Donna's restoration

And what a lovely wedding it was!

2008-07-10T21:26:00.002+03:00

We had a great time at the wedding and I am sure Donna did too!
Some pictures from there!

Wish you the best guys and have fun in Cuba!

Top Gear Alfa Romeo 1000£ Challenge!!!

2008-07-07T22:29:00.002+03:00

Donna in a wedding!

2008-06-29T18:31:00.002+03:00

My good friend Steinar came by earlier today to pick up Donna. He had asked for her a long time ago but I couldn't commit in giving the car unless it would be cleared by the inspection as I was afraid that with all those cracks in the paint it would have been a failure. Since I managed to fix everything in time, I gave him a call and let him know that he could pick her up during the weekend. So he came by today and after a short introduction on what to do and what not...remember she is an old lady - 35 years old already-
Now I am sure that my old lady will steal a bit of the couple's glory!
Nevertheless I want to wish the couple the best for the future!!

Car has passed inspection!!

2008-06-29T18:21:00.002+03:00

Ok...I know.. Haven't posted for a while. Thing is that I have been busy with some repairs. Some surface rust had forced the paint to crack in various spots. So what I did was to strip down that paint and clean the surface rust and then hammerite it (same procedure as described in the bonnet rust fix). It looks quite ok at the moment. Also with the help of my friend Al we managed to underseal the car with this product:

Actually the undeseal looks good and hopefully will protect for a while the 95% looking good floor of the car. Some spots will soon need cutting and welding but I will worry about this a bit later.
Also I installed new brake pads all around and it was amazing how balanced the car is breaking now.
I will be posting an update on things that need to be done since it is a good way for me to keep a list in the blog rather than a piece of paper that will get lost somewhere....

Bonnet update...

2008-05-25T14:27:00.003+03:00

Bonnet is now fixed. It is far from a professional work, but good enough from 2m distance...
Just realised that I hadn't taken pictures of the front...but it was equally bad as the pics that you see (back side of the bonnet)...so here are the before pics...

That was before I started sanding and trying to unveil the rust..just the obvious stuff...

This picture is after everything was sanded down and rust stop was applied (the milky looking liquid that has turned metal and rust into a black coloured thing)

Finally after everything was filled, primed and painted...
Front:

Back:

Bonnet rust removal in progress

2008-05-20T10:15:00.001+03:00

It's been a while since last update. I am currently working on removing rust from the bonnet. Pics will follow in the next couple of days....

'73 Spider or '72 spider?

2007-10-04T11:04:00.001+03:00

I think it would be nice to share with you a piece of historical data received from the Alfa Romeo archives!

"Dear Sir,

with reference to your request we are informing you as follows.

According to our documentation files, the chassis number AR ******* originally corresponds to an Alfa Romeo Spider 1600 (115.07), manufactured on the 30^th November 1972 and sold on the 1^st December 1972 to Alfa Romeo Germany, Frankfurt.

The body colour is red (AR 510), with black tex interiors.

Yours, Sincerely,

Marco Fazio

Automobilismo Storico Alfa Romeo

Viale Alfa Romeo – I 20020 Arese (Mi)

Tel. +39 02 444 29 115

Fax +39 02 444 28 152

Mob. +39 334 629 53 81

I had read before that my chassis number was corresponding to a '72 car but the license shows it as a '73 since it was 1st registration date in June 1973. Now it has been confirmed.

Interesting, huh??

Hardtop?

2007-10-04T10:59:00.000+03:00

Yes please!!!!
And what luck is this! Found a hardtop sold on ebay couple of days ago. We thought that it would be nice to get it for the rainy days of Finland, placed a bid.....302€ and it is mine! We are discussing on the shipping options now. Hopefully I will have it soon at home!
here are some pics of it.

License plates picked up!

2007-10-04T10:56:00.000+03:00

And we are finally done with all paperwork needed!

Getting ready for storing the car for the winter...

Import Tax paid...

2007-09-19T09:35:00.001+03:00

...and today I am going to pick up my license plates!

The weather is already turning bad so within the next few weeks, Donna will be stored again for the winter! The fun will start again in May 2008, but surely I will keep posting all the work that will be performed during the winter.

The plan is to get the car for bodywork and new paint (always the red Alfa colour!), fix the seats if possible and fix as much as possible in the engine too!

That's all for now!

Classic car meeting...

2007-08-09T23:39:00.000+03:00

...and Donna getting a lot of attention....see for yourself!!!

A closer picture of Donna in a really nice sunny day!

Also the interior.....that one really attracted many eyes....wonder why :)

Look at how the Spider changed the interior in a series 4 model (Donna is series 2)

Also check out some really beautiful cars from that meeting!!

Jaguar MK II
Fiat 124 Sport
A very nice Lotus (Spyder Elan MK1???)

Of course a Porsche 911!! (Sami and Ove, you think I forgot you??)

Finally one I REALLY liked....Audi Coupe S

That's all for now. I promise to be back with more updates...and surely more often!!

Donna on the run!

2007-08-09T09:54:00.001+03:00

It has been a while since I last posted an update. Here we go then....
First of all, I was tied with work in the end of May and start of June so I couldn't do much with fixing or making any moves to register Donna in Finland.
After I managed to get some free time a lot of work has been done.

The brakes were taken out, split open, and everything was cleaned including changing the rubber parts and steel rings. After that they were bled and they work ok. Next summer I will be changing the break pads so that we can make sure that they brake equally and much better.

I also fixed the front right bumper that was shaking quite much. The problem was some broken plastic from the inside of the bumper. With some chemical metal the situation improved dramatically.

Also all the ball joints were changed including arm fraps from the front steering. Also steering idler box was changed. The car definetely feels much safer on the road. There is still some vibration when driving at around 60-70 km/h, and this is caused by a flatened tyre on the rear left. One more thing to be fixed for next season's driving.

Oil, oil filter, fuel gauge in the front and fuel filter, spark plug cables and brake fluid have been changed. Also spark plugs will be changed soon, including a leaking head gasket seal.

The soft top, has now been painted in a nice black colour and proofed with those Renovo products. Definetely improvement but I get this feeling that it could be slightly better.

All necessary light bulbs have been changed

A car stereo has been installed. A cheap LG one, which with all the luck of the world, fits in the car perfectly due to the fact that it is black with some silver colour and with red lights! How lucky can this be? all the colours of the car!

All floor mats have been washed and the interior now looks much better. Also the dampness smell from when the car was imported has now disappeared!

New fuel cap has been installed. The previous one was not lockable leaving the car in danger of any lunatic do whatever he wants. The new one is a reoriginal italian cap which locks perfectly.

The driver side door lock is now broken, so I can enter only from the co driver's side. This is a task for next season.

Finally, the car has already passed from customs and from the MOT equivalent, so it is legally driven now. And boy she is attracting the eyes on her!

«Να γίνουν εξαίρεση οι αλμπάνηδες ρε παιδιά, όχι ο κανόνας...».

2007-05-30T22:53:00.000+03:00

AMALIA KALYVINOU R.I.P 25.5.2007

Greek Blogger's Day to pay our dues to Amalia's blog. 1.6.2007

Radiator READY!

2007-03-29T23:15:00.000+03:00

Take a look at the very good work performed. Seems like well worth the money!

Spring is here....work is starting...

2007-03-25T12:21:00.000+03:00

Work had to start with refurbishing the radiator. This way the car can be driven in order to fix some more stuff...

So...back in December I knew that the radiator was leaking. I agreed with a company that specializes in repairing them that we keep the frame and we weld a brand new radiator inside. This is a bit expensive solution but I am having high hopes! You can take a look at the terrible condition of the radiator here...

As you can see it is obvious where the leak is (somewhere middle top) as you can see the watermarks all the way down. I will put a picture when it is fixed for comparison (I trust it will look like brand new when fixed).

Also, the rubbers that the radiator was standing were pretty much worn out. So I decided to change those too. The work was done yesterday and it costed me 5e plus 2 cuts on both index fingers...way to go! At least the result looked good!

I should be receiving the refurbished radiator within this coming week. I trust it will seat nicely in the new rubber. I will keep you posted in the next weeks as more work will be done. I was inactive due to weather conditions but slowly I am picking up speed in order to have her on the road by June!

Pictures of Donna

2006-12-07T18:59:00.000+02:00

As promised, now that I have the car in my possesion, some pictures of Donna!

The eagle has landed!!!!!

2006-12-06T18:16:00.000+02:00

Many things changed the past days!

In a nutshell:

My father in law was in Helsinki and actually managed to pick the car up from the port. He brought Donna home last night and today I have put her in the garage. Now I have found some trouble that need fixing in the next few months.
Here we go:

Brakes are stuck, car can move but you can here the sound of them. Also the light of the brakes is always on (now we know why the battery is dead...)
The car definetely needs painting. the scar on the front is bigger than I thought.
Some lights do not work
I need to fix speedometer and RPM meters.
Seats are in ok shape but there are some cuts and stitches.
Top is leaking! BADLY! The car was soaking WET! I had to put some air ventilator today to try to get some of the water to dry out. Will do the same in the next few days with a heated ventilator this time. I have found a very good product from Renovo that is meant to make the top waterproof.
Also I noticed some holes between the door and and the top (where the door closes). Maybe I have to find a good way to close those
The covers on the doors need attention (needs some good work but I think it will look nice)

Ok, I hope the list is not that big... :)

The car is filthy dirty. I need to somehow clean it inside the garage cause noone can touch the car without getting stains wherever he touches.

We also took some pictures. I will post them as soon as I have them here.

Car in Helsinki....still in container.....

2006-12-04T16:23:00.000+02:00

Don't know what to say....but let it be. Car is in Helsinki port but some guys working slower than a turtle are still having the car in the container....
It might prove good though as the past 2 days it is raining cats and dogs in Finland, so there is a chance we saved the car from soaking in case the top is leaking...
Latest update is: I call the port tomorrow again in order to find out if the car is finally unloaded. Wednesday is national holiday in Finland, Thursday I cannot make it due to my work, so I will be taking friday off and going to pick it up. If friday fails too, then we are moving to Monday.....
Let's see...already a big delay to my original plan but as I said...Let it Be

We are on the move!!!!!

2006-11-29T20:54:00.000+02:00

Ok...just got confirmation! Car has left from the previous owner. Truck just picked it up. Owner texted me saying everything went fine! Engine started at once and car has been loaded safely.
Tomorrow it will hopefully reach Lubeck and it will be loaded in the boat. If everything goes fine (there is small chance that it will not reach Lubeck on time) then car will be in Helsinki on saturday morning, where I will be waiting with a trailer to pick her up!

More news to come! Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Just got informed that the car will arrive in Helsinki on Sunday morning. Kinda expected...

Update....

2006-11-15T21:18:00.000+02:00

I was notified today that the owner received the money. I guess that Donna is officially mine now....Owner has posted already the ownership papers with another paper from a classic car evaluation company (evaluation was done back in 2004 when Donna was in good shape).

Now the difficult part of the story begins.... That is bringing her home....

Come back for more news....

In the beginning....

2006-11-08T21:06:00.000+02:00

Let's start with a bit of background....

As long as I remember myself in my adult life, I always wanted one particular car.
Yes, you guessed right. Alfa Spider! The older the better! With a small preference on models made between 1971 and 1974.

Finally after a while of searching (years...), my dream came true! I struck a very good deal for an Alfa Spider 1600 model of '73! I kind of still cannot believe that I bought this car. The deal was finalised today when I received the signed contract and I paid the money!

I will keep you posted on how Donna (this is her name from now on....mutual decision with my wife), is doing. Things that I will be taking care of in the near future: Give her a good bath (look at the picture! Inch thick dust! She also needs repainting. The clutch and gearbox need attention. Also the speedometer and RPM meters need some fixing too. Leather seats need some restoration as well. I am also looking into offering her a vintage car stereo. So if you have one in your garage that you don't need from that old car of dad's, now is your chance to be part of Donna's life!

Let's start this thing going!

I will be updating as long as I have more news! Make sure you visit me back!