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1976 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT for $1,500

alfetta-gt

This 1976 Alfetta GT has supposedly been parked in a barn for the past 27-28 years. The seller found it while hunting for VWs, but it really isn’t his thing so he has decided to sell it to someone who will appreciate it. It doesn’t run and there is rust, but it could be a great little project for an Alfista. Find it here on eBay for $1,500 or best offer!

UPDATE: The seller pulled the auction and relisted it here with bidding starting at $1,500.

alfetta-gt-motor

The exterior styling may not be to everyone’s liking, but we bet everyone can appreciate what is under the hood. Alfa Romeo’s famous twin-cam was an engineering marvel when it was released in 1954 and the Spica fuel injection kept it competitive as time went on. This engine is not currently running, so you will want to verify that it is not seized. Then when you get it home, you will want to go through the fuel system. Some people would recommend adding Weber carbs, but we would probably keep the FI. As long as it is fed clean fuel it will be very reliable. If the pump does need rebuilt you could always send it off to the master of Spica, Wes Ingram.

alfetta-gt-interior

The interior looks good, but it should if the seller’s claims are correct. 43k miles and indoor storage have kept things from deteriorating too badly. You are going to want to check for rust rodent nests under the dash and for rust under the carpets. The driver’s side door panel has been removed, presumably to fix a broken window crank, but the parts are all there. Parts availability for these isn’t as good as earlier Alfas, so we are glad that things look complete.

1976-alfetta-gt

Like all Alfa Romeos, this one has some rust. From what we can see, it really is mild when compared to other Alfettas. Most of these have long since rotted away so finding a decent one is getting harder everyday. Also as prices for early GTVs keep climbing, we have a feeling these less-handsome fastbacks are going to become more popular.

Comments

  1. Avatar Mike Garske

    I had one of these in College, great design, love the unique interiors of Alfa’s. I also had a spyder and 2 Milano’s or 155’s as they’re called elsewhere. The only downside to the Alfetta was the poorly engineered exhaust manifold that had 3 bolts instead of 4, which kept cracking and breaking. Besides the horrible body roll in cornering and rampant rusting qualities, a very fun car to have around!

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    • Avatar Dolphin Member

      Yes, old Alfas can have a lot of body roll, but for some reason they can still handle.

      I remember watching Gaston Andrey race a 1300 cc Alfa Spider at the Thompson track back a few years ago…well, maybe it was some decades ago. Anyway, most races he would qualify on pole and win. But you would have to see it to believe how fast the car could lap despite having that much body roll. The suspension had a lot of compliance and was well damped, and everyone’s tires were fairly skinny back then, so the roll was much less of a problem than it would be now with the current mega-wide racing rubber. I think these cars were designed to survive on the poor roads of Italy and Southern Europe back then by having a lot of suspension travel and compliance, but that tends to allow body roll.

      Despite that they are still great cars to drive provided you are in a vintage frame of mind when you do it.

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  2. Avatar paul

    I actually like these more then the GTV 6’s for there better handling characteristics & these are much more rare, also are easier to work on.I like the Campy wheels on this one & the interior looks good.

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  3. Avatar Dylan Wills

    Cute car! I’m a huge fan of those. A close friend of mine has a ’78 Alfetta GT, it was a factory equipped turbocharged car (Sadly, missing, for now). Quite a quick car and handles fantastically. I do have to say though, if I bought one I would change to Weber carb’s, the F.I sucks.

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    • Avatar paul

      a pair of 40DCOE’s on these is a common switch that is quite good , but the Spica FI in the hands of the right rebuilder can be tweaked & work very.

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      • Avatar paul

        work very well.

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      • Avatar Don Andreina

        My 1750 105 coupe came with 45s. I remember someone pointing them out to me, not sure if they were original. The car was a series 2 with headrests, overriders and that cool central dash that curved up around the gear stick.

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  4. Avatar Dolphin Member

    Alfas: I guess you either love them or….don’t. Me? I love them, and own a GTV6, which I prefer to the GTV because of the terrific V6 engine and the many improvements and updates that were made compared to the 4-cylinder GTV. Of course, there’s a potential price to be paid in the form of greater complexity, but that’s hardly unique to Alfas. Compared to todays computer-cars, all old Alfas are fairly simple. Just bring a voltmeter and be willing to consult the many online troubleshooting blogs a lot, especially if the car came from the rust belt.

    Being from Texas, this car’s decades-long slumber might actually be a plus: less potential time in the snowy/salty part of the continent. It will need a rear hatch, but the underside could be excellent since the battery box and spare tire well look really good, especially compared to most of these cars. Those places usually have holes in them by now.

    For me the real issue is the body. Even after replacing the hatch there’s a lot of rust around the glass and in the panel seams, and a lot of work will be needed. All of the glass will need to come out, and that’s when you find out whether the metal around the glass is thick enough to make the body worth saving.

    There are enough affordable GTV6s that come onto the market frequently, so unless someone needs to have a GTV there would not be much reason to go for this car over a GTV6 from the sunny South instead—which is exactly what I did when I bought mine.

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    • Avatar paul

      the hatch doesn’t look all that bad the rear body panel around the tail lights is the bigger problem, water going into the wells of the quarters starts the process of rust in the quarters & floor, the hatch on this one with it’s 2 small holes at each corner of the glass is not all that hard to fix.

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    • Avatar Robert Allen

      Having a GTV6 myself I still prefer the lines of the Alfetta GT/GTV/Sprint Veloce (depending on the year). Currently in process of making the subtle changes to my nice ’85 to replicate the smoother and more delicate styling that Giugiaro intended. Tail lights, eventually hood and maybe a dash swap.

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      • Avatar Don Andreina

        Interesting. If you’re going for the euro look, you’ll have to consider the turning signal lights under the headlights. Pls share your results, I am very interested to see how much of the original look you can attain.

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    • Avatar Dolphin Member

      Well, as usual the devil’s in the details Paul. Almost anything can be repaired with enough skills or the $$ to pay for them, but unless you can do intricate metal forming / butt welding / metal finishing yourself it would be better for most people to buy a decent used hatch. Maybe you can do the metal work, but most people can’t, including me, so it would be $80 + /hour for the work by a good shop. That’s assuming you can find one willing to tackle the job, which many won’t. The alternative is to buy a good used hatch. I just bought a scarce rust free hatch for a first year 240Z for a little over $200. They are out there if you look.

      These are not cars that lots of people are lusting after. Prices are very low and it would be easy to be under water fast, so I would not buy this car even though it’s cheap and I like Alfas. There are too many better Alfas available. It’s almost always better to pay more for a good car than to tackle a difficult and time consuming resto or refurb, especially on a car that has low interest and value.

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      • Avatar paul

        My experience is they didn’t sell too many of these so finding a good used one could be a trick, on the east coast these tended to rot at the windows & along the bottom edge of the lid where it meets the rear body, so this one looks to me, an east coast guy, as one of the better ones I have seen, that said maybe the west coast yards are full of them I don’t know, but the cost of shipping them east could work out the same or more then this repair.

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  5. Avatar Don Andreina

    I just love these cars. One of the best designs of the seventies, regardless of price bracket. Even better when it’s one of the original ‘chrome bumper’ (which this one seems to be tho’ in US form). The colour palette from that period was fantastic as well, this blue is excellent. I want one, but I’m not going near anything with rust. When Al Pacino drove one in Bobby Deerfield, I think it was credited as the Alfa Sprint GT.

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  6. Avatar Vicente Bortoni

    I had one of these , nearly impossible to find a dry body, fun to drive. Had webbers, sounded beautiful

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  7. Avatar Horse Radish

    Auction was pulled 2 hours ago, any bids ?
    This doesn’t look too bad, BUT ISN’T 1976 the year with that problem smog system ?
    At least BMWs here in CA had that awful thermal rector (?, the same as that year Mercedes 280C etc.) thingy and was impossible to pass….
    I have one of these that I keep forgetting about….along with 2 spider veloce 2.0……

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  8. Avatar BradL

    The Alfetta has been relisted here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alfa-Romeo-Other-gt-1976-alfa-romeo-alfetta-gt-/261354725255

    @ Don Andreina,
    All USA model 1750 GTVs came with Spica, though many were converted to Webers. All Euro 1750 GTVs had Weber 40 DCOE 32 or Dellorto DHLA 40 carbs. The 45s would have been someone’s personal upgrade.

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    • Avatar paul

      One of my Alfa’s, a late 66 Duetto 1600 had the 40DCOE’s, I owned it for 26 years.

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  9. Avatar jim s

    when i first looked at the listing it was BIN or make offer and i was thinking it would sell fast for parts. now it is relisted as auction and no bids yet. i learned a lot about Alfa’s from the other comments. but still hope someone works a deal with the seller and saves the good parts.

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  10. Avatar Mark E

    That pic of the rear window/hatch scares me silly, if that’s actually rust coming out from the INSIDE. Then, rust problems aside, you take the wonderful DOHC Alfa engine with all it’s intricacies and quirks (SPICA, anyone?) and you come up with something I would personally pass on even at only $1500. Someone with Alfa in their heart and the knowledge and space for a project may think otherwise, I hope. Sad to see a nice low mileage relatively exotic car like this get parted out…

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  11. Avatar Jim-Bob

    I like the color and the rear wheel drive, but the Italian-ness of it scares me. It has rust in curious places- like by the tail lights- that makes me wonder just what it is like in structural areas that hold moisture more and are not readily visible. If the rot is just what I can see then yeah, I would butt weld in some steel, paint it on the underside and rust proof the heck out of it. I’m mechanically adventurous (masochistic?) so I would enlist all of the knowledge of the internet (and a set of factory service manuals!) to try and sort the Spica system myself. This is the sort of interesting car an intelligent poor person could get going in their spare time without much (paid) outside help. If I were going to pay others to fix it, I would pass on it. It would be cheaper to buy a sorted one than pay to have it done for you.

    ###EDIT### It sold for $1500. Hope it goes to a good home!

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    • Avatar jim s

      it is still for sale.

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  12. Avatar Chris H.

    For that kind of money, you could easily triple your investment parting it out, or slowly go through it and bring her back as a scruffy driver. Either way, it’s all upside. Nice find!

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