Update 7/1/19 – The auction for this Alfa didn’t meet reserve the last time around, but it has been relisted here on eBay without a reserve!
From 4/11/19 – There always seems to be that air of inevitability surrounding 50-year-old Alfa Romeo project cars, and that is that it seems inevitable that there will be major rust issues to address before the car can be pointed anywhere near a road. This 1967 Giulia TI is slightly different. Yes, it does have some rust, but it really doesn’t appear to be extensive, and it appears that the most notorious areas have been spared the worst of it. Located in Flanders, New Jersey, you will find the Alfa listed for sale here on eBay. At the time of writing, bidding has reached $3,383, although the reserve has not been met.
Scouting around the Alfa gives cause for some optimism. The floors are said to be solid, while a photo of the trunk floor looks really good. The battery tray and its surrounds look clean, as do the rockers, and the quarter panels. There is some rust visible around the lips of the wheel arches, but even that doesn’t look bad. It also looks like there might be some rust in some of the doors, but apart from the driver’s door which has a large weird spot, even those spots look small. We’ve seen a few different Alfa project cars here at Barn Finds in recent times, and this one really does appear to be one of the most solid.
The owner describes the seats and the door panels as being mint, and while the condition does appear to be good, mint might be stretching the friendship just a bit. There is no doubt that the upholstery looks good, but it is stretched on the driver’s seat, while the front door trims have been cut to fit speakers. The dash and pad will need some restoration work, and new carpet will need to go on the shopping list. Having said all of that, the interior would be quite serviceable as it is.
Under the hood is where things start to get interesting for me. The owner says that this is the wonderful little 1,570cc twin-cam engine that is such a desirable little unit. However, in a standard TI, this should be fitted with a single, twin-choke, down-draft Solex carburetor. This one looks like it has been fitted with a pair of twin-choke, side-draft Webber carbs. This would be what you would expect to find in the more powerful Giulia Super, or TI Super. So there’s a bit of a mystery for you. Backing the twin-cam is a 5-speed manual transmission. The owner says that the engine doesn’t run, but that it does turn freely. However, I would be very inclined to give that engine a really thorough check before I was tempted to kick it into life.
Older Alfa Romeos have gotten some bad press, mainly due to their propensity to dissolve before your very eyes. I look at things differently. I believe that any classic Alfa that has lasted for more than 50-years without biodegrading must be a good one, and these are the cars that deserve to be restored and enjoyed. On the face of it, this Giulia TI seems to fit that description, and I suspect that someone will finally return it to its former glory.
These cars came from the factory with a case of Rustoleum. I had one in Europe – great fun till it literally rusted out beneath me. If this car were from CA I’d consider it, even though the restoration would be seriously pricey. But oh, that rust…
Perhaps Alfa copied Fiat’s rust technology as Fiat had perfected the art of Rust (well in reality it was the cheap a$$ Russian steel.)
Looks like a good starting place for a refurb.
Weber.
Hey, the Hofmeister kink is upside-down on this car!
like the Gulettia Sprint a lill more, 2 DOCEs are very fine (quite similar to FI). Wonder which 5 speed to mate?
I’m a car guy and as such I recognize that there’s a butt for every seat, but I’ve never understood the popularity of these Alfa sedans. Yep, they handle great and rev like crazy, OK. But they are the most ungainly, poorly proportioned thing to come out of the 60’s since the gen1 Plymouth Valiant. You want to ride around looking like a mid level Communist Party drone, that’s cool with me though, maybe someday I’ll get to ride in one and change my mind.
Totally agree. My neighbor has one of these in pristine shape. Apparently highly sought after among Alfa crazies. Still one of the ugliest cars ever built.
@Rhett – Have you ever seen one in real life? They are actually cool looking little cars! Way better than the Ladas which I assume you’re referring to.
@Jesse – I have, seen them run at Lime Rock and admittedly the scoot right along (as much as a 1.5 liter can scoot). But if your into driving a 60’s box, personal opinion I’d take a BMW 1800/2002
The BMWs are great too, but I wouldn’t say they are much better looking.
At a drag coefficient of 0.34 it’s slips through the air better than a Porsche 918.
Sweet looking car. I hope it goes to a good owner.
@Jesse, we’ve seemingly got different taste. I was stationed in Europe (’67-’69), so I was able to do visual comparisons to these and the Bimmers and also many other cars never exported. Rode in many as my fellow Officers were mostly single and we had lots of money (comparatively). Also travelled to Italy and saw these brand-spanking new. Meh. I’m sure some Alfisti will grab this and restore it, but I have no desire to have a 4 door ANYTHING. Their Duettos and GTVs were pretty, but also, compared to my car, painfully slow… P.S. My “city car” was a ’57 Fiat 500 though. Too cute for words, and a real gas sipper !
Ugly is as ugly does, I say. To me these are trim little boxes with no fancying up anywhere, meant to carry up to four people in reasonable comfort and very briskly. Only thing I don’t like is they’re going for about the price of a new one … but Mrs. O has a new one and I’d rather have this. And it’s always seemed to me that anyone who values a car by how good he looks in it is not exactly a “car guy”.
BTW, I also really like the ‘60 Valiants, except for the fake spare on the deck lid. But the wagons are right up my alley. They’re fun to drive, too.
Willowen – How interesting ! I drove a 1960 Valiant wagon as a grocery store delivery guy during high school (’64-’65). It was the good old slant-6 with a three speed on the floor. Had loads of fun with that car. (Light green with a sort of tan interior.) AND it got me out of the store for hours on end !
Bog – I never had a job driving one, but I had a friend who let me use his several times, since my own car was a Morris Mini and not much good for large-parts fetching. Same specs as your delivery car, including the color. I loved the kinda ramshackle happy-go-lucky way that thing got down the road, and with all that grunt (relative to my car’s 848cc and 36 hp) I didn’t mind the lack of another gear. Drove a ’62 Plymouth hardtop much later that had the same over-the-road feel, so it’s something in the MoPar chassis of the time. If one of those shows up here I could be in serious trouble.
LOL ! They HAVE been on here. Maybe not an exact copy of what we talked about, but within a couple years. I remember reading about the Chrysler Corps torsion bar front suspension, so that’s probably the thing you recall contributing to the ride. One of my school-mates’ folks had ’63 Plymouth slant 6 sedan with a 3 on tree, my Dad had a ’63 Biscayne with big 6 and same trans. We “allegedly” had the occasional time trials. And “tied” so many times we just stopped doing it. Allegedly.