Rusty But Trusty

As has been discussed exhaustively right here, the Alfetta GT is a pretty good weekend touring car. However, there were complaints from when it was new about the level of power. And the Alfa Romeo GTV6 has some styling updates that were modern in the 1980s, but some now find those choices questionable. So you prefer the aesthetics of the earlier car, but the power of the later car? Well, there’s a solution for you – this 1979 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT V6, for sale in Wethersfield, CT for $2500.

So what do you get? A power boost of 44hp and one of the sexiest engine notes this side of a Ferrari or a VW VR6. This particular car has also received the bumpers, hood and tail lights from the donor GTV6. If you truly love the aesthetics of the early cars, though, you’ll retrofit European stainless steel bumpers and the older two-piece tail lights. The hood will have to stay, to allow clearance for the intake plenum, although you might paint the plastic panel in a matching color. Alfa nuts will debate on whether filling in that panel with proper metal is a wise idea – though it might look nice, the first time someone leaves their foot on the gas while firing the car up, a misfire could bend the hood right out of shape.

The 1980s bits do actually look pretty good when seen as part of a whole, but standing alone like this on an earlier car, they seem rather chunky and out of place. Notice the car was last registered in Vermont in 2007, which might hint at the rust beneath. Perhaps you could paint those wheels silver and fit some sombrero-style center caps, since they still retain the stock 4-bolt pattern. Since the car has a limited slip, presumably from a Milano, it’s hard to see how this works, so the picture might be misleading.

Here’s the rebuilt V6. In states where there is no smog testing, you’ll just want to run it with one muffler, or none at all. The car is said to need lower body rust repair, but in this shot, you can also see some rust at the top of the inner fender. Hopefully it’s not terminal, as this sounds like the basis for a very fun resto-mod (yechh, does that word have any good connotations outside of this context?) Alfa Romeo.

Tags: alfa romeo, alfetta gt, coupe, Feature, gtv6, italian

This entry was posted on January 14, 2014 at 2:49 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.