A 1982 Alfa Romeo GTV6! Only 78k miles, no leaks, and now no more rust. Just trying to track down a pair of early 80s Recaro mesh heads and it'll be good to go.





Now there's an interesting rear axle/suspension setup you don't see every day...

 

Awesome car!

I am curious how that rear suspension is superior to a standard lateral rod. I am sure there is a reason for the design being more complicated but i'm having a hard time "simulating" it in my mind.

 

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Basically, it reduces unsprung weight and maintains contact patch in cornering. It's 1960s racing car tech carried over to road cars. Big with Italians. The Lancia Aurelia had it, and the entire Alfetta line (Alfetta sedan, GTV coupe, GTV6, 75/Milano) did as well. They did some amazing things in Euro rallies back in the 70s and 80s, before Audi brought the Quattro.

 

Interesting, thanks for the link, that's a pretty effective setup.

So is that Alfa leaf spring rear or spring on shock with 4 links?

 

wow, nice! i remember back in the days when alfa was sold new in the US. nice find and GL with the project!

 

Shocks. That's the Watts linkage you see in the middle. Up front it's a torsion bar setup.

It's one of the best handling cars I've ever driven. Manual rack, so steering feel is amazing. Brembos all around (Brembo before Brembo was Brembo, really... and gold calipers in back, which you can see INBOARD near the transaxle). A 2.5 liter V6 making about 160bhp, through a transaxle. So it's light and has perfect 50/50 weight distribution.

And truth be told, it's not a pain to work on. The ignition system is a Bosch L-Jetronic, which EVERY import used back in the day. Most of the electrics are pretty simple. Parts are easily available as Alfa made tens of thousands of these cars from 1974 to 1986, and many parts are interchangeable between models, like the Milano. There's also a great community to help out with problems and hard to find parts.

I hope to have this one back on the road in time for a fall drive. I just need a couple of good weekends, then some time to fine tune.

 

Great project, good luck in getting it finished before fall, I look forward to seeing the finished product, it's definitely an interesting car.

 

That's a pretty effective setup.

 

That's pretty awesome, you must have one of the only (possible THE only) rust free GTV V6 in the US! I'm sure that's an extremely fun car.