Had quite a few Alfasuds, The 1100ti £90, 1200ti £60 and a 1500 ti only 4 years old when I got it £150. Fantastic cars to drive and a beautiful engine. Easy to work on handled like on rails, but the 1500ti was rotting before my eyes, I did a full restoration and sold it for £600. I had an Alfa Giullieta, weird car, no rust however, front engine, gearbox on the rear axle.
Alfasuds here fetching absurd money now, a 1.5ti Green Cloverleaf recent went for $36,000 was nice in the best colour, red.
Anyone wanting a GTV, they fetch anything from $21-70k here. Not rust boxes either. Always happy to help if anyone wants a classic from over here.
The vicar has done a nice job on that car, hasn't he?
This all reminds me of what you see out here - devoted Trabant owners wheeling out their lovingly preserved polluting death-traps for a convoy on a Sunday afternoon. It looks kind of impressive, but boy, do they stink.
The Alfasud was a great car, but rusted away very quickly
Loved the Alfasud - will buy an old Alfa or Lancia if I win the lottery.
While at same dealership, Lancia Beta came in for its first MOT, was so rotten underneath car had to be scrapped, on Lancia scrappage scheme. 3 years old!. Russian dodgy steel.
I also liked the Alfa GTV 3.0. It was so fast, scared the life out of me on the A2 going to Maidstone, but that also was rusting away when very young. There cant be many around now. Must be a constant battle with rust.
Nothing to do with Russian steel - that's a myth. The rustproofing was the main issue.
Or lack of. To be fair, a lot of cars in the 70’s suffered the same fate. My old man bought a 4 year old Hillman Avenger in ‘78 that needed welding and a full respray not long after he bought it.
The general advice when buying classic cars now is to check the bodywork more than anything else. Unless it’s rare/exotic, mechanical issues can be put right fairly easily, most restoration costs involve bodywork issues.
There were loads of rusty cars in the 70s - Lancia were certainly not alone. The Beta fiasco finished them in the UK.
Nearly bought a LHD Integrale in the 90s - ultimately didn't fancy the maintenance costs. Would love to own a Fulvia.
They made some cracking cars. Even the 8 valve Integrales are worth a lot of money now. Pity you didn’t have a crystal ball, you could have bought and mothballed one.
The Integrale(Evo 1) was about 8 grand at the time - God knows what it would be now.
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4 of the 6 Princess Limousines I owned. Recently sold them all.
This all reminds me of what you see out here - devoted Trabant owners wheeling out their lovingly preserved polluting death-traps for a convoy on a Sunday afternoon. It looks kind of impressive, but boy, do they stink.
Fulvia or Fiat 130 Coupe.