Pic of the day

CatmanV2

CatmanV2

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48,783
philw696 said:
Shame they rusted.
View attachment 79646
Click to expand...
Rusted is probably an understatement. Mrs C had a 1.7 Sprint (LHD, Swiss import) But what a thing. Adored that car. more fun than should be legal. 4 wheel drifting out of roundabouts in the wet, and being unable to see because it basically misted up in September and you couldn't clear it until April of the following year.
Utterly loved it. Totally fell apart regularly.

C
 
montravia

montravia

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I had a Sprint Veloce. One of the few cars that I bought new. First drive out trying hard to keep her below 3000 rpm (remember 'running in'?) pulled over by police, just for them to remark 'Beautiful' . Ah, that overrun.
I kept her too long. A pile of red rust on my drive but engine still screaming.
Sigh. Bella
 
lifes2short

lifes2short

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5,833
montravia said:
I had a Sprint Veloce. One of the few cars that I bought new. First drive out trying hard to keep her below 3000 rpm (remember 'running in'?) pulled over by police, just for them to remark 'Beautiful' . Ah, that overrun.
I kept her too long. A pile of red rust on my drive but engine still screaming.
Sigh. Bella
Click to expand...

beautiful machines the sprint veloce, would love to own one but fairly rare now, mate of mine had a black cloverleaf one many moons ago
 
montravia

montravia

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1,623
lifes2short said:
beautiful machines the sprint veloce, would love to own one but fairly rare now, mate of mine had a black cloverleaf one many moons ago
Click to expand...
The year that acquired her, Jacquie convinced me to go to Athens to see her relatives and then on to the Peloponnese. Well, we decided not to fly, but take a bit of a 'grand tour', and drive. Now this was 1984, no google maps, no Britain in EU, so lots of planning and custom export import, insurance breakdown, health etc. However, that was the easy bit....................
Northern France, flip into Germany, Switzerland, rise over the Alps, St Bernard, Northern Italy, down the Adriatic Coast, Brindisi. Take a running jump up to two planks into the Ferry's maw, the horror of Patras, the heart sinking despair of the disillusionment of filthy Athens, down the Peloponnese (inadvertently over the mountains of the Athens Rally Route - she need new shockers when we got home), where the locals were taken aback to find that Jacquie (six foot Scandinavian Blonde) could perfectly comprehend the fowl insults of colloquial Greek, and respond in an equally robust manner. My English reserve never got used to the standard status determining opening lines of the Greeks. "How much is your home worth?, How much is your car worth? How many sons do you have?"
Back through the toe of Italy, up the Mediterranean side, Nice at 3 am, asking the local girls the way home after being fleeced and ****** on the Avenue Des Anglaise, St Tropez, and then up the backbone to Northern France.

In all that, the image of an Italian Village Piazza, the ALFA drawn up into the silent hot ticking midday, the young boys eyes smiling and and oohhhimg around her, the men rising from their cafe seats, grinning.

But,
Some 3,000 miles of Autoroute, Autobahn, AutoStrada, roads, rue and via, I saw only three other ALFA Sprints. And two of those were white Green Cloverleafs screaming up behind me on the usual narrow Autostrada, and they were Swiss.

Perhaps one was yours Catman?

Nostalgia made me test drive one a long time after. Scared the sh1t out of me, torque steer, heavy steering, and brakes glowing red. Still adored them though.
Sigh, the girls too, loved her
 
lifes2short

lifes2short

Member
Messages
5,833
montravia said:
The year that acquired her, Jacquie convinced me to go to Athens to see her relatives and then on to the Peloponnese. Well, we decided not to fly, but take a bit of a 'grand tour', and drive. Now this was 1984, no google maps, no Britain in EU, so lots of planning and custom export import, insurance breakdown, health etc. However, that was the easy bit....................
Northern France, flip into Germany, Switzerland, rise over the Alps, St Bernard, Northern Italy, down the Adriatic Coast, Brindisi. Take a running jump up to two planks into the Ferry's maw, the horror of Patras, the heart sinking despair of the disillusionment of filthy Athens, down the Peloponnese (inadvertently over the mountains of the Athens Rally Route - she need new shockers when we got home), where the locals were taken aback to find that Jacquie (six foot Scandinavian Blonde) could perfectly comprehend the fowl insults of colloquial Greek, and respond in an equally robust manner. My English reserve never got used to the standard status determining opening lines of the Greeks. "How much is your home worth?, How much is your car worth? How many sons do you have?"
Back through the toe of Italy, up the Mediterranean side, Nice at 3 am, asking the local girls the way home after being fleeced and ** on the Avenue Des Anglaise, St Tropez, and then up the backbone to Northern France.

In all that, the image of an Italian Village Piazza, the ALFA drawn up into the silent hot ticking midday, the young boys eyes smiling and and oohhhimg around her, the men rising from their cafe seats, grinning.

But,
Some 3,000 miles of Autoroute, Autobahn, AutoStrada, roads, rue and via, I saw only three other ALFA Sprints. And two of those were white Green Cloverleafs screaming up behind me on the usual narrow Autostrada, and they were Swiss.

Perhaps one was yours Catman?

Nostalgia made me test drive one a long time after. Scared the sh1t out of me, torque steer, heavy steering, and brakes glowing red. Still adored them though.
Sigh, the girls too, loved her
Click to expand...

wow, that was some road trip and with some wonderful memories no doubt, surprised to hear that you only saw 3 others, real shame hardly any survived especially genuine UK ones
 
CatmanV2

CatmanV2

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48,783
lifes2short said:
very nice, is it still alive and whats with the black one
Click to expand...

The black one donated her engine. That one was dissolving before the eyes. I recall driving it to Jamie's. Was somewhat surprised that it made it given the lack of attachment between the engine / drive and the rest of the car :)

Sadly I believe she is no more. She was sold to one of Felice's young 'uns having been in storage for too many years.

Said young 'un decided he knew better than all the experienced mechanics at Auto Alfa and tried to fire her up on a 10+ yo cam belt, and, well.....

C
 
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philw696

philw696

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To be fair that's why I have become the grumpy old man I have with today's youngsters as they don't listen.
I really respect what I learnt of my elders back in the day even if at the time I thought they hated me.
 
philw696

philw696

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25,439
It's funny but in my career I have gone full circle.
But always prepared to learn more and never think I know everything so listen up at the back :)
 
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