The Bad

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Things to watch out for when you're buying a GTV 2000

Never buy an Alfa without having an expert mechanic check it out thoroughly

(It will be the cheapest $150 you've ever spent!)

As an owner of three post 1975 GTVs I have some experiences that I'd like to relate to the world

Click on the links below to read my comments

The buying process

They had a story in the paper a while ago complaining that rebuilding a car from the spare parts catalogue would cost twice what you would pay for a new car at a dealers - what a rip off was the conclusion.

If that was case for an Alfa I'd be mighty happy. To replace an entire Alfa with spare parts would cost about five times its purchase price new and at least 20 times its purchase price second hand.

A key to getting a lower cost Alfa GTV 2000 is to buy one that somebody has run out of money (and patience) on and where the bulk of the work has been completed. Price repairs to the car at market price plus 20% - ie" car valued at $5000 with $5000 of repairs - offer $6000 - they'll be asking $9000. They will have done a heap of repairs just to get it to the $5000 mark anyway.

Warning

Most Alfa drivers think their cars are worth twice their real value. When you test drive the car take it to a dealer and ask them what they'd give you for it on a trade-in (They wouldn't even consider a straight buy off the street). Most of them faint at the prospect or offer you a little more than the cashed in registration value. Believe me it's a horrible thing to do afteryou've bought the car!

Message

Alfa's are worthless to anybody except an Alfa fan - thank God there are enough of us around

Air conditioning

Donuts

Gearbox

Brakes

Front end

Drive shafts

Electrics

Air conditioning

There is no doubt that Alfa GTVs where not made to have air conditioning.

Even the handbook acknowledges that the car isn't going to run properly and the factory went to elaborate lengths to concoct a system that didn't stop the car from boiling at the first flick of the switch, or to stop it from stalling under load when you take off from the lights. (Neither of which were very successful. Just look at the two huge fans needed to cool a car with air.)

The ingenous method devised to hold the air conditioning in place was to attach the bulk of the weight to the alloy head of the motor. Alfa mechanics have made small fortune rebuilding, welding and patching up heads on GTVs that have cracked as a result of the mount coming loose and cracking the head. Watch out for welds, check behind the unit (if attached) for cracks (mechanics job) and if all is OK toss the unit into the bin at your first oppotunity.

A steamy summer is better than a $1000 repair job.

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Rust

When the GTV was put together many things where considered - one thing in particular was forgotten. Rust proofing. GTVs have a tendency to get car cancer around the rear hatch, rear quarter panels, front quarter panels, tops and bottoms doors....the bonnet, in my experience does not get rust.

Let's rephrase this: Alfa bonnets do not rust - and the roof seems OK too

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Donuts

The donuts hold the drive chain in place and cost a lot of money to get fixed. If they're not right the whole tailshaft starts to move around and that wrecks all sorts of expensive pieces further down the food chain (see blow).

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Gearbox

The rear mounted gear box of the Alfa is both a blessing and a bane. It's location makes the weight distribution in the car around the magic 50:50 front and rear which makes it handle like its on rails. It also necessitates some rather convoluted linkages in order to get the thing into gear. These linkages get loose and do bad things to the gear box as well as making gear changes as precise as selecting in thick porridge - and that's when the gearboxes are in good shape. This is no snap through the gears number, more a slush and poke effort.

First to go is the syncho on second gear. This is embarassing. Grrrrrunch going through roundabouts, corners, changing down etc Not pretty. Not too expensive to repair but it generally leads to a rebuild of the entire box. That's not cheap.

Don't listen to sellers who talk about "double clutching" or "you'll get used to". It is a common problem but it should attract a discount.

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Brakes

Watch out for the master cylinder disaster. Another expensive piece of material. There are rebuild kits available for them but their reliability depends on your mechanic's estimation of your ability to pay. No money - great. Can affrod a new one - terrible. The truth probably lies somewhere in between but my recommendation is to go for the new master cyclinder - we're talking about brakes afterall! There is no way of determining how long the klits will last so it is a raffle to have them installed - and if the operation is not a success then you still need to go and buy a new mastercylinder anyway. That makes the repair job about 150% of the cost of doing it properly the first time.

The rear brakes are the nightmare of the two. The rear calipers are expensive and fragile. The factory recommends replacing them with new authorised kit (at vast expense) but a clever mechanic can refurbish the ones you've got.

Just make sure he knows what he's doing, please.

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Front end

The tricky front end on the Alfa does not use springs but it does use a lot of bushes (rubber grommets encased in a steel sleeve) which sound like the groaning of Titanic when they were out. Every time you go around a corner Mooooan etc This is also another expensive pieve of equipment that can lead to a horrendous bill if the top ball joints are gone. The top ball joints are around $500 each plus installation. A rebuild of the bottom ball joints and bushes runs to around $700. The cost of a full front end rebuild is probably worth more than you should pay for the car. Wtach out for holes in the rack and pinion steering boots because dirt in their can also cause a lot of damage.

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Drive shafts

Don't know much about these expect they have rubber booties that wear and let dirt get in which ruins them. Each drive shaft costs about $1000 to replace and fit (and that was some time ago) so beware of this one too.

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Electrics

Ratso. When you have to turn off the fan to start your car you know you're driving and Alfa. The ignition on the thing just won't fire unless everything is off - including the radio. You get used to it pretty quickly. I had a silver early 80s GTV with power windows - what a joke - it was much faster to have a winder mechansim. If it started raining when the window was down you got wet before it reached the top.

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