Buyer's Guide
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General
This is intended to be a summary of what to check for when buying a Alfa Romeo 105/115 Giulia GT/GTV. It has been compiled from magazine articles, books, and my limited experience. The notes here are not intended to be a complete guide to buying a car, but to highlight particular aspects that are important with these models.
Ideally, have your potential purchase inspected by a reputable Alfa expert. Joining the local Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROC) is a very wise move: not only are they a great source of helpful people but they can also be a good source of well maintained cars.
Because of the large range of models produced over the nearly 15 years of production it is difficult to give specific details for every model. I have tried to keep this relatively generic, so please excuse any generalisations which may not apply to all models.
Suggested corrections and additions are welcomed. Please email me at
m.battley@irl.cri.nz
Bodyworksize
Those who live in South Africa and California can relax for a moment, but for the rest of us poor unfortunates, here's the bad news....
Rust, rust, rust, rust..... These cars were poorly protected against rust when they were manufactured, and since even the youngest is now almost 20 years old it is not surprising that rust is a problem. They can and do rust almost anywhere, however some places seem to be the most "popular":
The panel below the front bumper (valance/apron depending on which country you live in!) can rust. Although this is not very structural there is an important crossmember behind it (under the radiator) which includes the mounting points for the front anti-roll bar. This box section crossmember is very prone to rust.
As with most cars, the rear of the front wings tends to fill with dirt and then rust. Unfortunately rust in this region tends to spread into the inner and outer sills, the door pillar, and also the floor. Assessment of the condition of this area is quite difficult since the rust can start in any or all of these places and spread into the others. The rear of the sills (in front of the rear wheels) can also rust, as can the bottom of the rear guards behind the wheels.
Always lift as much of the carpet as you can: the condition of the floorpan can be a good indicator as to the state of the rest of the car. The floor is constructed from a thin high tensile steel: once rusts starts it spreads quickly! The floorpan rusts around the rubber bungs in the front and rear footwells. If this is left untreated it can spread out into the sill areas at the front (including the jacking points) and into the base of the rear seat from the rear bungs. In severe cases rust in the front floors can spread up the firewall, and sometimes the floors can rust in the inner front corners (by the transmission tunnel). Check the floor in the region of the outer rear seat mounts: they suffer from fatigue loads which accelerates the rusting process. The floor can also rust around the outer front seat mounts if the doors leak water onto the carpet.
The bottom of the doors rust, as does the aperture around the door handles and around door mirror attachment points. Check around the front and rear screens, the grille below the windscreen, and in the spare wheel well. The small structural members down the sides of the boot at the rear can also rust. Bootlids can rust between the frames and the skins. Bonnets are usually okay: a rusty one can indicate that the rest of the car is (or was..) very bad.
Inspect the rear wheel arches carefully. These tend to rust around the edge, and can also provide evidence of a rear end accident. The cars are weak in the rear, and will typically bend at the arches if hit from behind. The rear valance can rust, but this should be easy to see. Rust can also occur along the base of the rear side windows
So much for the bad news... There are two bits of good news, the first being that most of the rust is not difficult to find if it is there. The other good news is that most of the rust areas are not too difficult to repair and reproduction panels or patches are available for most of the problem areas. Beware though: the cost of rust repairs to any car can get very scary!
Mechanical
The news on the mechanical side is definitely happier. The drivetrain and suspension are basically very long lasting, and many parts are the same or very similar to those used in the spider up until 1995.
The engines generally last well, the only real weak spot being a tendancy towards head gasket problems, particularly with the larger capacity versions. The usual problem is with oil and waterways leaking between each other or to the outside of the block. This is not difficult to repair, however running the engine with water in the oil can cause severe damage. Timing chains can get noisy but do not usually fail. The upper chain is easy to replace, however the lower chain is difficult to replace without removing the engine. A noisy lower chain is often an indication that the rest of the motor is worn. Oil leaks are reasonably common, particularly from the headgasket and the rear crankshaft seal.
Do the usual engine checks: does it smoke under hard acceleration (typically indicating worn rings/bores), or on the over-run (valve guides). The valve gear is often a bit rattly, particularly when it is cold. Exhaust valve guides are usually the first parts of the heads to wear.
The bottom end of the engines is very strong, and they should not normally have any oil pressure problems. If the oil pressure is low it is possible that a crankshaft oilway plug has come out. Unfortunately Alfa oil pressure gauges are notoriously inaccurate so it can be difficult to tell what is actually going on.
Carburettors can be Webers, Dellortos or Solexes (the least desirable). When set up properly the engines should idle smoothly and be very tractable (particularly the 1750 and 2000 cc models). Intake airleaks can cause idling problems.
[I don't feel qualified to comment on SPICA: can anybody contribute a few words??]
Gearboxes normally keep going for a long time, although weak second gear syncromesh is common. The boxes have a quirk with first gear syncro even when new: it works well changing down from second to first, but the syncromesh is poor when changing up from neutral to first when stopped. Either shift very slowly, or develop the habit of pulling the lever back to just touch fourth gear syncro before going into first (some people use second, but this has a hard enough life anyhow....). A bent reverse fork can cause jumping out of reverse. Clutches are the weakest part of the drivetrain: abuse can result in surface cracks in the flywheel.
The driveshafts on these cars are much less trouble than on the later 116 series transaxle cars. Check the front donut, the two universals, and the centre bearing but these are relatively easy to replace if needed. The real axles/diffs are very reliable. The only common problem is noisy rear wheel bearings. Worn suspension bushes in the rear suspension can cause twitchy handling. Check the trailing arms for cracks and rust.
The front suspension is basically reliable: the inner wishbone balljoints can get noisy (typically squeaky) if they get dry. Check the plates under the front springs for rust. The steering boxes wear on high mileage cars, but can be reshimed to remove excess slop. Steering boxes can leak oil.
Brakes vary depending on the model. Early cars had Dunlop systems which can be problematic and hard to get parts for. Later cars had ATE systems which are powerful and generally reliable, except for the twin servo systems which are difficult to bleed properly.
Interior
The quality of the interior trim was not great, and the cars can get tatty inside. Dashes normally crack, especially near the windscreen vents. Door trims suffer when people don't bother to replace the waterproof backing sheets. As with any car, seats rip along seams (apparently the seats on the 2000cc models were originally stitched with cotton, which tends to rot), and carpets end up with holes. If the door drain holes are not kept clean and/or door watershields are removed, water can come into the car from the bottom of the doors leading to rotted carpets and that dreaded rust...
Bibliography
The Giulia coupes are very popular as "affordable" classics, and hence they are well documented in motoring magazines. The following articles give advice on buying:
Best Buy: Alfa Romeo GTV, Classic and Sports Car, May 1992
Vivace Veloce! Cars to keep: Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV, Old Motor 1980
Profile: Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV, Classic and Sportscar, June 1982
Poor Man's Ferrari, Motor, September 5, 1981
Bella donna, Buyer's Guide to Alfa Romeo 105 Series Coupes, Popular Classics, July 1995
Bertones Barn, Automobil, Aug/Sept 1995 (in Swedish)
(I'd welcome copies of any other articles: please email me at
m.battley@irl.cri.nz)
The following books also give advice on buying:
Alfa Romeo Owner's Bible, Pat Braden, Robert Bentley Inc., 1994
Illustrated Alfa Romeo Buyer's Guide, Joe Benson, Motor Books, 1992
Alfa Romeo Giulia Coupes 1963-1976, Brooklands Books
Alfa Romeo Giulia Coupes 1963-1976 Gold Portfolio, Brooklands Books
Alfa Romeo Giulia and Spider 1962-1978 Workshop Manual, Autobooks