As I was saying the other day, I felt I’d kind of strayed from the oddball cars. Well, I did it again by featuring a pair of spiders, so while this is still Alfa, it’s about Berlinas. If it weren’t for spiders being so common, Berlinas are pretty much the bargain of the 115 platform. In fact, to make the potential buyer feel better, we can say Berlinas are a bargain fixed-roof Alfa – certainly far more affordable than a GTV, and with the same platform and performance potential. They may not be as easy on the eye, but they do grow on you after a while. And while some have been seriously abused (as daily drivers for the past 35+ years), they also attracted true sports car fanatics who couldn’t sacrifice four doors.
This particular car looks to be one of those. While it shows some wear for being around for 36 years (ack!), it’s got a fairly tidy interior, all the important bits are shiny, and the outside is pretty solid as well. It looks to have had some recent attention lavished on it in the way of performance upgrades as well, and has some cool extras that should make up for the absence of a convertible roof or competition-crushing styling. With only 77K miles, it’s listed on the AlfaBB for $3500.
Looks pretty clean. Everything is straight, and no rust is visible. You can see it’s been lowered, which gives it a great stance, although the oil pan cooling fins have definitely suffered a couple of minor scrapes. The unfortunate 1974 bumpers are there, but the seller offers chrome bumpers (along with interior trim bits and an extra 2-liter engine), no doubt at extra cost.
Rear left is just as clean. If the back bumper didn’t get so damn dirty, it would make a great picnic bench. I rebuilt my Lancia’s carb sitting on the bumper at a card table I’d unfolded in front of it. The paint is clearly faded, and the car has actually suffered a minor scrape on the right rear, behind the back door, but it’s been touched up to keep any rust from growing.
This looks like an original cloth interior, which is pretty cool, since most cars you see had vinyl or leather. Count on about $550 to have this redone in Oakland – you can see sun damage on the top of the rear seat back, and splitting at the seams on the seat squabs. The dash only has a couple of splits – really not too bad for a 36-year-old car. The white-faced gauges are pretty cool in an era before (or after) that was the in thing to do.
As we said in a previous industry of mine, here’s the money shot. Pretty tidy and complete in here, right down to the plastic Tudor wiper fluid bag. The car runs well, and has a throaty exhaust. To keep this an affordable project, ask him to throw in the bumpers, give him what he’s asking and take the car for a quick respray. You should be in the money at that point, or at least breaking even – something you can’t say for most cars featured here!
Tags: 1974, alfa romeo, berlina, Feature, italian
Rusty But Trusty 
January 12, 2011 at 4:09 pm |
I just bought this Berlina! It is still in KS and will be shipped to MA in the next few weeks. To say I am excited is a understatement. It will live in my heated garage right next to my 1978 NL Spider!