DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Fast forward a few years ...

I'd now moved house & had the luxury of a nice double garage so could have the Alfa at home.

Although many/most of the 'classics' I've owned over the years have tended to be modified/uprated, I much prefer any modifications to be period-correct (or, at least, look period correct).

In my collection of period steering wheels I did have a couple of likely candidates - a couple of Nardi woodrim wheels, the first one being a '66-dated flat wheel :





& the second one a '69-dated NOS dished version:





However, the first one at 43cm was a little too big & the dished one at 38cm was a bit too small - ideally I was after something around 40cm ...



As with early 911's where people often look to the competition models of the day (R, T/R, ST, RSR, etc) for inspiration, my ideas for an interior revamp were influenced by the SZ versions of the Giulietta.

I was aiming for something along these lines:







I did already have a similar-looking steering wheel in excellent condition but it was from an Abarth Fiat & destined for a future project.

So, time for a bit of research ...


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I do hope I am not going to say the wrong thing here Andy, but black seats trimmed in red just don't work for me. It's a 1980s Porsche thing too. I can live with black trimmed in white, but why trim in anything other than the main seat colour?

No problem Robert - it's the general style I was hinting at - not the colour scheme ...

Researching suitable Zagato-style seats threw up a few possibilities but none were quite what I was looking for within a realistic budget ...

Lurking in the back of my mind somewhere was the name of a specialist in Italy who stocked a vast array of period Abarth (& other) parts including seats - a quick 'google' reminded me that it was Bernimotori.

Amongst his extensive range of seats were several variations on the Zagato theme - one of which was exactly what I'd been looking for ...

A call to Anthony Berni revealed that the seats could be upholstered in any colour, so after checking through a selection of his fabric samples I opted for this bluey green vinyl:




Some weeks later, a box arrived with my new seats - plus an extra 3 metres of the vinyl to allow me to re-cover my door panels & rear parcel shelf:





The simplest solution for mounting them seemed to be to drill the (steel) base cross pieces & bolt them to the existing Ridgard frames - so an hour later saw them trial fitted in the car ...



- so, that was part 1 of the interior transformation sorted ...


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Nice

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Whilst looking for a suitable replacement steering wheel I decided to swap back axles over.

As I mentioned previously, I had a complete spare 9/41 back axle (the current one was 8/41) :



- with everything needed to hand it was a relatively straightforward job occupying half a day - & as an added bonus the 'new' axle proved to be a bit quieter than the one removed too!

When I originally went to look at the car in France it was fitted with a (rare) set of Tecnomagnesio magnesium alloy wheels but, try as i may, I couldn't persuade the seller to part with them so the car came to me with the original Fergat steel wheels.

Coincidentally when I was looking for bimetallic (steel/alloy) wheels for my 904 project I came across a couple of original sets of magnesium Campagnolo SZ wheels in Sicily so bought them.





However, I subsequently decided that it could be an expensive (& potentially dangerous) mistake to fit/use 50+ yr old magnesium wheels on my car (especially since they had been powder-coated making it difficult to determine their true condition in terms of corrosion) so eventually I sold them on to a well-known SZ owner/Alfa collector in the Netherlands.

Respected UK Giulietta specialist Chris Robinson had previously reproduced a small batch of the Campagnolo-style wheels in magnesium but the process proved to be prohibitively expensive, so he was reluctant to produce more. However, after a gap of several years he was persuaded to undertake the production of another batch - but this time the wheels were manufactured from aluminium alloy.

He also took the opportunity of making new moulds so that he could offer slightly wider (5in) wheels.

This seemed the ideal solution for my car so I duly visited his premises in Andover & bought a set.

These were then fitted with a set of 165x15 Vredestein Sprint Classic tyres & put on the car:

Loving the story Andy. Take your time...

Wonderful stuff and what a wonderful car

great looking car, seats look way cool!

I eventually managed to secure a suitable 400mm steering wheel:



So. once fitted, it completed stage 2 of the interior transformation:






Next was to sort some form of floor covering but I didn't want to fit carpets or rubber mats - I was looking for something else ...

Once again, I quite liked the look of the SZ competition models which used a type of vinyl on the floor/inner sills/etc :





- but didn't think that would prove to be particularly hard-wearing for a road car.

So, what else was there out there that might fit the bill ?

After racking my brains for a while I remembered a hard-wearing material that several British sports car manufacturers used for certain interior panels/boot linings, etc back in the '60's ... 'hardura'

So, a quick search on google found me the cheapest supplier & I ordered 3 metres in black:









Basically, 'Hardura' is an embossed PVC coated felt.


The idea is to trim the edges with black vinyl to produce a more 'finished' look - so, with this in mind (& after giving my previous Singer sewing machine away ~ 5 yrs ago due to dwindling use), I bought a heavy duty Singer 201k:

We have a train station named after your sewing machine

talking of seats, what period racing seats would anyone recommend for an Alfa giulia super 70's period. Looking to go down the tartan seat centers route and partial tartan door panel as well.Bit like the 911 really

It really depends on your budget but I'd be looking at the seats offered by the likes of D'Eser:

http://www.deser.it/#

Bielstein/BF-Torino:

http://shop.bf-torino.com/shop_start/?_ ... re=default

or, these OMP seats look good value if the quality is decent:



http://www.sportseats4u.co.uk/omp-class ... t_537.html

Mmm quite like thoses omp ones although not sure whether to go for a seat without headrest
Thanks