1985 Alfa Romeo Giulietta 2.0
We field calls from people on an almost daily basis telling us they’ve got an old Italian car laid up in their garden, or in a barn or somewhere (see the GTV6 on this page for our absolute favourite we’ve ever unearthed - quite literally). You can never be sure about what you’re going to find. Will it just be a pile of crispy metal, or could it be a long-lost GrpA Jolly Club integrale? While 99% of the time our experience has been closer to the first option, today was a little bit different…
Today we rescued this 1985 Alfa Romeo Giulietta (116) from a barn. Already quite a rare find, but it got even more intriguing. It’s a 2.0 model, so next to the incredibly rare and LHD only Autodelta Turbo, the top of the range engine wise. And then we looked at the speedo’. It read (I hope you’re sitting down when you read this) 12,682 miles. Yep, this 34-year-old Alfa has covered just 12k miles. Although the outside is tatty and it’s sadly not been kept as dry as we’d like, as soon as we opened the door to see (and smell!) that interior we couldn’t doubt the odometer. It’s basically untouched in there.
The guy we bought it from has had it for decades and it’s never really moved - one of those “one day I’ll get around to it” projects - although he assured us it did actually run. Not wanting to tempt fate too far, we carefully extracted it from its premature resting place and transported it back to Renson Close, Norwich’s own Little Italy. Where, with a couple of squirts of helpful easy-start, that glorious, barely run-in 2.0 Nord engine fired into life once more after its extended dormancy.
We have no real idea about the direction we’re going to take with this car as yet, we just knew once we’d seen it it was coming back with us. Have any suggestions about what you’d like to see happen to it? Let us know on social media (links below)….just don’t mention scrapping it, we’re not letting a 12k mile Alfa twincam disappear.
Update 22/12/2019
With our diary for 2020 fast filling up already, we’ve reluctantly had to admit that it’s probably going to take us just as long as its last owner to get around to even starting this Giulietta project. As such, we have decided to auction the car with no reserve, in the hope that someone with more time than ourselves can get her back up to her former glory. Of course, if you want to discuss restoring her, we’re always glad to help in any way we can.
