Scrapheap Challenge - Yet another Alfa

[knapmann]

Two years ago my missus said I could buy a second toy car with the pennies I had available. Naturally I had to take this opportunity straight away.

I had 2k in my pocket. What can you get for 2k that is interesting? Well as we all know 105 alfas are pretty interesting, but surely you cant get one for 2k. Well the answer is yes you can, if it is extremely rusty and battered.

This is probably the last UK delivered factory RHD Giulia 1600 Super restoration project out there, id love to know how many of these they sold in the UK, it must have been very few. Ive never seen another in the flesh, and the ones I have heard of are all imports mostly LHD.

This is the one everyone else in years gone by has said is too far gone to be worth attempting to get back on the road. This was being sold as a parts car, no V5, and impossible to re-register. The 2k value was basically because thats the value of the engine, gearbox and diff. The rest - worthless. Well I thought differently. I thought, I reckon I can get a V5 for that, its still got its chassis number... I also thought, this would be ideal to do the only kind of restoration I can afford - one on a tight budget, and when the finish isnt great and its bodged here and there what does it matter, I'll have saved it from the scrap man and I'll have myself a Giulia Super that drives! If it all ends in tears what have I lost, not a lot.

So payment was sent trailer was organised, rotten alfa turns up having only seen a few rudimentary photos.

Needless to say it was even rustier than I thought.

This was two years ago, more to come....

Looks not too bad,....



Ouch



Yeah thats a bit rusty

[sladey]

Looking forward to this

[Bootsy]

This should be fun!

[Lightweight_911]

.

Great cars - for many years one of the most underrated Alfas.

You've certainly got a challenge on your hands with this one !

Looking forward to seeing how this unfolds - literally !!

This is probably the last UK delivered factory RHD Giulia 1600 Super restoration project out there, id love to know how many of these they sold in the UK, it must have been very few. I've never seen another in the flesh, and the ones I have heard of are all imports mostly LHD.

For reference, I had a '72 RHD Giulia Super (slightly modified with a 2 litre engine) as my everyday car ~20 yrs ago ...

.

[neilbardsley]

Good luck. That is a lot of work. Your wife should of let you spend more:)

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[Gary71]

Best of luck

Difficult to know where to start with a body like that. Get one corner solid and work out from there I guess

[911hillclimber]

Oh my, what a great project.

I can see how I would tackle it if 30 years younger...
The outer panels that are done for will be a challenge to recover/replace?
No idea what availability is like for these box alfas.

However, it is a rescue job, so if not mad about originality, the right hole here, the right bulge there, you can do this easy.

Think you will need some good handy tools!

Like eating the proverbial elephant, bit by bit not as a whole.

[knapmann]

Bit by bit... you couldnt be more correct.

Caveat emptor going forwards, I do not have the skills or equipment available to Barry et al, they are paid a lot of money for good reason! If you dont like this turn away now!

My philosophy with this car is that I WANT it to look like it it has been to the brink and back, I want it to have battle scars all over, I want people to think someone has somehow revived this from the dead. Im not aiming for something that looks like it hasnt been repaired all over...

So my rotten Alfa is here. Step one is strip it to a rolling shell, well this only takes about half a day. Most of the time is spent sweeping up the soviet steel remnants off my drive way. Its fun when you open a door and literally the whole bottom of the door crumbles onto the floor

With the car stripped and my 911 filling the single garage I have, my initial plan was to start on the bolt on panels, i.e. doors, bonnet, boot lid. which I could work on indoors.

Now I could buy some replacement bolt on panels in good condition but thats not so simple. There are literally zero Giulia Super body panels available in the UK in good or terrible condition. The only panels available in vaguely decent condition are in southern europe and are £400 a piece. 4x doors and a boot and bonnet adds up to a pretty penny. I could buy some repro panels but even these ate 200£ per door...needles to say thats not happening. So the weldathon begins. Fabricating bits of frame and skin for everything from bits of sheet metal I have lying around.

Dont you always wish you took more and better photos...

Doors....

[knapmann]

Boot lid - on the face of it I thought this was beyond saving, from the factory these had a lovely spongy seal glued in all around the edges that did a wonderful job of rotting out the frame the whole way around. But the skin itself looked salvageable. I realised I could replace the frame sections a piece at a time the whole way around i order to save this boot lid.

[knapmann]

the bonnet was in the best condition of the lot

[knapmann]

more to come...

[neilbardsley]

Off to a good start

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[yoda]

Wow. On every level. Good luck!

[911hillclimber]

Great, the War has begun, the battles commence, there to be won.

Good call to do the 'loose' bits first, very easy to handle and the shell will be a good 'jig' to ensure it all fits.

11/10 to rebuild as a survivor, look forward to how you approach the 'paint' stage.

[misteralz]

That's utterly brilliant. I'd clear lacquer it and nothing more. And because you're starting from something that was destined for the scrap anyway, you can do what you like without guilt. If it's really that far gone, I'd be getting the tape measure out and seeing what sort of 'chassis swap' I could do. MX-5's probably about the right size?