My daily driver for over 40 years. Not a numbers-matching car, but really the “Best of 101”: a beautiful, competent, comfortable, dependable driver.
The motor is a 1600 from a Giulia GT. It has an older-style intake manifold, Weber DCOE2 carbs and early Veloce airbox. On the other side of the head are 65 Spider Veloce headers. The head was rebuilt (valves, guides, springs, seats) about 3 years ago. It has a breakerless distributor – I have the Bosch mechanical distributor as well. Radiator was re-cored several years ago. It runs great, pulls strongly, sounds like an Alfa should, and doesn’t smoke at all.
The transmission contains a ’74 5-speed gearset inside the original 4-speed case. Works very well, good syncros, no noise; it leaks a little around the speedo drive. I recently replaced the rear mount.
The brakes are from a 65 Spider Veloce – Girling discs front, larger finned drums rear. New brake lines all around, master cylinder re-sleeved. Rear axle from 65 Veloce with new axle and pinion seals. Konis all around. Last summer I put on 4 new Michelin XAS 155-15. Original jack and lug wrench. The front end had new upper and lower ball joints installed 4,000 miles ago.
The car is a 20-footer. The paint was inexpensive 30 years ago when it was last painted. The trim is tired, but all there and mostly straight. There are no real rust issues, just a little surface rust underneath. Top is about 4 years old and in excellent condition. The red seats were re-webbed and re-stuffed about 4 years ago as well. The carpets are probably original to the car and are worn bald in places. The rubber mats are old, the driver’s side floor mat is missing. I re-faced the instruments and rebuilt the tach many years ago, and they still look good and function well. I have a spare speedo and small instrument cluster from the 65 Veloce.
