After reading the latest AutoItalia magazine write up I thought I should share my journey
I wont lie I have felt nervous spending so much money on my car however it was never intended to go this far but circumstances changed throughout the journey but reading the opening paragraph from the article which I have posted a snippet of helps calm my nerves a little that more people are doing the same.
Nobody really knows how it happens, but there comes a time in the life of certain car models when they're 'discovered' – when they transform from being 'regular' classics to something much more special. One day, a light switches on in people's heads and they say, "Actually, this is a great car, not just a good one." If you could bottle this formula and predict when it will happen, you'd be a millionaire many times over. It's a journey of 'appreciation' in both senses of the word: enthusiasts appreciate the car more, and the car's value also appreciates. One of the factors in this equation is someone, somewhere deciding that it's worth spending a lot of cash on a car to make it just how they want. This scenario happened long ago with the Tipo 105 Alfa Giulia GT: people started not just restoring them to original spec, but improving and updating them – a movement called 'restomodding'. Many restomods are true works of art – witness Alfaholics' spectacular Giulia GTA-R, for instance, where pretty much every aspect of the original is reworked. There seems no lack of eager customers prepared to spend significant sums to achieve their dream spec, looks and driving character. What happened with the Giulia GT is undoubtedly the template for the two cars we see on these pages: the Giulia GT's successor, the Tipo 116 Alfetta GTV. Of course, the Alfetta-based coupe achieved 'everyday classic' status some time ago, and if you want a nice example today you'll be paying a pretty penny. But how well does the more radical restomod approach work with the Alfetta?
I strongly recommend buying AutoItalia it is always good read
I will post my journey slowly over the coming weeks.
I think I was destined to always fall in love with Italian cars with my Dad being a car nut and I grew up around Lancia's and Fiats. I remember being a young teenager and seeing a GTV6 for the first time and was hooked and had to have one. Every time I saw one on the road I would point it out to my Dad and when the time came for my first car I was so fortunate that he helped me buy first car.
In the late nineties in High School I found out by surprise one of my good mates Justin also had GTV6 and together I have fond memories of Information Technology class and not doing any work but viewing
AlfaGTV6.com ~ Home of the Alfa Romeo Transaxlewww.alfagtv6.com and searching the Gallery section taking side profile pictures of our cars and then using Photoshop to superimpose aftermarket rims on the cars and cut the pages to lower the cars. ;D.. Then printing out the pictures and sticking them on our folders
After a few years of ownership I come to the conclusion I needed to sell the car to help buy some land with my wife to be. The car was immaculate and GP edition around 90 odd thousand kms, with no rust the only fault was the red paint was showing its age and needed a polish. I sold it to a South African spray painter as he drove away I did shed a tear :'(. My dream car was gone and now I bought a Ford Falcon. He did come back a few months later to rub salt into my wounds after he had it detailed as he lost my Vic Roads paperwork and still need to transfer it into his name. Here are some pictures my Dad took so I could remember. He changed the rims maybe not to everyone's liking.
Looking forward to the read. To be honest I'm still guilty of checking the web when I should be working.
Fast forward a decade of no Alfa and the itch was back. Late 2011 I saw two GTV6 GP's for sale one in Melbourne and one in Sydney. I put on my charm as was able to twist my Wives arm into the possibility of allowing me get a classic car. It was a Saturday morning and took the wife and of course my old man to check out the car in Melbourne. We arrived and he wasn't home he was still on his way back from work so we stood in the driveway and waited. After a few minutes I locked eyes with the red beauty and spotted the car coming around the corner. I smiled from the inside out and knew I had to have it. Went for a test drive and it sealed the deal for me and my wife and old man knew my love affair for the GTV6 was back. I got the feeling the seller was sitting on the fence and wasn't sure if he really wanted to sell the car so I told him the story of how much I regretted selling my car and if I had my time back would have found a way to keep it. Told him I didn't want the same thing to happen to him and to think about no rush as these cars are hard to come by.
Went home without putting a deposit and later that afternoon got a phone call back from the seller saying he sold the car to someone else who came later in the day and offered more than the asking price. WoW Wee and empty feeling came over me I hope the seller doesn't miss the car like I did but I realised that when buying something you want bad nice guys will not always win you may need to be ruthless.
Quote from: LALFA on September 09, 2020, 03:50:02 AM
Looking forward to the read. To be honest I'm still guilty of checking the web when I should be working.
Me too buddy
So after missing out my old man tried to convince me to call the guy from Sydney but it just seemed to difficult to buy a car from Interstate. Nevertheless my Dad was like my best mate and he wanted me to get it so he rang the seller and made the deal happen. It just so happened we had a truck going to Sydney at my work so everything was falling into place to get the car back to Melbourne for me. I was super excited and couldn't wait for the car to arrive.
The car arrived at work and now the story gets tough on my wallet. I do stress and don't want to upset anyone on this forum and that I don't blame the seller who by the way is really nice guy but the car was not what I thought it was going to be it is my fault for not getting it independently checked I take responsibility with the car being so rare I took the punt and was ruthless and just made it happen. The car had recently had its yearly registration renewed in NSW so I that gave me confidence as I believe NSW do a roadworthy every year. I also spoke with a reputable Alfa Mechanic who serviced the car for the client about the condition of the vehicle and everything checked out that this was a great car.
Subscribed 8)
Following with interest!
Thanks GeeTV and Martym00se72
I hope people are enjoying the Provenance of Alfa for me and my journey into the Restomod
I would also encourage anyone else to tell us their story as well and don't be shy as I have made some mistakes along the way and hopefully it can help us all in the future
I will say I have met some wonderful people along the way and some incredibly talented workmanship and we are very lucky to have here in Australia
Driving the car the home the steering was vague and all over the place along with a vibration also the drone of the exhaust was really off putting. What stood out to me straight away was that it had one of those cannon mufflers you find on Japanese import cars which explained the drone and spoiled the sweet Busso note. It also had 3 different tread tyres on the car which I hoped explained the handling. Cosmetically there was three cracked headlights, two drill holes in the hatch which were filled in by rubber grommets (must have a had an aftermarket spoiler fitted), some service rust under the rear passenger window, some bubbling on the roof near the drivers side door, all window seals shrunken, window trimmings painted black with one barely glued on and also the gtv6 bonnet tea tray painted black which was cracking. On the plus side the car looked like it had recently been painted and the red was shining and it had the sexiest wheels on it 17 inch Milano's 8). The other silver lining was that the car had nearly 12months rego on it so it gave me the opportunity to save up for a Road Worthy.
I had been out of the Alfa game for while and nearly 12months had passed and I saved up what I could and it was time to task someone with the Road Worthy. I wasn't sure where to go and my uncle had some dealings with Lou from Alfa Corse and he was only a 10 minute drive from my house so I thought they would be a good place to start.
As I said in one of my earlier posts I have met some wonderful people along the journey and Lou is right up there with the best. He is a magician on the cars he works on what a superstar and he got my car running and driving better then new. It needed some extensive work done and I got a shock with some of things he found wrong.
Unfortunately the first thing he told me was it has been involved in a accident from the front and he could see bad repairs in the engine bay. My heart sank!
This wasn't too bad because the car was over 25 years old so you would expect maybe a small accident here and there on most cars but then it got worse. I then find out that it had an undersized steering rack possibly out of an Alfetta and it was also worn out. So we needed to replace the steering rack with correct type also new ball joints rack joints tie rod ends and rack and steering boots. Brakes were no good 2 new front disks and pads and rear pad... and to top it off the headlights and exhaust failed the RWC and we needed to replace the middle and rear sections which were a horrible backyard abortion.
Wow wee my head was spinning :o
The car when I bought it had every receipt known to man spent on it in two folders so I thought to myself this car must have been loved and why was it in the state that I found it? The internet can be a wonderful tool at times
I went through the receipts and noticed that the car was originally a Melbourne car and found the original sale ad on the internet before it went to Sydney. In the picture the car had a red grill like all GP models but my car now had the black grill. So I assume the accident was recent and they changed the grill and painted the whole car. I then noticed the receipts of whoever bought the car originally in Sydney were missing well that was interesting. So I was curious as to what happened and why no records of it? So I rang the gentlemen I bought the car off and he told me who he bought the car off. I gave him a call and got donuts I don't know why I thought he would be helpful but he denied ever having an accident, I asked him why the grill was changed then he had no answer just said he got the car repainted for a freshen up.
Oh well it was a mystery then so I let it go as I had more important things to now worry about and that was where could I get my hands on three headlights and a new exhaust. I am aware now that parts are hard to come by as Alfa stop making parts when a car is 10 years old. But I was new to the scene and when I was told good luck finding three new headlights for a RHD car and that no one in Melbourne has stock of a standard exhaust and that it would have to be shipped from Italy... I was starting to have some major regrets. What had I DONE!
Hi gtvsix86
Thank you for sharing your journey on your GTV6 Restomod. Your experience and love of Alfas is similar to mine that began back in the 1970’s with the 105 series 1750 GTV and getting married and 3 children on the way put an end to that. Wind the clock forward 30 or so years, I purchased my Alfetta GTV4, which was in need of a refresh to bring back to as new condition. Some suttle enhancements, such as fitment of later model recaro leather interior and refurbed OEM polished wheels form part of the refresh project and are included on forum for reference purposes. With regards to your experience with new OEM replacement headlights, I have attached a link on what I ended up doing to maintain RHD configuration.
http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=19660.0
Regards
bonno
Well, at least you solved the misfire issue . . . . ;D
Just adds to the character. ;)
Will be following along with interest as I am doing much the same at the moment with my GP that has sat for 10 odd years.
Just put in 6 x new injectors and had it run for the 1st time in years.
Next is a new timing belt and water pump.
A bit more for me to do now to get her back on the road again.
Funny how many of us have a similar story re : had Italian cars as teens , meet wife , get married , have children , buy house , have no time or money for our alfas , then get to relive these beautiful cars over again.
At this stage I knew I needed some help so I joined the forum and cannot thank the members here enough for their advice and help. I don't know if is just me but I think the amount of traffic on the forum has dropped off over the years in the 116 category and would like to thank Bonno, Sportiva, Bazzbazz and a few others who always have good content and help for us of late.
Back to my story I was running out of time before my rego expired so I ordered a new middle section and rear from the UK and went with the CSC tail section. I checked with some local suppliers and was struggling to find a good set of second hand Carello headlights. Whilst researching I realised that 2 of my cracked Headlights were the 2 inner lights which are non directional and you could still buy brand new from the UK. So I ordered them with the exhaust and found the best second hand RHD outer headlight from the local wreckers in Melbourne.
As I mentioned earlier this was all new to me and couldn't believe how fast the shipping was from memory it was 3-4 days and the parts were at my front door.
So after all the mechanical work and four new tyres my car was ready and passed the RWC. Unfortunately it was approx.. $8000 exercise but was it worth it? Gee I hoped so. This time my drive home wasn't one of disappointment but one of pure adulation one for the mechanic who lavished his love of his car on this and two how well it drove and sounded. I had a winner here ;D
Enjoying the thread immensely whilst I am also doing a little bit of a resto-mode renovation myself.
Agree that online forum traffic in geneeral, not just this one, seems to be declining. There are plenty of Alfa Romeo facebook groups for instance but they are all a snapshot in time view only whereas these forums provide an ongoing treasure trove of knowledge and great people.
One area that could help this forum is to make it easier to post higher quality, larger images. Given the significant reduction in online storage costs the 1024KB limit per post seems a little "Commodore 64" era for me.
After enjoying the car for a little while my one issue that haunted me was with driving the car in today compared to when I first had the car some 15 years ago was that it seemed so slow off the mark. You really had to work the car to get it up and going. From memory it would do 0-100 in 8 odd seconds similar to what a small Toyota Yaris would probably do today. It wasn't like a wanted to drag race the car but just thought it needed a bit more zip to bring it some life I think we had been spoilt with todays technology and how zippy modern cars are. So Here the story of my Restomod begins.
I came across an add in the for sale section here on the forum for a 3l engine out of a 75 with low kms. I knew from past experience that it was straight fit like for like so I knew I had to have it, now just had to convince the wife. I negotiated a deal for the motor and also the power steering rack which he had. It came from regional Victoria and he was nice enough to deliver to me personally in Melbourne on the back of his trailer. Such a nice bloke who gave me so much advise about what to expect and where to get it installed if I needed help.
A few years had passed and I was itching to get installed and I fell ill with Pneumonia. After a short stint in hospital I briefly considered selling the car as I realised I had more priorities but I couldn't find it in my heart to let it go. I then contacted my Mechanic Lou about doing the transplant and it was on. Unfortunately Lou being a one man operator keep pushing my job back and back. So I took a risk and took the advice off the gentlemen who I bought the motor off and sent my car to his mechanic. And I met again another fantastic mechanic who is also just and all-round top bloke Vince Sartor.
I'm with you on the performance of the GTV6 compared to even mainstream small hatchbacks today. From road tests back in the day the GTV6 would accelerate to 100kmh in the high 8's to mid 9's and cover the 400m dash in mid to high 16's. The slow 1-2 change doesn't help either.
My GTV currently runs a twin spark from a 75 and 4.1 LSD which is really close in performance to the V6. But it feels pretty slow compared to my standard VW Golf that has the same claimed power, more torque, 7-speed DSG but more weight. Hence my motivation for a warmed 3L conversion.
A good mate of mine with a GTV6 also has had all his mechanical work done by Vince and had nothing but good feedback. Vince has also had some health troubles of late, I hope he's on the mend.
Another great ongoing GTV6 resto! Look forward to reading more about it!
Question on the black grill that the car came with: Is it a Grand Prix grill?
Cheers,
Victor
Looking forward to reading the rest of your journey, I'm going to have to dig up all the old pics and start a thread as well. Won't be as well written as this one as this one though. Was every class I used to look up gtvs or have a auto Italia magazine in the middle of a text book.
Justin looking forward to reading your story and the provenience of your car and your Dad as well.
Victor the black grill is original not a GP with the side fins filled in.
Sportiva you have two 3l's lucky man and yes I would choose it as well over other cars for a weekend blast as nothing beats the feeling
I also heard Vince has had health troubles I really hope his doing good! So I sent my car to Northern Alfa which was on the complete other side of Melbourne to me and made it impossible to go down a check on the car during its progress. This would normally make me feel nervous. But Vince is one of the guys that you pick your car up and would call you over the weekend to see how the car was behaving. Vince was just as excited as me I think he enjoyed the challenge of doing something different.
Vince organised to get my performance headers ceramic coated, fly wheel lightened and he surprised me with getting all my bolts gold plated. A new set of belts and water pump and I ordered some Colombo Bariani fast road Cams for the UK. He would send me progress pictures but my most favourite was the video he sent me when the fired it up for the first time.
Again we are so fortunate to have such wonderful people in Alfa Community that work on our cars and after viewing Vince's work he is right up there with the best of them. The car had completely transformed I couldn't be happier with the performance and I especially loved the sound of the Cam. If only Alfa had of used this motor in the GTV6 from the beginning what a shame. Next on the agenda was to save my pennies for a twin spark box and upgrading of the brakes.
I didn't have money to splash around so I my aim was to do things slowly one small upgrade a year if I could. So I hunted around for a twin spark box and I met another top bloke who we are so lucky to have in the Alfa community and that was Vin Sharp. I commissioned him to build me a custom box. Fully rebuilt with lightened gears and the quicker ratio with 2nd and 3rd gear ratios nice and close from an Alfetta I think, plus from memory 50% lock. Also some knuckle raisers.
2015 was a year that hurts so deeply that is why it has taking me so long to add this next journey. My Dad the man who I inherited the love of this car was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer and was told he would have approx. 6 months to live. I had Vin's goodies fitted by Northern Alfa again and took my Dad for a drive to cheer him up but it just wasn't the same. It felt like a dark cloud was over me and just lost interest with most things in my life. I spent every spare moment of my time with my Dad and had no time for the car and again later in the year put the car up for sale. I had a few nibbles but nothing serious and I was starting to come to terms with my Dad's fate and I couldn't sell the car now not ever.
So I started to plan my next chapter and that was cosmetic. I spoke to my old Mechanic Lou from Keysborough for any recommendations and he told me one his clients got his car sprayed by Paul at Rankins and he said his the best in the game.
Spoiler alert if you cannot wait for me to finish my story and want a sneak preview of my car check out Monza Motors Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/alfparepairs
Late 2015 I made my way over to Bayswater to meet Paul. Wow what a nice a guy and his knowledge of my model was off the charts. He ran a magnet over the car inspecting every nook and cranny to the point where he knew if I had the correct screws fitted to my mirrors. Paul instilled so much confidence in me that he was the right guy for the job with his vast knowledge of Alfa's that it took me no time to give him the job. However with Paul being so good you have to get in line so I queued up and waited until early 2016 for the master to work his magic.
I wanted the car fixed of any imperfections and I wanted the engine bay sorted from previous damage. So this meant engine out again unfortunately. Here are some early pictures from the beginning
My Father and I made it our Saturday ritual to visit my car and see the progress. I really enjoyed the conversations we had up and down Eastlink and the time we spent together and I will hold onto those memories forever. Here is one of my favourite pictures of my Father gazing into my engine bay I think he somehow knew something special was going to happen in there. Unfortunately my Fathers health started to worsen and we had other priorities and money become tight as I tried to assist my parents as much as I could and Paul being the gentlemen that he is put my car on hold until things stabilized.
sorry about the pictures appearing upside down not sure what is happening there?
It's ok, when you click on them to enlarge they come up the tight way.
"To err is human, to REALLY screw things up you need a computer!" - Murphys Law of Computing
My Dads health never recovered and he was just hanging in there. So we got the car back rolling again and this was a welcome distraction to the chaos in my life and I still bought Dad along to check the progress which he really enjoyed and Paul always made he feel comfortable. I mentioned to Paul about my wish list and that I would possibly like to make some more engine mods. This is where things start getting interesting... Paul told me to have a think about installing a quad cam 3.2 gta motor and he knew a guy who could help. We also got a new headliner and my interior refreashed by Cel at Design Auto Interiors.
more pics
The GTA motor was like a drug pulling me in so I met up with Claude to see what he could do for me. What a nice guy! he offered me so much advice and was willing to help through the whole process. After seeing his car I knew if I wanted to take my car to the next level this was the way to go. So I hunted around the internet to find a GTA motor and found a winner. This was late November 2017 and my world was crushing down. My Father was in real bad shape and we were told he had at best 2 months to live. So I put the motor on the back burner and spent as much time as I could with my Father and also help my Mother organise his final arrangements. My Father was only 58 I thought we would have so much more time together but it wasn't to be. Just before he passed away in Early January of 2018 I picked up the motor and told him what I had planned to do however with his brain tumour he struggled to talk and understand things but I could see it in his eyes and he was happy that I was happy.
The Car was now painted and Paul just finished painting the engine bay. He asked if I was going to do the GTA conversion and I was in two minds. I thought I might wait and do it some stage later down the track but Paul informed me I was at a point of no return and now would be the best time to avoid double handling costs down the track. So it was decided to do it now or never. Here are some pics of the painted car and engine bay
Engine Bay
This is a picture of the Engine when I bought it
Here is the same motor after a bit of clean
Getting close to completion
A work of art
gtvsix86 , That busso v6 looks fantastic, How much HP do you think you will get . 250+. :D
The crankshaft pulley is obviously not standard, what is it off and where did you get it?
Let me first say, so sorry for your loss gtvsix86.
This is an inspirational thread and that motor is an ABSOLUTE peach!
Quote from: bazzbazz on December 12, 2020, 10:22:08 AM
The crankshaft pulley is obviously not standard, what is it off and where did you get it?
All the conversion parts were fabricated by the genius Claude for his personal race car have a chat to either him or Mick and Hugh at Monza Motors who were the masters are making this work on a road car.
Quote from: GeeTV on December 13, 2020, 11:46:05 PM
Let me first say, so sorry for your loss gtvsix86.
This is an inspirational thread and that motor is an ABSOLUTE peach!
Thank you much appreciated
Things were getting tough again on a personal level Mum was diagnosed with dementia before we lost Dad and now her symptoms were progressing a lot faster. A third child came along and my free time that I once enjoyed was evaporating. Rankins was keen to get the motor in and Monza's was ready to do the install. However I wanted to do some sound deadening and insulation into the car. I went to Rankins on Saturday morning with my oldest child and we did as much as we could but I realised this was going to take along time if I could only spare Saturday mornings. I didn't want to hold up proceedings so I contacted my mate at the Body Shop who was able to pass me onto the owner of Car Builders who then put me in touch with his installer. I met Matt from iSorb and what a nice guy he went above and beyond and I was extremely happy with the job he did on my fire wall.
+
I remember going to Monza Motors throughout the winter of 2019 and looking at how the Car Builders insulation had been applied to your car. I ordered all the the material and had planned to do it myself armed with the knowledge, however persistent chest infections and flu kept me away for too long, so I ende dup getting Hugh's guys to do it for me. Thanks for posting the photo of your firewall as I'm getting the silver heat shoeld fitted once my motor is out. What is the black material they used on top?
Quote from: Anth73 on December 24, 2020, 01:45:40 PM
I remember going to Monza Motors throughout the winter of 2019 and looking at how the Car Builders insulation had been applied to your car. I ordered all the the material and had planned to do it myself armed with the knowledge, however persistent chest infections and flu kept me away for too long, so I ende dup getting Hugh's guys to do it for me. Thanks for posting the photo of your firewall as I'm getting the silver heat shoeld fitted once my motor is out. What is the black material they used on top?
I'm pretty sure we used this product https://www.carbuilders.com.au/premium-under-bonnet