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Automobiles are unquestionably a change-agent that has defined our highways and suburban landscape - but they have powerful emotional strings for us as well. Particularly so, the cars that we had when we were young and gave us our first taste of freedom and mobility.
In my early 20’s I was in University and my friends and I listened to ‘alternative’ music and drove sports cars; Triumphs, MG’s, Fiat Spiders, and Alfa Romeos. We would hang out at the Ship & Anchor or the Republik and drive our cars to Banff on the #1A highway on the weekends - hopefully with a girl in the passenger seat. Actually, sometimes I was a passenger as I knew a few girls with BMW 2002’s.
These were our only cars and we drove them hard, all year round, on limited budgets. I don’t think anybody had a garage. Most of these cars were eaten away with rust, crashed or caught fire due to misguided attempts to solve electrical problems (ahem).
Two people I know kept the cars until recently, and both were Alfa Romeo 105/115 GTV’s - the 60’s and 70’s two-door coupe that Giorgetto Giugiaro designed when he was with Bertone in the early 1960’s. The Alfas seem to have had the strongest bond with their owners of all the cars. Since I’m the only one in the group that is in the car business, it’s no surprise that I’ve wound up selling these - thirty years later.
I sold GTV #1369869 a few years ago to a car broker I know in Victoria. It was a ‘69 1750cc German-market car on its original Webers (NA cars had Spica mechanical fuel injection), and was pretty scruffy. The owner was the same guy whose 996 GT3 I just sold. He never drove the Porsche, and always talked about how much he liked his scruffy Alfa. I looked over the paperwork of the GT3, and it was sold at one point by the same guy who bought his Alfa - it’s a small country sports car wise...
The GTV had some rust in the lower eighteen inches of the bodywork. It ran but needed everything. It was treated to a concours restoration at Coachwerks that cost $230,000 - making it perhaps the best one in the world. Coachwerks is a world-class facility in Victoria that did all the body and paint for Rudi Koniczek (famous for his Mercedes Gullwing restorations). That amount is about half what they charge to do a Gullwing, but the car was only worth one-tenth as much. It sold in the 2019 RM Monterey Auction for $USD110,000 + buyers fee.
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The seller netted the $110k less the sellers fee plus transport and duty to get it to California. Even with selling it in USD, it was a $100k loss. Not the kind of thing you want to make a habit of, but it did give the owner the satisfaction of doing something remarkable in the collector car world. I’m not being facetious; it is very satisfying to bring back a car to this standard. I did the same thing and my only mistake was selling the car... Besides, it makes a good story: nobody wants to hear how much money you made selling a car, but everybody wants to hear how much you lost!
For every 50-something who is looking to simplify, there is another who wants to re-live their youth with the car they once had. I just sold a Porsche 997.1 Turbo for a friend who is restoring a Fiat Spider similar to what he had when he was twenty - giving up 480hp for 125hp. I’m betting he had more fun in the Fiat than he did with the Porsche, despite blowing up the engine.
The second GTV, (top of page) is a 1973 NA spec car converted to Webers, and was stored for more than 20 years by a woman who just couldn’t part with it. She finally decided the time was right to let it go. Her husband had also been keeping his first car, a Willys Jeepster, which I am also selling for the couple. I sold the Alfa to a guy in Burlington who just retired and wanted a project. I must have had 25 inquiries into that car, and it was only because he immediately gave me a deposit that he secured it. There were a lot guys disappointed that they missed it. I wish I had 20 of them to sell.
Road & Track Magazine used to do Owner’s Surveys - probably about the time J.D. Power was born. They would ask what the five best and worst features were, and get the owners to list all the problem areas. At the end they would ask if the owner would buy another one. Top of the list of all the cars surveyed were the Alfa Romeo’s and you guessed it, the Porsche 911 - each with about 95% saying they would buy another. Bottom was the poor Rover 2000TC of the early 1970’s, which as I recall was only about 60%. It is a shame that Alfa couldn’t keep it up. The 70’s were tough for all manufacturers struggling with the oil embargo, and the start of safety and emissions regulations. Alfa never really made it though that, and while they have some interesting products today, they are still let down by quality issues and an indifferent dealer network. I find it difficult to imagine an electric Alfa Romeo.
Excepting the multi-million dollar pre-war cars, this leaves the 4 cylinder Alfa coupes and spiders from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s as Alfa’s legacy. The 105/115 Series GTVs (105 for Euro cars, 115 for NA) are near the top of the pecking order, and have a really powerful draw to enthusiasts. For one thing the Guigaro styling is perfect: there is nothing that could be added, subtracted or changed that would make it look any better. Mechanically the Alfa was very advanced for the day with its twin cam engine, dual down-draft Webers and 5 speed gearbox. The gear selector came out of the dash near-horizontal, with the knob inches from the steering wheel, which was particularly exotic. It was very racy, especially compared to the archaic British offerings. And the noise: Alfa literally coined the term ‘ripping canvas’ to describe the exhaust note. Largely unknown in North America in the 1950’s, Dustin Hoffman driving an Alfa Spider in ‘The Graduate’, had a huge impact. I defy any gearhead to watch ‘The Graduate”, and not immediately checking out Alfa prices on Bring-A-Trailer.
One guy who missed the GTV, asked me to try to find him another. He had just sold his Ferrari and wanted to replace it. This brought up the question of where in the market to buy in. Restored, driver or project?
It’s very hard to have a life and restore a car at the same time, even if you have the skills and a place to do it. Restorations are measured in hundreds of hours; maybe 200 hours for cosmetics, 500 hours for an easy restoration, and more than 1000 hours for something more complicated. With shop rates now at close to $150/hr, it doesn’t take long to find yourself ‘underwater’ with any restoration work. A thousand hours @ $150/hr plus parts is how you get to a $200k restoration bill.
We looked on Bring-A-Trailer and there were a couple of great driver-quality GTV’s that came up from the Berkeley area near San Francisco. Berkeley is a great place to get a 70’s car from. Datsun 240Z, BMW 2002’, MGs and lots of Alfas are still driving around, often with original faded paint, driven by guys who look like they were the original (hippy) owners! In fact, Berkeley might even be the epicentre for vintage Alfa Romeos in the US.
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I like Berkeley. I stay at the Berkeley City Club which used to be female-only residence and has the same architect as the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. University professors from Berkeley, experimenting with LSD, hung out at Esalen and started the ‘new age’ and human potential movement in America. It is also home to Alice Water’s famous restaurant, Chez Panisse, which can be credited for inventing Cal-Ital food, and was a pioneer in sourcing organic local produce -
Back to cars...
One GTV was for sale from a long term Italian car mechanic who used to work for the famed Ferrari engine builder Patrick Ottis. Never wrecked or rusted, it had its original floor pans and spot welds - extremely rare for any 1970’s car. Decent GTV’s had been selling for around $USD 40,000 on BAT. I figured this car was worth $50,000, but shot through that and hit $70k plus the 5% buyers fee. Add the currency exchange, duty, GST and shipping and that car would have landed in Canada at about $Cdn 105,000. And it wasn’t perfect - it had a stained headliner and some other cosmetic needs. That amount would buy you the equivalent condition 8 cylinder Ferrari from the 308/328/348 series.
The other GTV was consigned to Fantasy Junction, who are a long-established consigner of investment-grade sports and racing cars. They are next door to Berkeley, in Emeryville, about a block from the PIXAR headquarters. Run by Bruce Trenery and his son Spencer, they have a stellar reputation. I always make a point of stopping in there when I am in the Bay area, just in case they may have something there that I can afford. When you go through the door they give you a print out of all the cars and prices and leave you alone to drool and take photos. They are using Bring-A-Trailer for their ‘lower end’ collectibles, and there was another good, driver-quality GTV. It sold for $USD52,500, which would be about $CDN80,000 landed here.
So what is the smart buy? The concours car, bought from RM at a US auction would have to be re-imported with duty, GST as well as the buyer’s auction fee paid - about $CDN 165,000 in total. Still a healthy discount on the restoration, but would it be too perfect to drive and enjoy? A really great driver would cost somewhere between $CDN 80,000 to $105,000. An ‘average’ driver might be $50,000 if it had to be imported from the US. The car I just sold into Ontario was $20,000, which looks like a pretty good buy, even with some rust issues - with the caveat that the owner can do at least some of the work himself. To bring that car up to the standard near the others (perfect rust-free body and paint) would mean giving it a body restoration. This means taking it apart, sand blasting the shell, putting it on a rotisserie, and welding in new metal where required. Likely 200 hours to take it apart and put it back together, and another 50 hours to do the actual metal work, if you can find somebody to do it. Then add paint, rubbers and trim. To make it perfect, it would likely be a $40,000 to $60,000 bill. Then address the mechanicals and interior. If you did take it apart, chances are you would wind up with a six figure bill.
Of course you don’t have to completely dismantle the car and have a perfect GTV in order to have fun - or bring back your youth. The car that I just sold could be recommissioned mechanically and the body trouble-spots could be spot repaired for a relatively reasonable amount. If the new owner can do the work themselves, they could have a great driving GTV for perhaps $30,000. And I think that is why I got so many inquires for the car. Guys aren’t looking for perfection, they just want to rekindle some memories, and none of us were driving concours cars back then.
If anybody knows of another old Alfa Romeo for sale, please let me know!
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2014 PORSCHE 911 C4S COUPE PDK
5,800km only, Aerokit Cup w/Sport Design, Sport Chrono, Sport Exhaust, Full Black-Tan Leather, as new. $160k MRSP, replacement $200k and 12 month wait.
$125,000
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2005 MERCEDES-BENZ CL 65 AMG
43k, Tuned by Reg Reimer from RCTS incl. Eisenmann exhaust, 620hp Dyno, $240k+ spent. Car looks new. One owner, bought new at Lone Star. Full History. Name another 600+hp, 300km/hr, V12 luxury coupe for less than $100,000.
$50,000
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1949 WILLYS JEEPSTER
One owner last 30 years, restored 20 years ago, recommissioned, 6 cylinder Lightning engine.
$25,000
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1959 LAND ROVER SERIES 2A 109
Body off, nut and bolt refurbishment. Galvanized frame and bulkhead, 3/4 Exmoor Canvas Tilt, Elephant Hyde (pattern) Upholstery
$60,000
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1961 Land Rover Series 2 88"
Extremely original and complete. Recommissioned for road use.
$25,000
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1963 MERCEDES-BENZ UNIMOG 404
Re-paint by Cosmos, Mechanical overhaul by Concept-1, ready to transport 1,500kg overland and through rivers.
$30,000
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2009 PORSCHE CARRERA 4S CABRIOLET PDK
One owner since 2010, recent engine out $7k service by PCC, 73,000km.
$78,500
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1968 Ford Mustang GT/CS California Special
Concours Restoration, Extremely rare specification. Inquire.
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2014 Porsche Cayenne GTS
124k mileage, $121,000 MRSP. Clean CARFAX, no paintwork, one owner, bought and serviced at Porsche Calgary. Normally aspirated 400hp V8 engine w/Sport Exhaust, roof rack, trailer hitch. Mostly highway km.
Conditionally Sold
| 2007 PORSCHE 997.1 TURBO - SOLD | 2007 PORSCHE 996 GT3 - SOLD | |
1973 ALFA ROMEO GTV - SOLD
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