SOTW: Alfa GTV

A red Italian thoroughbred for £650? What could possibly go wrong...

By Oli S / Friday, 1 August 2008 / Loading comments

Ahh, what is it about a £650 Alfa GTV that just makes you want to start running Forrest Gump-style in the opposite direction and never stop. At the same time the other half of your brain is making you fumble crazily with your wallet, desperate to own this gorgeous chunk of motoring history.

Top Gear is right – you really should own an Alfa at some point. And with the company making a push towards products that don’t fall apart, ‘proper’ Alfas like this are all the more desirable.

The GTV was a fastback coupe version of the Alfetta saloon and originally came with a 1.8 litre (1779 cc) version of the Alfa DOHC four but was called the Alfetta GT. Later came a 2.0-litre ‘GTV’ version and the top model was the GTV-6 which, as you can probably guess, had a V6.

If you scour the internet for owner’s reviews of these cars you will often find the response ‘everything’ under the section ‘What Went Wrong?’. The cars are temperamental but sexy and this means that owners often feel compelled to keep them on the road.

Rust was a problem as usual but all manner of things are capable of packing up. But then if they weren’t then it wouldn’t be an Alfa and it wouldn’t have what owners of unreliable cars call ‘character’.

The bottom line is you wouldn’t want one, would you? But as I look at the picture I just do. This is a 2.0-litre GTV from 1982 and for £650 what could possibly go wrong? It even comes with service history and tax and test so at least you can legally brake down on the way home…

Autotrader ad says: ‘1982 ALFA ROMEO ALFETTA 2.0,3 Doors, Manual, Coupe, Petrol, RED. SERVICE HISTORY, TAX AND TEST. £650.’