive, sorry, walk home, so that will help sustain me and the friend who is coming along to sit in the passenger seat, sorry, walk alongside me for the trip home.
I fail to see how this could possibly go wrong.
Evening all, sorry wasn't very clear with the OP, so perhaps some clarification needed...
Yes it's a Brera S, yes the GM lump with Alfa heads isn't a Busso, but there's a GTV with a busso on the drive if necessary (that I've been meaning to sell for 4 years at least, but I digress).
Roger, the Monaro is staying don't worry! In fact I'll be breaking it shortly by trying to stick a cam in it and a bit of a top end refresh
The story goes that the car has actually spent most of its life in London, but realistically it could all be stories, so I shall be having a good prod about underneath as best I can
Yes it's had the cam chains done recently, both subframes are (apparently) in very good condition, and what the hell it all sounds pretty good, so let's see!
I shall be getting up a bit early on Saturday to get a lift to the train station, a train to Birmingham airport and then a flight to Aberdeen. I was planning on taking a rucksack full of distress flares (in competizione red, naturally) but alas they're rather frowned upon on commerical aircraft.
I imagine the formidable musk of E-Z-Dash-Shine will be detectable from the air, I will endeavour to keep you all updated when safe and legal to do so (for the viewing you understand, it's just to view)
Any suggestions for sights to see to improve the inevitable walk home will be welcome, route will roughly begin in Aberdeen and ultimately end in Northampton.
Yes it's a Brera S, yes the GM lump with Alfa heads isn't a Busso, but there's a GTV with a busso on the drive if necessary (that I've been meaning to sell for 4 years at least, but I digress).
Roger, the Monaro is staying don't worry! In fact I'll be breaking it shortly by trying to stick a cam in it and a bit of a top end refresh
The story goes that the car has actually spent most of its life in London, but realistically it could all be stories, so I shall be having a good prod about underneath as best I can
Yes it's had the cam chains done recently, both subframes are (apparently) in very good condition, and what the hell it all sounds pretty good, so let's see!
I shall be getting up a bit early on Saturday to get a lift to the train station, a train to Birmingham airport and then a flight to Aberdeen. I was planning on taking a rucksack full of distress flares (in competizione red, naturally) but alas they're rather frowned upon on commerical aircraft.
I imagine the formidable musk of E-Z-Dash-Shine will be detectable from the air, I will endeavour to keep you all updated when safe and legal to do so (for the viewing you understand, it's just to view)
Any suggestions for sights to see to improve the inevitable walk home will be welcome, route will roughly begin in Aberdeen and ultimately end in Northampton.
Edited by SturdyHSV on Thursday 4th April 23:44
Well we stopped there to grab some 'lunch', and then stopped at a BP once we'd emptied the tank.
Actual driving time was about 7h15 back to Northampton train station, we copped out of anything overly scenic, came down the M6 mostly.
Car ran well, it really is poor on fuel and it's not a Busso engine note wise, but it's remarkably refined on the motorway, very little wind noise, composed etc.
Car looks in fine fettle underneath, it's been a London car most of its life.
Will post more tomorrow
Actual driving time was about 7h15 back to Northampton train station, we copped out of anything overly scenic, came down the M6 mostly.
Car ran well, it really is poor on fuel and it's not a Busso engine note wise, but it's remarkably refined on the motorway, very little wind noise, composed etc.
Car looks in fine fettle underneath, it's been a London car most of its life.
Will post more tomorrow
martin mrt said:
If that Brera has been owned by a chap called Lee, given you’ve posted pics of the Yellow Integrale I suspect it will have been, you will have a good car there.
Super super Anal and he has owned the Lancia longer than I remember.
That's the chap!Super super Anal and he has owned the Lancia longer than I remember.
Car is a testament to him, to be honest the A2 he picked us up in was absolutely spotless, the house, garage, other cars, all absolutely immaculate and very clearly no expense spared on anything!
That Integrale is something else too
Few days in with the old girl, initial thoughts:
Driver's seat rocks slightly. I did notice this on the test drive, it appears extremely common and fixes are either replacement (expensive at the time and surely will fail again...) or something significantly less sophisticated involving foam cladding It does bother me so will investigate further at the weekend probably.
There is no storage for anything, other than the standard pockets to fit your oversized sunglasses in the door, and the glovebox for your cologne. Ergonomically the interior is very similar to the GTV's interior, which is actually quite pleasing that there is an obvious tie in style and layout.
As mentioned initially, the engine is by no means an inpiring singer and certainly likes a drink, but I think in reality the car is actually quicker than it feels, it just pulls very consistently across the rev range and without any real drama, which makes it 'feel' slower.
The steering and handling is standard Alfa. Extremely direct, hangs on doggedly (new P Zero Neros all round) and has a nice weight to it. It feels like a larger and grippier version of my ex's 147, and overall gives the feel of being one solid lump of car that moves and absorbs bumps as one single object, as opposed to a bunch of rattley components bolted together
The pedals are nicely positioned for heel and toe (at least the way I do it, pivot on ball of foot and use heel on throttle), although the engine requires a little bit more of a throttle prod to bring the revs up than a Busso, and the brake pedal travel vs force doesn't quite feel linear, but I think that's just me needing to get used to it.
Front 3 quarter and rear 3 quarter I think are my favourite angles. I shall continue to investigate this.
It's a very refined vehicle at speed, it is quite jiggly at low speed over the typical (bottom half of the) UK roads but again as it feels like one solid lump, it's not partcularly intrusive.
Have further tweaked the driving position so I'm sat a little lower, an extra inch drop would be nice though, especially as the arm rest on the door is quite low and the window line etc., it does feel as if the seats were originally intended to be about 2 inches lower.
The parking sensors work, the headlights are comical. The gauge lighting is very pleasing. There is a way to turn off the (to me) incredibly annoying 'beeeeeep' when you lock / unlock the car that (to me) sounds like an 80s aftermarket alarm being set.
The air-con works well when it bothers to try, but it has a fairly laissez-faire attitude about the whole process of whether it needs to actually make any effort to adjust the cabin temperature. I suspect this is additional 'character' as opposed to any kind of fault.
God it's a good looking car.
She is a lazy old girl when it comes to cold starts. Turns over at a consistent rate, but for a loooooooong time before firing. It sounds embarrassingly Alfa like! Warm starts are quick though. Again, there is evidence of 'they all do that sir' for the V6, I'll be keeping an eye out on alfaowner to see if there's an actual fix or way to improve the situation.
Passed a red Giulia QF yesterday, Alfa wave exchanged of course.
Because the engine is so smooth and quiet it's easy to find yourself rolling along at 3,000 rpm unnecessarily, especially combined with the typical Alfa 0 at 6 o' clock tacho / speedo arrangement.
This is the first car I actively want to clean, did I mention she's a fine looking thing?
Driver's seat rocks slightly. I did notice this on the test drive, it appears extremely common and fixes are either replacement (expensive at the time and surely will fail again...) or something significantly less sophisticated involving foam cladding
It does bother me so will investigate further at the weekend probably.There is no storage for anything, other than the standard pockets to fit your oversized sunglasses in the door, and the glovebox for your cologne. Ergonomically the interior is very similar to the GTV's interior, which is actually quite pleasing that there is an obvious tie in style and layout.
As mentioned initially, the engine is by no means an inpiring singer and certainly likes a drink, but I think in reality the car is actually quicker than it feels, it just pulls very consistently across the rev range and without any real drama, which makes it 'feel' slower.
The steering and handling is standard Alfa. Extremely direct, hangs on doggedly (new P Zero Neros all round) and has a nice weight to it. It feels like a larger and grippier version of my ex's 147, and overall gives the feel of being one solid lump of car that moves and absorbs bumps as one single object, as opposed to a bunch of rattley components bolted together
The pedals are nicely positioned for heel and toe (at least the way I do it, pivot on ball of foot and use heel on throttle), although the engine requires a little bit more of a throttle prod to bring the revs up than a Busso, and the brake pedal travel vs force doesn't quite feel linear, but I think that's just me needing to get used to it.
Front 3 quarter and rear 3 quarter I think are my favourite angles. I shall continue to investigate this.
It's a very refined vehicle at speed, it is quite jiggly at low speed over the typical (bottom half of the) UK roads but again as it feels like one solid lump, it's not partcularly intrusive.
Have further tweaked the driving position so I'm sat a little lower, an extra inch drop would be nice though, especially as the arm rest on the door is quite low and the window line etc., it does feel as if the seats were originally intended to be about 2 inches lower.
The parking sensors work, the headlights are comical. The gauge lighting is very pleasing. There is a way to turn off the (to me) incredibly annoying 'beeeeeep' when you lock / unlock the car that (to me) sounds like an 80s aftermarket alarm being set.
The air-con works well when it bothers to try, but it has a fairly laissez-faire attitude about the whole process of whether it needs to actually make any effort to adjust the cabin temperature. I suspect this is additional 'character' as opposed to any kind of fault.
God it's a good looking car.
She is a lazy old girl when it comes to cold starts. Turns over at a consistent rate, but for a loooooooong time before firing. It sounds embarrassingly Alfa like! Warm starts are quick though. Again, there is evidence of 'they all do that sir' for the V6, I'll be keeping an eye out on alfaowner to see if there's an actual fix or way to improve the situation.
Passed a red Giulia QF yesterday, Alfa wave exchanged of course.
Because the engine is so smooth and quiet it's easy to find yourself rolling along at 3,000 rpm unnecessarily, especially combined with the typical Alfa 0 at 6 o' clock tacho / speedo arrangement.
This is the first car I actively want to clean, did I mention she's a fine looking thing?
So by way of an update, really liked the Brera, and it was hilarious fun to drive through Milton Keynes or down a country road, but ultimately it spun the wrong wheels and didn't make the right noises 
I did a little over 2,000 miles (not entirely sure how many in the end) and then stumbled across someone selling a Holden Ute and I immediately realised I'd bought the wrong daily.
I jokingly passed on words to that effect and whether he was interested in a Brera... turns out he was
So we met for a beer on Sunday to discuss bad decisions, and I returned home in a mildly JPS liveried Ute
I did a little over 2,000 miles (not entirely sure how many in the end) and then stumbled across someone selling a Holden Ute and I immediately realised I'd bought the wrong daily.
I jokingly passed on words to that effect and whether he was interested in a Brera... turns out he was
So we met for a beer on Sunday to discuss bad decisions, and I returned home in a mildly JPS liveried Ute
Benjarke said:
I did not expect this thread to end up with you getting a Ute!
Are you going to keep the liverie?
Well I shall be taking it to Le Mans on Wednesday (it came with a spare set of wheels and a ute tent, so perfect Le Mans fodder) and then will almost definitely remove the livery Are you going to keep the liverie?
It's been my intention to get a Ute for a while (to go alongside the Monaro), and although this isn't necessarily exactly the spec I was after (it's an auto) the opportunity to not have to sell a car was worth the hit on value. Plus the auto is lovely for traffic and it's something a bit different as I've never had one before.
First job as the new owner you ask?
https://youtu.be/lxtU2Ix2k1g
Driving a proper slush box is going to take some getting used to, I keep getting twitches in my left thigh
https://youtu.be/lxtU2Ix2k1g
Driving a proper slush box is going to take some getting used to, I keep getting twitches in my left thigh
T-195 said:
Get the stickers off or it will be confiscated at Dover.
Never had a problem with stickered up cars the last 5 years of Le Mans, any particular reason?Waaaaaaaaait a minute, I need a whoosh parrot don't I?
Also, I continued the previous owner's excellent efforts:
Edited by SturdyHSV on Wednesday 12th June 09:23
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