DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

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I've been spending time since my last posting removing all non-original/unnecessary parts.

The rear end was very 'cluttered' with numerous stickers, an ugly rear number plate, GB plate, etc :





- so I set about removing all these & switching to a rectangular rear number plate:





Similarly, at the front, additional driving lights had been fitted which were removed along with the associated wiring & auxillary switch panel :





One of my pet hates is non-original wiring where cables have taken their 'feed' by hacking into the existing loom rather than running new wires back to the fusebox (or some other suitable junction)...

Numerous hours were spent laying on my back under the dash removing surplus wiring, tracing the routing of non-original cables & re-routing, replacing incorrect connectors, etc - here's some of the mess of wiring I removed &/or replaced:





Next my attention turned to the dash - as mentioned in an earlier post, the previous owner had covered the dash in black vinyl so I set about removing this... one of the attractive features of the early 'boat-tail' Spiders is the lovely simple (body colour) painted metal dash.

This is how it was when I got the car (previous owner's photo):




Firstly I removed the unsightly modern radio/CD player, knee pads, glovebox lid, etc & then warmed small sections of the dash with a hot air gun before peeling back the vinyl.

Once the bulk of the vinyl had been removed, I cleaned off any remaining glue residue with white spirit & assessed the results.

On the plus side, the original green paint on the dash was, in the main, still present & in good condition.

On the negative side, as is often the case with older 'classics', the dash had been cut (or more correctly, 'butchered') in order to fit a modern (DIN) stereo...



Unfortunately for some reason, whoever covered the dash had also 'keyed' the glovebox lid & the small rh section of the metal dash







These 2 sections will obviously need repainting.

I may at some stage reverse the enlarged radio hole in the dash by letting in new metal & repainting but as a temporary measure I purchased a cheap black blanking plate off ebay & attached a Factory radio delete plate :





Next job was to remove the later (S4) seats & re-install the original 1969 originals.

Before:







This shows the overall view of the interior - much better !!





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Looks great Andy


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Under the bonnet most things looked correct - except for the windscreen washer set-up.

Like many cars built in the '60's, the original washers were activated via a foot-operated push switch mounted down on the 'toe-board' to the left side of the clutch pedal - in the case of the Alfa this was a vacuum-actuated switch allied to a bag-type reservoir mounted in the engine compartment.

The previous owner had 'upgraded' the washers on this car to a more modern (rigid) plastic reservoir with integral electric pump which, although more efficient/reliable , looked wrong (IMO) ...




- so I removed it !!

Although I had the original washer bag & foot switch (the owner kept all of the original components for any 'upgrade' he performed), I decided that electric washers would be an advantage, so set about looking for something more period-correct ...

After a bit of research, I found that a suitable bag-type washer reservoir (similar to the original Alfa version) but with an integral electric pump was used on various Fiat models & managed to source a NOS one from an Autobianchi A112 :

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Unfortunately I'd neglected to do my homework fully, so, when the new washer bag/pump arrived, I discovered that the distance between the 'eyelets' didn't match the mounting hooks on the Alfa inner wing:



- so an adapter plate would be need (as I didn't want to drill any additional holes ...

After a bit of thought, I decided to make an adapter plate from textured black ABS sheet (since I had plenty) so a card template was made, the details transferred to ABS & then cut & drilled accordingly. A couple of mushroom-headed M6 alloy machine screws providing the location for the new bag.








Live feed was taken from the original block connector for the foot switch up to a new push-button switch mounted on a bracket (again, made from textured black ABS) under the right hand end of the dash.


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Car looks fantastic Andy. Can't understand why anyone would have swapped the original seats or covered the dashboard ?
I bought a 2.0L Kamm tail after selling my 1300 Junior Boat tail.
It was painted metallic BRG with cream leather, but at the bulk head I could see the non metallic 'Verde' original colour grinning through.
It was only a £4k car then so originality wasn't such a big issue but I had fond memories of both cars. The Kamm tail had more power
but the boat tail was more 'musical ' and ultimately more fun.
Great cars - enjoy !

Lovely job Andy.

Looks great Andy - by the way, have you come across Martin Taylor at Autotreasures - he has been really helpful with my GTV sourcing quite a few NOS parts.

Ian

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Not heard of or come across Martin Taylor Ian - will check his website out - thanks.

Colour is growing on me esp now the clutter has gone.
Nice looking car and getting better by the 'post'

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Having removed the modern stereo, thoughts now turned to alternatives sources for 'sounds' ...

The original idea was to buy/install a 'period' radio that had been updated to accept input from an mp3 player/ipod/tablet,etc (from someone like Chrome London who'd supplied a similar unit for my 356) but with the oversized hole in the dash this wouldn't be a straightforward job.

Not wanting to cut holes anywhere for speakers also meant that their location was going to be a compromise &, coupled with the inevitable wind/mechanical noise levels inherent with an old convertible, spending a lot of money on a stereo set-up would be a waste ...

In the end I bought a small cheap tuner/amplifier with a remote controller off ebay (£13.20 including postage ! ) which had inputs for USB & a 3.5mm jack plug.





- then attached it to a base plate (made from - you guessed it - textured black ABS !!) & located it in the glovebox







Next I purchased a cheap 1 metre male->female 3.5mm jack plug lead & ran this from the amplifier down under the carpet & attached the female end to the side of the ashtray console behind the gear lever:





For the sound output I used a pair of Pioneer speakers (which I already had) - joined by a piece of ABS (!!) so that they just rested either side of the transmission tunnel under the dash:







The final stage was to make a cover to hide the amplifier when not in use (although the glovebox lid will also be re-installed once it's been repainted).

I fabricated a basic rectangular box (open at the back) out of textured black ABS (easy to bend at 90 deg angles using a little heat) then made up a hardboard 'shelf' - to match the shape of the glovebox - which I glued to the top pf the rectangular box & covered with charcoal Perlon-like material:







- & that completed my 'sound system' - all for a total outlay of ~ £15 ...


I've only tested it briefly so far but I must say I'm quite impressed by the sound.


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Andy, excuse my ignorance, but why would you want to listen to a radio in an Italian car?
The music is the engine noise!

Lovely car.

Never a wrong move Andy..... class

Enjoying following progress, looking really nice. Impressive work

Wow, what a difference that interior makes, beautiful

Just found this - what an awesome colour and good find. Any updates.

I had some bodywork done on the Pagoda over the winter - rust around the headlamps is common - and while they had the welder and spray gun out I had them “rightsize” my radio slot that someone had butchered many years ago. It’s bugged me for the 15 years we’ve owned the car