Monthly Archives: September 2020

Bizzarrini, Fiat, Giacosa

1977 Fiat 128

We haven't been stingy with affection for the classic Volkswagen Golf on these pages. Taken out of context - no divided Germany, no fuel crisis - it's a remarkable automotive design, though it may have been driven by necessity more than we care to admit today. Capable of relatively high-speed travel in full comfort with all of the features required in a car and nothing more, it's a high water mark in the automotive design world.

Well, it owes some of its excess to none other than the Fiat 128. After all, it was chief engineer Dante Giacosa and his team at Fiat that brought the world the East-West layout of the engine and transmission found in nearly every FWD car today. It is even claimed that the team at Volkswagen disassembled a 128 while developing the original Golf platform.

Continue reading 1977 Fiat 128 →
Fiat

1972 Fiat 124 Wagon

Manual transmission entry-level station wagons have exited the US market entirely, leaving only a handful of wagon options in their wake. Nobody paying attention should be surprised by this - the manual transmission faces near-certain demise in North America, and crossovers have replaced the station wagon as the most practical family car.

Today's Fiat 124 is comparable to the recently departed Golf Sportwagen, taking up entry level family transportation duty. The twin cam Lampredi engines were not available on the wagons; in their place came a trusty OHV 4-cylinder. The 64hp unit wasn't overly burdened by the ~2000lb curb weight, but upgrading to a classic SOHC 1300 or 1500cc unit from an X1/9, or perhaps a DOHC unit from the 124 model-range would be a good upgrade.

Continue reading 1972 Fiat 124 Wagon →
Ferrari, Pininfarina

1981 Ferrari 308 GTSi

This thing won its spot on the site because of the yellow/tan color combination. We saw our first of these in these colors a couple of falls ago when we were visiting the local Alfa shop, where an old friend of the shop was borrowing some time on the lift to check over his 308. Having spotted the yellow paint through the glass in the garage doors, we were relieved to see the tan interior when we walked into the garage; the yellow on black look has too much of a bumblebee feel for our taste.

As far as the Ferrari 308 series goes, this is the least desirable to us. Bosch K-jet is fine on a Volkswagen (where it actually sounds great and provides a nice, natural crackle and pop exhaust), but a Ferrari deserves to breathe. The earlier carb'd cars make significantly more power than the injected cars, and the later quattrovalvole cars made up for the restrictive emissions equipment on fuel-injected cars by using 4 valves per cylinder. Add to that the TRX metric tires from the factory, and you have what we would say is the least desirable of the 308 series - and yet, we would be perfectly happy with one if that's what we ended up with. It's only relative - these probably drive great.

Continue reading 1981 Ferrari 308 GTSi →
Alfa Romeo, Centro Stile Alfa Romeo

1988 Alfa Romeo Milano Verde

We know this car well. After posting on the AlfaBB about the mechanical work we had done on our personal hot-rodded Milano Verde, we got a call from a Lancia enthusiast who wanted to see the same level of sorting - minus the performance upgrades - performed on his Verde. He had purchased a Milano Verde in the hopes that the alloy V6 and DeDion rear suspension would remind him of his prized Aurelia. After spending a year enjoying the results of our work on the car, he's decided to downsize, but not due to any fault of the Milano platform - word is, with a relatively small garage, the Milano doesn't play well with its Lancia Appia stablemate, and the current owner needs to remedy the tight packing.

This car is from Chicago, so any hopes of dry, California provenance are immediately squashed. And yet, as the owner of a dry, California Milano, I am personally very tempted - but prevented by all limitations imaginable - to buy this very car. See, after the owner spent $15,000 in maintenance, over $9,000 of which went to parts alone, the car is absolutely sorted. It's even been accused of having a Germanic competence completely unexpected in an Italian sedan. Having driven this thing from Chicago to Detroit in order to prepare it for sale, I would tend to agree with that assessment.

Rust, for the most part, has been remedied. The spare tire well, wheel arches, and driver front jack point were all professionally repaired with fresh metal by the same man who did the bodywork on Ralph Gilles' personal Giulia GTV-R (the R is for Ralph). The surface rust under the trunk was all wire-wheeled and treated with POR-15 before being undercoated. You will find minor rust in the the passenger door arch and underneath the passenger taillight - typical Milano spots - but overall the car rust is under control and the car is in no danger of rotting away.

Continue reading 1988 Alfa Romeo Milano Verde →
Lamborghini

1967 LAMBORGHINI 400 GT 2+2

The Lamborghini 400 GT built upon the platform introduced by the 350 GT, allowing Lamborghini engineers to make technical improvements while doubling sales for the brand. And, while engineers may love to get their best designs to the market from the outset, to keep a brand alive, sales of safe, reliable vehicles outweigh optimized performance.

So, with some sales under theirthe 400 GT replaced the 350 GT's 3.5L V12 engine with a 3.9L unit, increasing available power from 280bhp to 320bhp with a healthy increase in available engine torque across the power band. 40hp might seem like a small power increase to justify the development of a larger engine, but the thrust available to the driver at all engine speeds can be felt pretty easily with a 34 lb-ft increase in maximum torque.

Continue reading 1967 LAMBORGHINI 400 GT 2+2 →
Alfa Romeo, Bertone

1969 Alfa Romeo 1750 Berlina

Verdant Vermont, poised for fall but summer holding its ground, is to thank for today's featured vehicle. This Alfa Romeo 2000 Berlina looked too good under the cloudy skies and walls of trees in its for sale shots to pass over. We can just imagine the exhaust crackle bouncing off of the hills on a jaunt through hill and dale on the way into a sleepy New England town.

These Berlinas were meant to top the Alfa Romeo range of sedan offerings. Longer and smoother than the Giulia they are positioned above, the Berlina has a reputation for being a bit less engaging than the Giulia when the rubber hits the road. We'd recommend driving one before turning your nose up - maybe the smoother styling is worth a small reduction in driving enjoyment to you!

Continue reading 1969 Alfa Romeo 1750 Berlina →
Alfa Romeo, Bertone

1968 Alfa Romeo Giulia GT 1300 Junior

I was reminded of the GT Junior earlier this week when I was out picking up parts for my project from north of the Alps. The man working the VW warehouse I was visiting saw my Verde and offered the GT Junior as his favorite Italian car of all time. As the story went, he used to admire the green example that his neighbor spent a lot of time waxing in their Detroit driveway in the 1970s.

It's fun to imagine what the modern take on a GT Junior would look like. Let's pretend for a moment that Alfa had the cash to actually go through with the Giulia GTV - yeah, they announced it as a future product, but we'll believe it when we see it. So, if the GTV magically appeared on the streets, how would we make a Junior version of it? We'd probably power it with something like the 1.3L GSE powertrain found in the newer Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X. There, it's good for 177hp in top trim, which seems to be just about right for an entry-level coupe. We can't think of a current 6-speed manual from the FCA parts bin that would make sense for this RWD application, so just use your imagination there. As for wheels, would silver 16" steel wheels look out of place? We think they'd work.

Continue reading 1968 Alfa Romeo Giulia GT 1300 Junior →