I think it is time to tell some of the story of the car I own, the super low mileage (9002 miles) highly original, 1974 2000 GTV in Le Mans blue.
This is the car that was advertised for a ransom at CTS 2.5 years ago, I bought it while sitting in the Serengetti in Africa afraid it would be gone by the time I returned home.
My love affair with 105 series Alfas began in 1977 when i was offered a low mileage, 1 owner Series 2, Pine Green 1750 GTV and as a 21 year old how could I resist. I had a great 6 years with the car as a daily driver with the car and subsequently owned several 105 series cars and an Alfa Sud TI.
My attention turned to other brands from the late 1980's but I am back with a vengance.
The car I now own was owned from new by Lyndon Albert Duckett a wealthy bachelor, part of the Duckett/White family, Melbournes first hardware merchants. Lyndon was a friend and rival of Lex Davidson and very prominent in the pre war and post war race scene. His TYP 35 Bugatti fitted with the Anzani engine was well known and very competitive.
Lyndon passed away in 2003 and several cars were found in an inner city warehouse, the Alfa was one of those it had just 500 miles on the clock and had never been driven on the road post the day it was delivered but always fully registered with LAD 777 plates. A mechanic periodically had the car on jacks and running the motor.
Graeme Quinn then purchased the car from the estate and drove it for a while before selling to Andrew Murray in WA who subsequently sold it to John Terpu in WA who subsequently sold it to John Borghetti in Sydney and I purchased from CTS who were consigning the car for John.
The car essentially remained as new with a few minor exceptions such as a bit of paint on front RHS guard to fix a large rock thrown at the car by another passing car, a bit of paint to correct bouncing around on the boat for 6 weeks on the way from Italy, different shocks and springs in 2014 (I guess to lower the car), different wheels and for some strange reason a heap of black rubbish sprayed under the 2 front guards. Also a second exterior mirror fitted. Interior is 100% original including the carpet which except for 2 cig burns is perfect. No radio ever fitted dash is also fabulous, seats brand new.
My brief with this car was to fix the external paint and make it perfect but keep everything else 100% original even if not in true concourse condition. This car deserves to be maintained with all it's original nuts and bolts no matter what the condition. Some of the suspension has lost it's black paint but that is how it will be staying.
To this end I have so far.......
located original date correct steel wheels and restored to correct paint finish (not the silver normally used but more a motly, grey finish as evident on the original spare wheel still with the car). I still hold hope of finding the actual wheels one day. NOS caps found on E Bay.
located a NOS correct handbook (the only doc missing from the car, even have original delivery documents), thanks Vin.
located 2 NOS correct rear quarter badges (with curves) as the originals had been mucked with and no longer had green in the serpent. Thanks Italian Job.
Tracked down descendants of Graeme Quinn (thanks facebook) turns out to be Rod Quinn, who many of you will know. The original plates were held on retention at Vic Roads in Graeme's name so I needed the executor to release them to me. I met Rod and he happily passed ownership of the plates to me and hence back to the car.
Today, after a few phone calls following on from reading through some of the invoices that came with the car I was able to locate the cars original springs and shocks which were removed in 2014. They are still in the then owners garage and upon returning from Europe in a few weeks time he will pack and send to me to further help in my quest to return this car to factory specifications. Super excited at that find as was currently purchasing old springs and chasing original shocks to do the job.
The car has been dry ice blasted underneath and in the engine bay and Monza Motors have removed the engine, gearbox etc to allow for a thorough and extensive under body clean and to reseal several minor oil leaks from seals that have failed...gee I wonder why. I have spent hours after that fine cleaning all areas and the body work looks superb under there now.
The car has been entrusted to Paul Rankin for the paint restoration and I have been doing a lot of the dirty work with prepsol removing all the previously mentioned black rubbish
from under the front guards.
Hopefully the car will be painted prior to Xmas and then carefully re assembled in time for the National in Mornington, it will no doubt be a race against time but one I hopefully win.
more pics
and more
We were hopeful of just rubbing back and repainting as zero rust and only a few small dings all handled by the dent doctor.
Had to remove the non correct passenger side door mirror and weld though
In the end it all had to come off though to ensure my stated aim of paint perfection on the exterior.
The car has a white factory undercoat and we are replicating that too
Here is where we stand currently, rubbed back to reveal any low spots and imperfections a couple found but described by Paul and others who work on these cars as utterly amazing, no rust, no accidents apart for the rock strike and is being used as a reference point for future restorations.
Original GTV owner Lyndon Duckett with Lex Davidson and their cars and Davidson in his Alfa leading Duckett in his Bugatti
Hi Terminator
What an interesting history of this beautifully maintained low mileage Alfa GTV 2000. Coincidently, I also owned a GTV 105 1750 GTV back in the mid 1970's and fell in love with the Alfa Romeo marque from that point on.
Cheers
bonno
Hi Bonno,
Thanks for the reply.
Your an old fart like me it seems. I have always hoped to find another great series 2 1750 but alas it never happened this is
certainly the next best thing.
Original paperwork for the purchase
Sale price $6688
Some of the other documents and rego stickers that came with the car.
Running late for the 7500 mile service!!!!
Congratulations on the car, it will come up a treat once repainted.
I remember seeing this car for sale at the time and thinking it was a high water mark for a coupe
but we've seen it surpassed. It indeed looked like new.
I tried to buy a Le Mans blue coupe years ago from a customer of ours but she wouldn't sell, always liked the colour.
Be great to see it once its all back together - it will be a stunning car.
Cheers,
Paul.
Mr terminator, You may be interested to know that the orginal steel wheels that were fitted to your car along with the near as new Pirelli tyres,the as new stainless steel nave plates, (hub caps) and the 16 original wheel nuts are alive and well and living in Williamstown. I got them from Graeme Quinn who had removed them and replaced wth mag wheels and new tyres when he first owned your car. Another chapter for your interesting story..........Cheers, Ian
Well I'll be dammed, wow, wow and wow!!
It was only last week I tracked down the original shocks and springs that had been removed in 2014 by one of the WA owners.
Would you like to assist in returning this car to its rightful condition, I am hoping that is the reason you posted that info here?
Obviously I am very happy to purchase them from you if possible or I have a set of restored ones with NOS caps and near new tyres that may be of interest.
I will cry if I can't return them to the car now that I know they exist!!!
Please call or email me
Clyde. 0419 595813
clyde@the-boyers.biz
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Well today just gets better and better.
I heard from Ian re the tyre/wheel etc.
We are meeting next week with the view to arranging a swap/purchase so the original wheels and tyres can make their way back home.
Awesome!!!
Quote from: GTV-074 on November 28, 2018, 10:12:03 PM
Congratulations on the car, it will come up a treat once repainted.
I remember seeing this car for sale at the time and thinking it was a high water mark for a coupe
but we've seen it surpassed. It indeed looked like new.
I tried to buy a Le Mans blue coupe years ago from a customer of ours but she wouldn't sell, always liked the colour.
Be great to see it once its all back together - it will be a stunning car.
Cheers,
Paul.
Hi Paul
Yes I was called a raving lunatic by many for paying what I did but how often do you get to buy a car like this...once in a lifetime......and I am pleased to be enhancing it and returning it to it's original state so that it will be a true time warp/preservation car. Given the prices now unlikely to be mucked with again in the future either.
A friend bought the silver/red trim series 2 1750 GTV from CTS recently, paid well in excess of what I paid and while it is nice it is restored. Preserved cars always carry a premium with me and most collectors now too. There are preserved cars and then preserved cars, this will undoubtably be one of the best, if not the best.
I met Paul Rankin from Rankins Panels (the painter of LAD 777) at the Victorian Alfa Spettacolo which incidentaly was a great display of old and new Alfas at a great venue.
Paul told me to get on with cleaning under the front guards so he could proceed to paint, he didn't want prepsol flying over his new shiny paint.
Accordingly this morning it was on with the old clothes and back to work I went.
So far 16 hours, 10 litres or more of prepsol,dozens of rags and brushes and lots of showers have got us to within an hour of finishing. Bugger of a job.
I assumed I would find something nasty under the black, rubberised compound sprayed under both front guards but luckily all I found was perfect panels and almost pristine paint.
No idea why a previous owner chose to paint this on the car, sure wish they hadn't although it has probably helped to preserve the original materials.
and the end result.
Original shocks and original springs will complete the front nicely
True to his word Ian had the tyres, rims, centre caps and lug nuts available today and we did a deal that worked for both of us.
I cleaned up the centre caps and that are as new, not a mark scratch of anything, lug nuts coming up great with some elbow grease too.
Rims are in perfect conditon no dings or marks but will need painting before easing the old tyres back on to them.
" before easing the old tyres back on to them".
That might be fine if you re going to put it in a museum when you finish but if you ever plan on driving it I wouldn't be doing that.
Yes purely for display purposes have some new ones and different rims for driving[emoji106]
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Rims all back together as a set of 5 for the first time in 15 years.
Time for an update.
Paul Rankin has finished the painting last week taking great care to avoid over spray on any area that did not require painting so that as much originality is retained as possible.
Many photos taken of the black paint at the front so we can replicate it exactly as it was.
Matching the Le Mans Blue colour was difficult as it has a purple hue in some lights and a reddish tinge in others and Paul painted spare panels and another customers car
first to double check the formulation that was developed was spot on, which to my eye it is.
Soon the reassembly begins and the race to make Easter Sunday begins........don't like my chances though.
Re assembly has begun
Racing towards the end
That is such a beautiful colour. It's just stunning!
Hugh Harrison is taking car of a thorough clean, inspection and resealing of all the engine, gearbox, diff and carby parts to ensure the liquids stay where they should be.
Everything checked out fine as you would expect and hope for a 9000 mile car.
and now most of it back in the car.
Back running again, the exhaust was a challenge as the original exhaust had rusted from the inside so some deft welding
was required to make the 4 pieces received from Classic Alfa back into a 2 piece system like original and then it was too large
to fit in the ceramic coaters ovens.
Eventually it was done and Hugh and the team put all the pieces of the puzzle back together an relatively easy job as they had never been mucked with previously.
Now it is back to Paul to do the final polish, install the hood and a few minor trims pieces and the job is done.
I think most here would agree with me when I say, "You sir, obviously have waay too much free time and money!"
Awesome job, always a pleasure to see something done right and to such a degree of workmanship. 8)
Quote from: bazzbazz on July 30, 2019, 10:59:24 PM
I think most here would agree with me when I say, "You sir, obviously have waay too much free time and money!"
Awesome job, always a pleasure to see something done right and to such a degree of workmanship. 8)
Has to be done right for a car as special as this one.
Quote from: bazzbazz on July 30, 2019, 10:59:24 PM
I think most here would agree with me when I say, "You sir, obviously have waay too much free time and money!"
Awesome job, always a pleasure to see something done right and to such a degree of workmanship. 8)
Thanks for the compliment, I think :-\
I still have plenty of free time and a lot less money now. Gees I would hate to be restoring a rusty car the cost would be prohibitive now
based on my recent experience. Still this car deserves the best treatment available as I doubt there would be more than a handful like it in the world , if that many.
Just out of curiosity, are the brake boosters new, and if so, where the hell did you get them?
Quote from: bazzbazz on July 31, 2019, 11:38:40 PM
Just out of curiosity, are the brake boosters new, and if so, where the hell did you get them?
No as they were when I got the car, I don't see any info re a rebuild in the paperwork I have.
Car is finished too except for some final running in the sprigs seem to have grown an inch or 2 after being out of the car for a year ;D
Sorry about the half out of focus photo will do better over the weekend
Quote from: bazzbazz on July 31, 2019, 11:38:40 PM
Just out of curiosity, are the brake boosters new, and if so, where the hell did you get them?
New manufactured boosters are available. The two I bought are branded Bonaldi but apparently they can be branded Bendix or Bendatalia, and are all from the same factory.
Car is finished except for chasing down a few minor original clamps etc to replace non originals
on the car.
Paul Rankin (Rankings Panels) and Hugh Harrison (Monza Motors) and their respective teams did an amazing job with the car.
It has flawless external paint with no easy way to tell if it was painted or not (except for the end product) and it has no more leaks and performs flawlessly.
I picked it up Saturday in Melbourne, bad choice of days, so I spent all Sunday cleaning it again.
It has it's first outing at the Mailing Rd display with the Vic Alfa Club this Sunday
Superb job! I look forward to seeing LAD777 as I've heard so much about it from various people.
I'll be there with KKF280, but maybe should park it at the other end of the street...at 38,000 & 30 year old re-paint, she's practically worn-out compared to yours!
Look forward to seeing you there Terminator. (Not that I know who you are anyway, but I guess we'll find each other.)
Vin.
Your car sounds and look fantastic Vin.
I hope LAD 777 doesn't disappoint when we catch up Sunday
Cheers Clyde ( Terminator)
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Clyde,
LAD777 disappoint?....I don't think there's any chance of that! I hope to get a few pointers for on-going tidy-up of KKF as I get to it.
PS, you are responsible for ordering the weather this coming Sunday, last weeks bloke did a terrible job!!
Cheers,
Vin
Shoot ,really I dialled up 20deg and sunny
but I see that they are also saying 8mm rain later in the day.
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Finally got a shot in the sunshine showing the true colour
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I hope you & Vin got home from Maling road this afternoon before the heavens opened up . It would have broke my heart to have to drive either of those cars in the rain after the effort it would have taken to get those cars to the standard they were presented this morning. Both outstanding examples and true time capsules we are lucky to have them in Victoria . Hope to see them about a bit. As for "practically worn out" Vin , I'm not so sure. Gully
No I didn't Paul guess it gives me something to do next week.
Vin's car is fabulous and your right far from practically worn out, love the colour
a lot like slate grey from the same era of 911's and the burgundy interior compliments
it perfectly
Some great cars there today my fav was the Stratos
The rear guards clean up is complete prepsol really is an amazing product when combined with brushes and patience
Sadly I am going to have to do something about my rusty hubs, somewhat faded brake calipers and brake backing plates now as they look very sad next to all the shiny bits.
I just read through from the start - such an interesting history and it looks amazing! My own car which I'm restoring is all sad and not shiny so I'm hoping to keep it that way so nothing stands out which would start an avalanche of upgrades :)
Yes the slippery slope.
I am interested in responses to your spring thread as I didn't want to put original springs back on the car sits too high for my liking
Hi Clyde,
Was wondering if you were interested in selling the Turbina wheels you have there? (If you still have them)
Great job with the car!
Regards
Mark
Yes indeed, I have them for sale in the for sale
https://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=19683.0
I entered "The Duckett 105" in the Victorian Club Concours on the weekend, first ever concours experience.
It scored 93/100 and finished 3rd in some pretty hot company of fully restored cars.
I'll have to find out where I lost points and maybe try again in the future, if I am able to fix the issues without affecting the originality of the car.
Saw the car in person (from behind the rope!) at Spettacolo yesterday, looked fantastic.
Paint & panel looked super!
Cheers,
Paul.
Thanks Paul, here it is on the hoist at Saturdays judging apart from the exhaust as it was when it left the factory
Spettacolo 2004......
and another (things you find when you're not looking for them....!)
Thanks for those pics Alister, great to see the inside pic as it confirms 100% that the door opening handle should be the direction
that I was advised, which is not the direction that 95% of the cars have it facing in 2019 (removed and put back incorrectly at some stage in the prior 45-50 years).
Quote from: terminator on December 14, 2019, 09:07:30 AM
Thanks for those pics Alister, great to see the inside pic as it confirms 100% that the door opening handle should be the direction
that I was advised, which is not the direction that 95% of the cars have it facing in 2019 (removed and put back incorrectly at some stage in the prior 45-50 years).
No problem, glad it helped.
One of the pieces that had gone AWOL from my car was the original handbook, service book and original purchase docs were there but not the correct handbook. It had a very nice reproduction made for the Alfa Club of Great Britain but I have been on the hunt for an original.
I recently acquired this less than perfect one, thanks to a Melbourne enthusiast, pages are great, cover a bit damaged but at least it is a correct Manual and correct published date too for my car (extra point for next years concours).
Maybe one day a kind sole will swap/trade/sell me a near mint one that they have no real need for.
Quote from: terminator on December 02, 2019, 08:56:03 PM
Thanks Paul, here it is on the hoist at Saturdays judging apart from the exhaust as it was when it left the factory
Preservation over restoration is amazing when done so well.
On the handbook - nothing here? https://www.classentials.com/product-categorie/motoring-books/owner_workshop_manuals/
Back at the Throttle Shop?
Yes it has done full circle and Rory and the team at CTS have the task of finding a suitable new owner and I will move on to the next project.
and to finish my part of the story the car has been sold.
On to the next project.
Saw if drop off the page, Wasn't sure if it was sold or pulled, so congratulations!
It's a stand out car and has now set the bar for a 105 coupe through the stratosphere, price wise.
Cheers,
Paul.
Didn't quite get the asking price but very happy with the deal I got
I get that the 2000 GTV wasn't a "special " model but you just don't find them so
original and unaffected as this one...one out of the box and I enjoyed our4 years together and it left my hands better than when I bought it which makes me pleased.
Good luck to the new owner maybe I will hear from them one day whoever they are.