Not another bl**dy Alfa ! ... ?!!
Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 5:52 pm
So, with the 356 sold & no sensibly-priced 'interesting' old Porsches on the market, it was time to look elsewhere to see if there was another car that could be 'ticked off the list' ...
There were 2 cars in particular that had been on my list for a very long time but that had so far eluded me - a Lotus Elite Climax & an Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider.
I had come close to buying an Elite on a couple of occasions but the right car had never turned up at the right time & there currently seemed to be very few for sale & nothing of interest at a realistic price.
I'd looked at several Alfa Duettos a few years ago - prior to buying the 356 - but prices had already started rising significantly so I'd more or less ruled them out in favour of an early S2 Spider Junior - a model which, although it adopted the later Kamm-tail body (as opposed to the original 'boat-tail' design), retained the lovely body-coloured painted metal dash & push-button door handles.
So I started looking again.
I really wanted a LHD model as I had a particular European trip in mind - down through France, into Switzerland, over the Alps & down to Southern Italy.
A combination of the usual Italian car sites - autoscout24, subito, autobelle, kijiji, etc - & mobile.de in Germany seemed to cover most cars for sale in Europe & so I waded through hundreds of adverts trying to find something 'special'.
Just before Christmas I'd flown out to Düsseldorf to look at a beautiful 'Giallo Prototipo' (a bit like Jaguar Primrose Yellow) boat-tail Spider Junior at Classic Remise but although the car was perfect, the price was unrealistic (& non-negotiable).
Now that I was looking again I contacted the Dealer to see if the car was still available (it was no longer on their website) but it had been on consignment & the owner had decided not to sell.
I found a lovely ex-Italian S2 Spider Junior with a Dealer in the Netherlands so flew out to Amsterdam to look at it - a lovely showroom in a great location (in Sassenheim) housing around 50 classics of all sorts (including a dozen or so Porsches). The owner was the perfect host - friendly & knowledgeable with absolutely no pressurising - I was able to take as long as I liked looking over the car & was offered as much fresh coffee as I wanted (some of the best coffee I've ever had !). I was encouraged to take the car out (on my own) for an extended drive & even picked up/returned to the airport.
The car looked & drove very well but for reasons I couldn't immediately explain, it just didn't tick all of the boxes - I think that's when I realised that I didn't want to compromise ... I really wanted the original 'boat-tail' version.
Next I flew out to Copenhagen to look at a Duetto for sale at the well-known dealer Stelvio Automobili who tend to specialise in early Alfas.
The Duetto had been owned by a local for the past 12 years & during this time virtually everything had been restored/refurbished or replaced. Again it was a lovely car with a top asking price (also non-negotiable) but there were a few things incorrect which I felt should have been reflected in the price. In the end I decided that the price was too high - it would also have been a long way to drive it back !
While I was there I had a good look at (& was tempted by) this:
- but the interior, although beautifully executed, was a bit 'over the top' for a competition-inspired car:
They'd made (IMO) the classic mistake of installing a 2 litre engine but I did happen to have a spare 1300 Alfa engine ...
No, I needed to stick to my original plan & not get side-tracked !
.
There were 2 cars in particular that had been on my list for a very long time but that had so far eluded me - a Lotus Elite Climax & an Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider.
I had come close to buying an Elite on a couple of occasions but the right car had never turned up at the right time & there currently seemed to be very few for sale & nothing of interest at a realistic price.
I'd looked at several Alfa Duettos a few years ago - prior to buying the 356 - but prices had already started rising significantly so I'd more or less ruled them out in favour of an early S2 Spider Junior - a model which, although it adopted the later Kamm-tail body (as opposed to the original 'boat-tail' design), retained the lovely body-coloured painted metal dash & push-button door handles.
So I started looking again.
I really wanted a LHD model as I had a particular European trip in mind - down through France, into Switzerland, over the Alps & down to Southern Italy.
A combination of the usual Italian car sites - autoscout24, subito, autobelle, kijiji, etc - & mobile.de in Germany seemed to cover most cars for sale in Europe & so I waded through hundreds of adverts trying to find something 'special'.
Just before Christmas I'd flown out to Düsseldorf to look at a beautiful 'Giallo Prototipo' (a bit like Jaguar Primrose Yellow) boat-tail Spider Junior at Classic Remise but although the car was perfect, the price was unrealistic (& non-negotiable).
Now that I was looking again I contacted the Dealer to see if the car was still available (it was no longer on their website) but it had been on consignment & the owner had decided not to sell.
I found a lovely ex-Italian S2 Spider Junior with a Dealer in the Netherlands so flew out to Amsterdam to look at it - a lovely showroom in a great location (in Sassenheim) housing around 50 classics of all sorts (including a dozen or so Porsches). The owner was the perfect host - friendly & knowledgeable with absolutely no pressurising - I was able to take as long as I liked looking over the car & was offered as much fresh coffee as I wanted (some of the best coffee I've ever had !). I was encouraged to take the car out (on my own) for an extended drive & even picked up/returned to the airport.
The car looked & drove very well but for reasons I couldn't immediately explain, it just didn't tick all of the boxes - I think that's when I realised that I didn't want to compromise ... I really wanted the original 'boat-tail' version.
Next I flew out to Copenhagen to look at a Duetto for sale at the well-known dealer Stelvio Automobili who tend to specialise in early Alfas.
The Duetto had been owned by a local for the past 12 years & during this time virtually everything had been restored/refurbished or replaced. Again it was a lovely car with a top asking price (also non-negotiable) but there were a few things incorrect which I felt should have been reflected in the price. In the end I decided that the price was too high - it would also have been a long way to drive it back !
While I was there I had a good look at (& was tempted by) this:
- but the interior, although beautifully executed, was a bit 'over the top' for a competition-inspired car:
They'd made (IMO) the classic mistake of installing a 2 litre engine but I did happen to have a spare 1300 Alfa engine ...
No, I needed to stick to my original plan & not get side-tracked !
.