Back in the day, Alfa Romeo handled saloon styling in-house, but entrusted the lines of its sexier coupes to outside design houses. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice GTV has two doors and beautiful Bertone styling. Claimed to be fully restored, it comes with a fashion-label price tag, which is now in our house for review.
There are times when it’s appropriate to cut loose. Contrastingly, there are other times when calm and sensible fit the bill. Slow and steady, after all, wins the race, or so we’ve been told.
The 2013 Ford Fusion SE that meandered its way to us yesterday handily offered a little bit from column ‘A’ and a curated selection from column ‘B’ in balance of the two measures. The Ford’s out-of-the-ballpark styling and surprising to find six-speed manual transmission were its party pieces, while the four doors and modestly endowed 1.6-liter Ecoboost engine reined things in before they got too crazy. A $6,800 price tag put a bow on the top of this full-featured Fusion, and earned the car a solid 76% Nice Price win for its troubles.
Veloce
Have you ever noticed just how much better—how much swoonier—most things sound when spoken in one of the romance languages? I mean, ‘grand touring fast’ doesn’t quite have the same libido-liberating effect as does ‘Gran Turismo Veloce.’ Heck, even italic type is sexier than the regular stuff.
Append to that name some timeless design house styling and an all-alloy engine with an intoxicating exhaust note, and you have… well, today’s 1972 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV.
The basic bodywork for the Tipo 105/115 was almost a decade old by the time this car rolled out of Alfa’s Arese factory. Penned by Georgetto Giugiaro while he was at Bertone, the GTV features a long hood/short deck design wrapped around a 2+2 cabin riding on a unit-body chassis developed from the Giulia sedan.
This one is claimed to have been fully restored, although, for better or worse, not to factory standards. Missing are the front and rear blade bumpers, both side marker lamps, and rectangular front turn signals. The latter have been replaced with small repeater lamps more typically found on the front fenders of European models. A mesh screen has also replaced the factory grille on either side of the Alfa shield.
On the plus side, the car rolls on some impressively handsome Campagnolo-style alloys that are period correct and offer a nice color accent to the burgundy paint.
Webers, not squirters
More changes have been made under the bonnet. The ad copy says that the car’s Giuseppe Busso-designed 1962cc twin-cam four has been ‘built’ with forged pistons, European-profile cams, and, most notably, a pair of twin-throat Weber carbs in place of the factory-installed SPICA mechanical fuel injection. When new, this engine claimed 130 horsepower. With the mods, this one may very well better that number.
Behind the Busso is a five-speed manual feeding a live rear axle on coils. Originally, the shifter for the box would have sprouted, somewhat oddly, from halfway up the center stack. Part of the mods made to this car in its restoration was the removal of that original shifter and its replacement with a repositioned lever that acts on the original linkage through the hole where the factory shifter once resided. That’s the most controversial change in the cabin, or perhaps even on the entire car. The change does appear to be reversible, but not without replacing the console.
Clean up top, and down below
The rest of the cabin appears very tidy, though the replacement upholstery seems somewhat haphazardly installed in places. That’s especially noticeable in the rear seat, where the squab seems not fully seated or perhaps incorrectly aligned. It doesn’t look like anything a decent upholstery shop couldn’t correct with a couple of hours of work. The headliner is taut and features an odd design that implies that there’s a sunroof over the back seats, although no opening is available over either of the rows.
The rest of the car appears in great shape, with straight bodywork and a clean undercarriage that the seller says features an “Upgraded suspension.” According to the ad listing, there are 75,000 miles on the clock, though how much that number matters after a major restoration is debatable. The title is clean, and while the car is far from original, it seems like a solid base for any new owner seeking to either enjoy it as-is or make it closer to stock for the show circuit.
Alpha Alfa
Considering its specs and condition, finding the GTV a new home shouldn’t be all that tough, especially since all the sweat equity that has gone into its restoration has already been invested. That then only leads to us having to discuss the seller’s $50,500 asking price. Wowsers trousers, that’s a good chunk of change. Is it a fair asking for this Alfa as it sits, though?
What’s your take on this GTV and that asking? Would you expect to pay that much if you were in the market for such a car? Or for that much cash, would you expect something closer to factory specs for your money?
You decide!
Nice Price or No Dice:
Facebook Marketplace out of Vancouver, Washington, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Bill Lyons for the hookup!
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