In the name of keeping the faith alive, here’s another pair of Alfetta coupes. Wonderfully balanced, overlooked, blah blah blah… you’ve heard it all here before. As much as shiny paint isn’t a priority here, it’s fun to see how, after years and years of the Alfetta being a beater, a clean body and shiny paint do wonders to bring out the curves and creases in the body. And suddenly, your coupe turns from a little Datsun B210 that goes faster than it should into an unusual car featuring lines shared with some of the most famous 1970s exotics. Okay, a bit of hyperbole there, but you get the general idea. And here are a couple of attainable examples – first, let’s look at this 1979 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT for sale for $3000 in Daly City, CA.
This car has been listed on and off for about 50% more than the current ask, on the other side of the San Francisco Bay. It’s not clear if it’s changed owners, but the current asking price is a little closer to reality for one of these. It’s interesting to note how little rust this car appears to have (in fact, the seller claims no rust at all), especially since most postings showed it stored outdoors somewhere. Expect significant damage to the interior plastics and materials, but one one of these you’re way ahead if your car has little to no rust. Avorio is not the most striking color for this car, but it does do a good job exposing corrosion.
The seller gives a fairly thorough assessment of its condition, including a balanced driveshaft (critical on these), good clutch, rebuilt brake calipers including the difficult rear units, new brake pads, brake and fuel lines, fuel pump, and engine mounts. It’s still said to need carburetor tuning to be fully operational, and there’s the catch – this car was converted to 40mm Dellortos sometime before its last date of registration – 1997. So make sure you ask when all the listed work was completed.
Much is made of the mileage – 35K – but absent any documentation, the 5-digit odometer could have turned over once or twice already. There are some documentation issues, in that while the seller has a bill of sale and documentation to release the title to the new owner, he does not have a title in his name. So inform yourself on the DMV website first. Fear not, though, because while these things aren’t growing on trees, you can compare with this 1976 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT for sale for $1500 in Longmont, CO.
Interestingly, the Giallo Piper on this car is more mustardy, while on earlier cars like spiders, it looks more like a primrose yellow. There’s an odd mix of equipment on this car which calls the year into question – it has the later door panels instead of the early molded ones, and wears the chrome grill strips only supplied from the factory on 1978 cars. But you’re probably not interested in such mundane minutiae – you want to know whether it runs and drives. It’s a good question, which the seller fortunately answers in his succinct ad text: “Runs and drives.”
The seats – likely from a Mitsubishi Eclipse – are probably comfortable, but lack the charm of the original units, and the speakers installed in the door panels lack any subtlety. Let’s hope the seller has also spent some time on the mechanical aspects of this car – if you only use this car as an occasional driver, you can take care of the car’s weak spots (driveshaft, rear calipers and bearings, engine and transaxle mounts) one time and not worry about them for another ten years at least. The engine compartment on this non-air-conditioned car looks clean enough and complete for a driver, and the clutch master cylinder looks like a recent replacement. Things look pretty good from a rust perspective on this car too, if not as clean as the one above. Which car would you pick?
Tags: alfa romeo, alfetta, coupe, Feature, gtv, italian, sprint veloce
Rusty But Trusty 
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