1975 Alfa Romeo Giulia GT Junior
Discussion
After seeing an Alfaholics one on a colleagues desktop around 6 years ago I had always been interested in them. I've had countless cars over the years, consider myself a petrolhead, yet I had never owned an Alfa.
In 2013 I convinced my Dad to go halves on an M Coupe. I had tried to convince him that I thought they had probably bottomed in value and now was the time to buy one, whilst this was partially true(and turned out well!), I was also a 26 year old, not long out of university and didn't have much of a pot to piss in! You can't be picky about spec, when they only made 821 of them, and only 125 of those with the magnificent S54 Engine.
As the value rose and I had a couple of sprogs usage dropped from low, to hardly ever.
I had some good times with it, Le Mans in 2015, various PH Sunday services and it was always a car you looked back at when you parked up.
In Feb 2022 at a Thruxton Coffee morning, I was rather taken with the thing that parked next to me;
What followed was around 3 more years of procrastination. Eventually selling the Z3M in the beginning of April, with half going to Dad and half to me. I missed the peak by a couple of years, but ces't le via! I now had half the value of a Z3M burning a hole in my pocket...
I have been looking for a Alfa for around 12 months, with stuff either being out of justifiable budget, or not really good enough.
Around 3 weeks ago the car I bought came up at an auction. I went to view it and was mostly impressed. I didn't really check electrical stuff and not that much mechanical stuff to be honest. I wanted to make sure the body was pretty good. I was, on the whole, pretty impressed. The new owner had barely used it in the last 3 years, perhaps warning signs I wasn't prepared to listen to?!
The awkward thing with an auction that is yet to start is you have no idea what it will actually fetch. So I got the owner to test drive it and I sat in the passenger seat. All seemed fairly ok, but the rear brakes were stuck on and were smoking when we got back. The previous owner, mildly mortified! He very kindly changed the callipers, discs and pads and messaged me to say as much before the auction ended. Bidding at auction, not nice if you like fingernails, but with the last bid I was prepared to make, I won it.
After some convincing of my bank to release money, a mild panic over a false HPI alert (which showed outstanding Finance - relating to a Straw Bailer with the same Serial/Vin Number!), collection day was on the horizon. £106 to insure it. With the new brakes, I thought I'd risk the 45 mile drive back.
Error.
This was 15 miles in. Yep, rear brakes sticking on again. Authentic Alfa experience?
After a bit of head scratching, questioning life decisions, me and my Dad figured out it was the proportioning valve that was failing the release after pressing the brake. It would release after about 10 minutes sat there.
So, not wanting to wait for recovery, we isolated the rear brake booster and I ploughed on with the remaining 30 miles without using the footbrake once. Thank god, the A303 was quiet.
Got it home, kids approved, wife approved. Win. I played down the brake issue slightly.
Yesterday I stripped the proportioning valve, cleaned it up and it appears to be working correctly. To be confirmed on a test drive this weekend...
I had to buy a whiteboard to write down all the things that need checking, fixing, titivating etc!
So here it is, what a thing of beauty;
All tucked up, ready for the weekend.
In 2013 I convinced my Dad to go halves on an M Coupe. I had tried to convince him that I thought they had probably bottomed in value and now was the time to buy one, whilst this was partially true(and turned out well!), I was also a 26 year old, not long out of university and didn't have much of a pot to piss in! You can't be picky about spec, when they only made 821 of them, and only 125 of those with the magnificent S54 Engine.
As the value rose and I had a couple of sprogs usage dropped from low, to hardly ever.
I had some good times with it, Le Mans in 2015, various PH Sunday services and it was always a car you looked back at when you parked up.
In Feb 2022 at a Thruxton Coffee morning, I was rather taken with the thing that parked next to me;
What followed was around 3 more years of procrastination. Eventually selling the Z3M in the beginning of April, with half going to Dad and half to me. I missed the peak by a couple of years, but ces't le via! I now had half the value of a Z3M burning a hole in my pocket...
I have been looking for a Alfa for around 12 months, with stuff either being out of justifiable budget, or not really good enough.
Around 3 weeks ago the car I bought came up at an auction. I went to view it and was mostly impressed. I didn't really check electrical stuff and not that much mechanical stuff to be honest. I wanted to make sure the body was pretty good. I was, on the whole, pretty impressed. The new owner had barely used it in the last 3 years, perhaps warning signs I wasn't prepared to listen to?!
The awkward thing with an auction that is yet to start is you have no idea what it will actually fetch. So I got the owner to test drive it and I sat in the passenger seat. All seemed fairly ok, but the rear brakes were stuck on and were smoking when we got back. The previous owner, mildly mortified! He very kindly changed the callipers, discs and pads and messaged me to say as much before the auction ended. Bidding at auction, not nice if you like fingernails, but with the last bid I was prepared to make, I won it.
After some convincing of my bank to release money, a mild panic over a false HPI alert (which showed outstanding Finance - relating to a Straw Bailer with the same Serial/Vin Number!), collection day was on the horizon. £106 to insure it. With the new brakes, I thought I'd risk the 45 mile drive back.
Error.
This was 15 miles in. Yep, rear brakes sticking on again. Authentic Alfa experience?
After a bit of head scratching, questioning life decisions, me and my Dad figured out it was the proportioning valve that was failing the release after pressing the brake. It would release after about 10 minutes sat there.
So, not wanting to wait for recovery, we isolated the rear brake booster and I ploughed on with the remaining 30 miles without using the footbrake once. Thank god, the A303 was quiet.
Got it home, kids approved, wife approved. Win. I played down the brake issue slightly.
Yesterday I stripped the proportioning valve, cleaned it up and it appears to be working correctly. To be confirmed on a test drive this weekend...
I had to buy a whiteboard to write down all the things that need checking, fixing, titivating etc!
So here it is, what a thing of beauty;
All tucked up, ready for the weekend.
Thank you for all the comments, they are a well loved car! I popped out in it last night as the first chance to check the brake issue since looking at the rear proportional valve.
There was good news and bad news, the good was that you cannot park it anywhere without someone coming over to talk about it.
A very nice slightly older chap instantly came across and wanted to see it and talk about it. He literally wanted to shake my hand in appreciation of the car, which was novel... He was of good stock, as he'd had a Valencia orange 1M in the past so was a keen car chap.
The bad news, was that the rear brakes are still binding on. My thoughts on this are that it is brake booster related. This has individual boosters and I think the rear one might be faulty, applying brake pressure and not releasing It. It fits as to why it was fine after bleeding in the garage, after fiddling with the brake proportional valve, and then testing it out in the air as any residual vacuum would have all been used up. I think I can isolate the rear vacuum and check that theory.
In terms of other jobs, here is my list so far. It will only grow I'm sure:
In terms of bodywork that it's had over its life. Reasonably extensive, but they have been done well in my opinion;
Floors all round, spot/puddle welded back in. Look good, although there has been a subsequent repair near the front jacking area that is a bit rubbish. I'll cut that out over winter and let some new metal in there so it looks seamless (that's the plan anyway)
3 piece sills
Rear arches
Rear panel
I went over it with a magnet when I went to view and the only area of more extensive filler was the NS lower wing/sill area. Again, I was suitably impressed it wasn't totally full of filler, although I'm sure that statement will come back to haunt me at some point!
Enjoying it. It's bringing the passion back for cars that I was starting to lose.
There was good news and bad news, the good was that you cannot park it anywhere without someone coming over to talk about it.
A very nice slightly older chap instantly came across and wanted to see it and talk about it. He literally wanted to shake my hand in appreciation of the car, which was novel... He was of good stock, as he'd had a Valencia orange 1M in the past so was a keen car chap.
The bad news, was that the rear brakes are still binding on. My thoughts on this are that it is brake booster related. This has individual boosters and I think the rear one might be faulty, applying brake pressure and not releasing It. It fits as to why it was fine after bleeding in the garage, after fiddling with the brake proportional valve, and then testing it out in the air as any residual vacuum would have all been used up. I think I can isolate the rear vacuum and check that theory.
In terms of other jobs, here is my list so far. It will only grow I'm sure:
In terms of bodywork that it's had over its life. Reasonably extensive, but they have been done well in my opinion;
Floors all round, spot/puddle welded back in. Look good, although there has been a subsequent repair near the front jacking area that is a bit rubbish. I'll cut that out over winter and let some new metal in there so it looks seamless (that's the plan anyway)
3 piece sills
Rear arches
Rear panel
I went over it with a magnet when I went to view and the only area of more extensive filler was the NS lower wing/sill area. Again, I was suitably impressed it wasn't totally full of filler, although I'm sure that statement will come back to haunt me at some point!
Enjoying it. It's bringing the passion back for cars that I was starting to lose.
Blimey! that's brought back a memory.
A mate bought a pretty rusty example back in the 80s. Came with a role cage and 4/5 point harnesses.
He was a learner so I sat with him as I had a full licence.
He tried to beat an Alfa 75 from the lights in the wet and lost control and spun across the road and we went headfirst into a Bedford Astra van coming the other way.
The harness wouldn't adjust for me so I only had half of it on and the crash caused me to twist my body and wack my forehead on the bar across the top of the windscreen.
The car crumpled around us, and I had to be cut out as my foot was trapped.
Luckily we were walking wounded and the other driver was ok.
After the hospital I got a taxi to my local pub, where I knew my mates would be so that they could pay my fare. I was covered in blood and the landlord treated me to whiskey.
The next day I was moving from my flat, but for some reason my body wouldn't move.
Sorry, as you were
just seeing yours brought back that memory.
Enjoy it
A mate bought a pretty rusty example back in the 80s. Came with a role cage and 4/5 point harnesses.
He was a learner so I sat with him as I had a full licence.
He tried to beat an Alfa 75 from the lights in the wet and lost control and spun across the road and we went headfirst into a Bedford Astra van coming the other way.
The harness wouldn't adjust for me so I only had half of it on and the crash caused me to twist my body and wack my forehead on the bar across the top of the windscreen.
The car crumpled around us, and I had to be cut out as my foot was trapped.
Luckily we were walking wounded and the other driver was ok.
After the hospital I got a taxi to my local pub, where I knew my mates would be so that they could pay my fare. I was covered in blood and the landlord treated me to whiskey.
The next day I was moving from my flat, but for some reason my body wouldn't move.
Sorry, as you were
just seeing yours brought back that memory.Enjoy it
Mr Tidy said:
Congratulations they are beautiful cars, like so many Italian cars from the 60s and 70s. And much more mechanically advanced than what most other manufacturers were making in that era!
True, 5 speed box and disc brakes all round on my 68 Junior. The interior quality was generally better, such a shame they gave us such corrosion problems. Looks a nice one. You would have been very lucky to find one which hadn’t had a lot of bodywork done.
Brakes binding on is quite a common problem, you may be correct with the servo. Alternatively it could be a sticking master cylinder. Hopefully the former as the twin circuit MC is a pricy thing!
I’ve currently got two of the 105 coupe’s, one for sale! At times I’ve had the binding brake issue on them both, over the twenty odd year ownership journey!
Brakes binding on is quite a common problem, you may be correct with the servo. Alternatively it could be a sticking master cylinder. Hopefully the former as the twin circuit MC is a pricy thing!
I’ve currently got two of the 105 coupe’s, one for sale! At times I’ve had the binding brake issue on them both, over the twenty odd year ownership journey!
Amazing choice sir, fits well with kids and wives tend to like vintage Alfas!
For your brake problem, I once had a Forester with a dying clutch hose, that would internally collapse upon releasing the clutch thereby preventing fluid from going back to the master cylinder. It sounds a lot like your issue!
Good luck with sorting the niggles, the 105 should be plenty useable fun once 'done'.
For your brake problem, I once had a Forester with a dying clutch hose, that would internally collapse upon releasing the clutch thereby preventing fluid from going back to the master cylinder. It sounds a lot like your issue!
Good luck with sorting the niggles, the 105 should be plenty useable fun once 'done'.
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