Some of us will know too well the shame of owning a rotten old car that's long sat gathering dust outside the house. For one Alfa Romeo specialist in London, the 33 1.7 Cloverleaf that remained parked on the road was annoying the neighbours, but he lacked the time to put it right. The scrapheap beckoned for this retro Italian saloon until PHer Spinakerr, who visited the specialist with his 164, offered to give it a temporary new home - just until the right buyer was found.
It took a battery charge plus some enthusiastic use of the starter and choke (yep, this is a carb'd 1.7!) for Spinakerr to bring the Cloverleaf back to its revvy life, with the car just about well enough to get to the local petrol station under its own steam. With the 33 now in his possession (but not ownership, we hasten to add), Spinakerr has set about bringing back some of its former glory. The webs, dust and mould have been wiped off, revealing the surprisingly healthy shade of gold that was hidden beneath.
But, this being an old and neglected Alfa, there's plenty more to do. The engine bay, for starters, needs a lot of attention, and there's no telling what issues are to be found lurking elsewhere. The good news is the belts were recently changed by the specialist and all the significant components look to be healthy, but everything else looks a bit, well, tired. Spinakerr clearly isn't just interested in bringing the Alfa to an acceptable level, so every detail is being addressed.
Thanks to this PHer's admirable motivation and equally-as-brilliant reporting in the thread, this is shaping up to be quite the story. The salvation of this 137hp retro Italian is now in full swing and attendance at this weekend's Festival of The Unexceptional has been confirmed. The work will continue for Spinakerr after this brief public showing, however, because there's a strong smell of fuel pouring into the cabin, with the source yet to be confirmed...