NO RESERVE - 1978 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 2000

1978 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 2000 Description

1978 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 2000 . Condition is Used but Loved.
If you’re looking at this car, I’m going to assume you already have some familiarity with Alfas. If not, please ask. I have a long association with the type, and two of my restorations won “Best of” trophies at Concorso Italiano. I wish for anyone buying one of my cars to have a positive experience. I don't do this for a living, I do it for the satisfaction of preserving art, and enjoying them on the road.

In the world of Alfas, we find perfectly restored rarities, nicely preserved originals, tired but operational, used up relics, and too-far-gone to bother. This one exists between “nicely preserved”, and “tired but operational”. It is a car that has been regularly driven, and correctly maintained. Even better, it has been enjoyed and improved along the way.
I bought this pleasant driver for my grandson’s first car. He’s not yet gotten his license, and meanwhile I found a much newer, 1999 Alfa 916 GTV, so this one’s gotta go. I did not undertake this Alfetta to “flip”, it just got bumped by a newer car.

It came to me as a well maintained daily driver. Relatively fresh engine, trans, drive line, shift linkage, brakes and chassis. Since I’m well equipped for Alfa restoration, I went about sorting the details, ie: new exterior mirrors, Blaupunkt MP46 Bahamas radio, front tweeters, and Sound Ordnance Sub. New trunk carpet and side panels. NOS taillight lenses, new Hella halogen H1 high beams, oil pressure transducer, and hazard flasher and rear defrost switches, plus many more new or fresh items. This was to be my only grandson’s car, so I wanted him to be in a safe, economical, easy to maintain car. I have enjoyed driving it around town as I went about bringing it up to snuff.
The interior is very nice, and looks far newer than its years. Body was repainted a few years ago by the previous owner, and is bright and good looking.... from a few steps back. It is "driver quality", not a show winner. There are the expected chips and scratches, but the overall appearance is ideal for what I intended to use it for. There might be better candidates if you want to restore an Alfetta to 100%, but probably not a better car for daily driving, for this price.
Needs:
Some window rubber seals are sun hardened, with a few cracks. Not hard to replace. I’ve already installed a new driver-side door seal. Living in Arizona includes a lot of sun, but certainly less tendency to rust.

Minor engine oil leak. I reduced it by half by replacing the fuel injection pump base gasket, and am continuing to look. Dye tracing suggests the fuel injection pump has another leak. This is relatively common, and not hard to fix if you’re knowledgeable and motivated. There is some oil coming from the rear of the engine, but not a lot. It would be ok with just a pan on the garage floor.
Air Conditioning was partly removed during some front body repair by PO, and never reinstalled. Most of the components are still in place, so recommissioning should be a digestible size job. I bought a good condenser toward that goal.
Some of the emission components have been removed, so probably a challenge to keep in California, I have most of the items, and APE in Tracy, Ca assures me he could return it to CA emission spec, if you insist on living there.

Windshield washer system not operational, but most parts included. Removed for repaint by PO, and not reinstalled. I should get most of it reinstalled before the sale is final.
Rear window defogger inop. I installed a new rear-heater switch, and confirmed power to the two leads at the window. I doubt any of them work at this age, but there might be an aftermarket heater grid that could bring it back online..
Tiny paint bubbling on forward rockers just behind front wheels. Short tear along top forward edge of dash instrument binnacle. No other cracks in dash. Headliner has a few small tears. Fewer than I'm used to seeing in a car from this era.

PO spray painted the wheels a sort of mist-gray. It’s an acquired taste. Easy enough to return to silver. Wheels look good, and unabused.

Pluses:
Runs and handles great!GTV6 Front torsion bars, rear Ricambi springs, Bilstein shocks
Interior very nice.Fresh thermostatic actuator. A new TA now costs around $500.Gauges all workNew column switch (This is a big deal). It's a later model switch than original, and supports an "intermittent" function. I'm including a used intermittent controller so you can decipher how to splice it in. Not terribly hard, just time studying the wiring schematic.
New oil pressure sender. Engine has excellent pressure and temps.Aftermarket trans-tunnel add-on console with cup holder and USB ports. Why didn't Alfa include cup holders back in the day?
No other rust found other than mentioned above.Slightly oversized tires, three years old. Tread appears new.Fresh trunk carpet and side panels.New hood release cable.Nice wood aftermarket steering wheel. Works well with sporting nature of suspension.A good sized file of previous maintenance and owner history, including documentation of engine and drive line overhaul.
Includes several boxes of parts, new and used.
Alfettas are quite special to drive. They were light, and the De Dion rear suspension produced a wonderful sense of connectedness with the road. The rear-mounted transaxle gave close to 50/50 weight distribution, and the overall light weight responded well to the proven 2.0 liter, double overhead cam, fuel injected engine.
Because Alfas have always been collectible, parts are readily available, and maintenance well within hobbyist capabilities.

If the very-rare in the US Alfa 916 GTV hadn't found me, I'd be teaching my grandson to drive in this Alfetta right now.

916 has arrived! I need the garage space! The BIN price is about $2,000 less than I have in the car. Somebody is going to get a great deal on a sweet driver.

On Aug-03-20 at 07:39:58 PDT, seller added the following information:

Update...
It seems that once a bid has been placed that the posted “Buy it Now” option is automatically removed. I don’t understand that logic, but here we are.
The minimum bid has been met, so the car will sell. There is no invisible reserve. Good luck!

On Aug-04-20 at 15:44:20 PDT, seller added the following information:

Correction to the mileage. Correct mileage is 113.690

When I was chasing the various gauge issues, the fuel level was intermittent. Although I could have fixed it, I ended up buying a better looking center gauge pod. When I jotted down the mileage, I used what is showing on the new pod, but I still have the original and it shows 13.690. Thus, my estimate of 113,690

On Aug-04-20 at 20:42:04 PDT, seller added the following information:

I've just posted a letter from a previous owner discussing the car's history during his, and his father's, ownership. If it's too hard to read, I can respond with specific info.
It means the engine, Spica pump, and a variety of items were replaced only about 31,000 miles ago. The rebuild included port-matching head to intake, with slight enlargement, Hatings rings, stiffer valve springs, modern silicone valves seals, etc.
The clutch was replaced in 2005, although mileage is not shown on the invoice. Also in 05, the transaxle got new 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear synchros and sleeves, plus several dog teeth, new seals, trans mounts, and shift linkage got the Shankel "SureShift".
Sway bar is from a Milano. Watts linkage and de Dion bushings were replaced during this time.
Air conditioning has been fitted with a rotary type compressor, but as noted, is not currently in service. Alternator is a higher-amp unit from a GTV6.
ALSO!!! Today, I reinstalled the windshield washer stuff, with a new motor. Sprays very well, although the Alfa nozzles could use some tweaking. I've got them hitting the windshield. Mostly. :)
I've been asked about returning it to California smog check condition. According to Larry Jr, at APE, he has the stuff to return it to OE condition. With the relatively fresh overhaul, and good valve stem seals, I can't imagine it would be too hard to make it smog legal. However, I'm not going to do that, and cannot guarantee the outcome. The exhaust manifold, hot air shroud, filter, and various attachments and brackets all appear to be in place. It'll need a pump, piping manifold, and whatever else to make it look right. It was updated with a Marelliplex distributor and coil, so not sure if that's a factor. My records show a fresh catalytic converter not terribly long ago.
For what it's worth, I can just lean through the window, twist and key, and it fires right up, idling perfectly.

On Aug-05-20 at 07:20:04 PDT, seller added the following information:

A potential bidder wrote with a couple of questions.
There is no vibration from the driveline at all. Delightfully smooth. The gearbox and shift linkage is smooth and unambiguous. In all respects, this is a delightful car to drive.
He asked, “if you were to keep the car, what is the next thing you would address?” I thought about that. If it was, indeed, in consideration of my grandson driving it, I’d take one more round of TA and FCS adjustment to improve the hot start behavior. I’ve learned the car, and have no real trouble with it, but as a car mechanic, he’s a better trombone player. On the other hand, if it was in expectation of me being the regular driver, I’d get the AC working. It can be bloody hot in northern Nevada.
The next thing already scheduled is a visit to an alignment shop next Wednesday. The steering wheel isn’t perfectly centered while driving, and that annoys me. No pull left or right. Just needs adjusting.

On Aug-06-20 at 11:41:44 PDT, seller added the following information:

Update Thursday, August 6
An interested party asked if the car had ever been registered in California. I made another dash through the stack of papers, and found that yes, it was registered in CA.
At this point, I think we can track the car from when it had about 35,000 miles, and was bought by a father-son pair in Tucson. They kept the car until about 105,000 miles, and had the engine, clutch, and other stuff done between about 88,000 miles and when they sold it in 2005.

At that point, it appears the car went to California, where it stayed until 2016.

Then, it was sold to a fellow who had houses in both Arizona and Washington state. It stayed in AZ most of the time, but it had moved to near Seattle not long before he offered it for sale, and I bought it.
The records are certainly not complete nor meticulous, but they do provide something of a story-arc, showing regular maintenance about the time one would expect an Alfetta to have needed that maintenance. Some cars at 20+ years old just get dumped when larger expenses appear, but this car was kept alive.
There is a record of it having failed a smog test in CA in May of 2005, but then a subsequent test on 7/21/05 when it passed. There are numerous receipts during that time for repairs and parts, including a new catalytic converter.
So, it seems to have been in continued use in CA for several years.
I'm not sure who or when the smog items were removed, but am guessing that would have been after 2016 when the car left California. I don't think it would be insurmountable at all to get the full smog kit reinstalled, but I'll leave that for the California owner to tend to. Most, or possibly all, other states would not require this.
Shortly after I bought the car I picked up a Euro-spec exhaust manifold with dual outlets rather than the smog-equipped single-outlet on it now. So - if you're in California, you can probably achieve smog compliance. If you live elsewhere, you can probably continue to tweak the car for more excitement. Although I've driven a GTV6 (a new dealer demo), I've never driven another Alfetta. This one is an impressive handling car. The engine, even at 4,750' altitude where I live, is quite potent.