Classic Car Mart Spring 2016 193
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Come 1993 and the itch for another one was
strong. EGF906X was a 1982 1500Ti in black.
Cosmetically tatty and with a dead clutch, it was
good structurally and it was a hundred quid. A
local factor delivered a pair of front wings and
two rear arches for £70 and I spent a lot of time
repairing the inner wings and getting it right. A
local paint shop put a fantastic coat of black two-
pack paint on for £125 (a drive in, drive out deal
on ready-prepped cars) and I ran it for a couple
of years before deciding BLE803Y, a Green
Cloverleaf was a better idea.
In the meantime I was buying up every cheap
knackered one I could fi nd and pulling them apart
to sell the bits, and the two original press cars
TAN41M and TAN42M came my way – one was
literally falling in half and got axed, the other was
saveable, got sold on and currently has an MOT.
A 1979 1300 Sprint I was given for free (the
best price!) had an unexpected surprise under
the bonnet in the form of a rare Gordon Allen
1600 engine complete with a forged steel crank
and Mangoletsi twin 40 downdraught carburettor
conversion. This fi tted to the standard single
carb Sud heads where the factory twin carb
manifolds wouldn’t fi t due to port spacing.
Between 1993 and 1997 I ran a series of
Alfasuds – a white 1978 1300Ti LJO515S, a
very rare white 1.5TiS OBW390W and a red 1.3
SC UPH425X that was free but was missing
its pop-out glass sunroof. I got a suitably sized
sheet of Perspex and riveted it in place along
with a bead of clear sealer, but at speed in the
wet, some rain always got through and dripped
onto my head rather than the passenger’s head –
that would actually have been funny.
But by that time Suds were rapidly drying up
and they were even getting rare in breakers.
But I had one fi nal hurrah in the form of a
Kermit green 1979 1.5 Super, SWL618T – the
one Clarkson drove for Top Gear a few years
ago. This one-owner car had spectacularly
rotten wings and arches but it was lowish
mileage, had Koni dampers and was totally
original. Inner wings were rebuilt, new genuine
wings bolted on and inner and outer rear
arches fi tted along with repairs to the rear
valance. I Waxoyled it and fi tted Alfa 33 front
arch liners to preserve the car – so well as it
turned out that Editor Wager and I spotted it at
an Alfa club meeting at Stanford Hall in 2002,
and it still looked very good. Hopefully it’s still
around but it’s not been taxed since 2004.
In all I had around 20 Suds, some as useable
cars and many as scrappers. I don’t think I ever
paid more than 300 quid for one (although a
couple consumed much more in restoration
costs) and as rubbish as they were for body and
trim quality, I still regard them as one of Alfa
Romeo’s high water marks. CCM