GTV-6 stuff...

[JeffreyOlson@domain.elided]

I've had FOUR GTV-6's and several parts cars and each was a nightmarish 
love/hate relationship.  I first saw the body style on a mint '79 Sprint Veloce 
for sale for just $1,500 when I was in high school.  I started looking into the 
cars and discovered the GTV-6.  

No matter how well taken care, any time a GTV-6 changes ownership, it will 
require at least $2,000 of additional work within the first year or so!  When 
it comes time to sell, you will get way less than what you have in it, and the 
next victim will sink even more money into it!

A GTV-6 in good mechanical shape and with a few tweeks is a REALLY fun car to 
drive.  I had an '84 with 'S' cams, oversized valves, headers, and ANSA exhaust 
and it felt like a race car compared to a friend's stock GTV-6.  Made this 
INCREDIBLE sound at high RPM's!

Something about the GTV-6 really makes it stand out.  Unfortunately the US cars 
have horrendous huge bumpers on them.  Last time I was in Sweden, I came across 
a beautiful mid-eighties red GTV-4 (sold only in Europe), which is absolutely 
identical to the GTV-6 except for the 4-cylinder engine.  The car looks so much 
better with the trim bumpers!

You see a lot of new Alfas in Sweden.  In fact my wife's family lives across 
the street from a dealership and whenever I'm there, I walk over and take a few 
test drives.  Wish they sold the 156 here!

I was walking down a busy street one night in Malmo and thought I heard that 
unmistakeable Alfa V-6 sound amidst the din.  Made me turn around and sure 
enough, it was a nice 75 (Milano) cruising along.

I occasionally toy with the idea of getting another GTV-6 or even a Milano but 
talk myself out of it.  Funny thing is, I still keep track of a couple cars I 
know in the area just in case!  My 'fun' cars are now 2 Alfa Spiders ('78 
and '84), quirky, but a lot less trouble and easier to fix than the V-6 Alfas.  
A few cheap tweeks and they 'feel' really quick!

EVERY GTV-6 I had required a timing belt, headgaskets, tensioner, fuel 
injection lines, and driveshaft work at one point or another.  Although it's a 
PITA, definitely replace the ALL the individual fuel injector hoses, injector 
seals, and injector rail inlet and return hoses, as well as EVERY fuel line to 
and from the tank.  It is very inexpensive if you do it yourself and everything 
gets done in one shot.  Seems every Alfa shop has a burned Milano parked out 
back as a result of old and cracked fuel lines!

Thanks!

Jeff
> great story on the digest, my friend. im just catchin up on posts... and urs 
> really caught me. i just got into the alfa thing with a purchase of an 84 gtv6 
> back in may 02. my story is somewhat similar, although im fortunately no longer 
> in college and have a little more money to piss away into my italian machine...
> 
> anyhow my gtv6 was a steal at 2500, but within 2 months after buying it, i had 
> to go through the whole
> guibo drive shaft overhaul ($1K) plus a few months later do the timing belt and 
> pumps (another $1K) plus the stereo ($800), plus the exhaust ($800)... im doing 
> it all through a mechanic which obviously kills me on the wallet...
> 
> the final straw was the fuel line failing and me dripping fuel for miles before 
> realizing i was a flamethrower on wheels. fortunately it never quite got to that 
> point, and patching the line ended up being a small non-issue and little 
> expense. 
> 
> anyhow, even with all the turmoil for me so far (and it's only been like <8 
> months)... i just f*cking love that car. nothing makes me smile wider and exude 
> happiness quite like the mornings, when im roaring to work on 280 highway here 
> in northern california doing like 90, with that italian engine growling for 
> me...
> 
> thanks for sharing...
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 03:55:59 +0000
> From: JeffreyOlson@domain.elided
> Subject: Poor college student should NEVER buy a GTV-6...TRUE STORY!
> 
> Here's my 'first Alfa' story:
> 
> Way too long ago when I was in college, I blindly and passionately bought 
> a 'beater' rusty red NON-running '81 GTV-6 from a local import repair shop.  I 
> absolutely had to have it.  I mean, it was an 'Alphalfa Romero' for God's sake, 
> a rare 'Eye-talian' exotic.  What if someone were to purchase this fine 
> mistreated thoroughbred gem before I have the unique opportunity to do so?  
> Yeah, right...  
> 
> I was sold to me for $1,600 (EVERY penny I had!) to pay off the mechanic's 
> lien.  Previously owned by a 'private detective', it had been abandoned years 
> ago with the unpaid repair bill for a blown head gasket.  
> 
> Fortunately, at the same time a REALLY nice '81 had been totalled and was sold 
> to me for $200 as a parts car by the now suicidal owner.  The poor guy was 
> obviously hoping for some sort of spiritual resurrection of his GTV-6 as a 
> donor to the cause. 
> 
> Unfortunately and unknown to me until later, the repair shop had only replaced 
> ONE of the cylinder head gaskets on MY nightmare.  Over a semester, I ended up 
> swapping the transaxle, interior, and everything and anything that was 'nicer' 
> from the parts car into mine.  The repair shop guy was cool in that he let me 
> use his tools and work on the car in the back of his shop, most likely out of 
> guilt.  Of course, I did this crap instead of studying...
> 
> I struggled with that DAMN GTV-6 for two years but insisted on coping with it 

> with typical Alfa-martyr stubbornness.  Since I had NO money, I did everything 
> myself, learned a lot about Alfas, myself, and patience/frustration at 
> previously unknown levels.  Years and several Alfas later, I'm NO smarter... 
> 
> Best of all, the damn thing NEVER let me down UNTIL something REALLY important 
> came up, i.e. booty call, job interview, big exam early the next morning, 
> middle of nowhere/middle of night/raining, etc.!  
> 
> Try finding a driveshaft guibo at the one and only local service station in the 
> Outer Banks of North Carolina!  It was ALWAYS either fix it myself or abandon 
> it and hitchhike back to school at the end of the summer.  Always managed to 
> fix it BUT I should have torched it!  It was an endless cycle of shut down, 
> melt down, busted, dusted, and rusted.  Got a lot of speeding tickets...
> 
> After two years(!) of chronic overheating, It FINALLY blew the OTHER headgasket 
> at about 90+ MPH on I-26, venting EVERY single drop of coolant out through the 

> exhaust in a HUGE superheated trail of smoke and steam that looked like a JATO-
> assisted take-off.  I kept my foot in it until she ground to a halt.
> 
> Had to leave her on the side of the road in the redneck wilds of South 
> Carolina.  With NO money to fix and graduation pending, it was towed away to 
> certain demise.  I got $300 for it, enough to pay for a bus ticket back to 
> school and lots of beer for my roommates.  
> 
> Years later, I once even tried to track the damn thing down at the junk yard 
> that towed it away but no one remembered having seen it.
> 
> Man, I miss that car...
> 
> ------------------------------
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