Rusty But Trusty

Update, 9/10/09: Another one that got away! This one sold in about 24 hours, as posted on the AlfaBB.

Well, sometimes the car you like is the first one you lay eyes on. And after some of the cars I saw in Peru, this one looks a minter. For a Berlina, this is actually a pretty decent deal – this 1974 Berlina in Nichols Hills, OK (near OKC) for $1000 firm. When I was looking for a car (and ended up with my Beta sedan), I looked at a Berlina up in Petaluma, ca, but it was a rusty ex-Washington barn-find car with a mildewy dead-animal smell inside for three times this price, so I turned him down. Ever since then, I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for a reasonably priced Berlina (along with all the other cars in my fantasy garage!).

Generally a pretty clean looking car – in my opinion, the red is a negative, although on the more unusual sedans it still looks pretty good. Car was redone in red, and you can see the original primrose yellow at the bumper mounts, but whoever did the repaint was pretty thorough. The seller is pretty forthcoming about the weaknesses of the car’s body and mechanicals, and has posted some good quality photos, but overall it looks pretty straight.

The engine compartment looks quite clean for a driver of this age. Not much, if any, oily goo on top, and all the pieces look to be there, including the A/C system and even a weird doo-hickey at the back of the engine that looks like a can of soup. In this shot, you can also see the rust at the base of the windshield (not too bad, but probably worse on the firewall) and the yellow paint reappearing on the inner front fender. It’s impressive how thorough the repaint was – I’d bet door jambs and under both lids were also done. Seller describes in some detail how well the engine and transmission work. 1974 build date means even Californies can enjoy it without smogging.

Here you can see the worst of the rust. It’s around the windows, in the lower rear quarters, the doors, the sills, etc., as is typical for a car that’s worked hard for its keep for the last 35 years, or been left to sit outside. On the other hand, the paint has a decent shine to it, and will likely hold that for a while if you keep it under cover. It also sounds like the car might benefit from some attention to its electrics. Original bumpers were tossed due to their poor condition, and even if your wallet won’t stretch enough for some correct Berlina bumpers, others have documented their substitutes using/adapting bumpers off other cars from the same period.

Final shot shows the interior. It’s far from perfect, but I’ve seen far worse, and this one seems to be clean driver condition for a car of its age. At some point you’d want to redo at least the front seats, but this looks ready to be used. And in fact, that’s a good metaphor for the rest of the car – throw some good tires on it, and you might be able to drive it to your home state.

Tags: alfa romeo, berlina, Feature, italian, under $2000

This entry was posted on September 9, 2009 at 2:53 pm and is filed under Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.