OV9

A two Alfa family now then? I predict this will be... adventurous.

Blimey is that the only one remaining in existence? Nice one.

Nah, there’s a massive 7 Alfasud supers currently licensed in the uk

Did another 60 miles today to pop and see my parents.

Feels better now it’s had a couple of tanks of fuel through it, and I’m getting more confident with it too. Still not entirely sussed how much choke / throttle to use when starting at different temperatures which can be a tad embarrassing.

No problem keeping up with normal everyday traffic, can’t be any slower than any of the tiny engined modern superminis which people seem to buy.

Shame plenty of idiots assume you’re going really slowly and pull out in front of you and don’t accelerate.

Great sunny Sunday afternoon runabout though ( I have zero interest in owning a traditional British 60s / 70s sports car, although today at least it seemed like boxsters were the Sunday afternoon soft top of choice.



Original windscreen - always use agip f1 antifreeze


6250rpm red line, full range of dials clearly visible through the super skinny rimmed and dished steering wheel. Heater blower fan is operated with the right stalk, as is the horn, and the wipers.


A brief reminder which side of the road to drive on and which way to go round roundabouts from its first two years in Malta


Wonder how many dents and scrapes this skinny little bumper is responsible for courtesy of the retired gent using it as his London runaround for 15 years



First ‘mod’ remove the horrible modern number plate and refit the original square one which was in the boot. Tempted to get a 3/4 scale one as it looks huge on such a little car.


Hate the fog light too, but being 1980 built it has to have one. Pretty sure it’s not the original, I have a couple of more period chrome backed ones but think I’ll actually require the offside rear reverse light and stick a red led bulb in.

Original windscreen. Wow

Nice purchase Harry....hope it doesn't rot away like some of your cars

I doubt there’s many people who can say an Alfasud is one of the least rusty cars they own

A young Harold waiting for his dad to make a brew on a trip to maybe wales?



A slightly less young Harold disappointed his dad isn’t observing the two bucket method

Great photos

It makes a bit more sense seeing the old photos!

Malta drives on the left like us, and I’m fairly sure that hasn’t changed. Confusing sticker!

Great photos!

integrale_evo wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2020 10:21 pm Heater blower fan is operated with the right stalk, as is the horn, and the wipers.

And yet there's a 'defrost fan' indicator on the left where a switch could be, to tell you three times to use the stalk?

Jobbo wrote: Mon Sep 14, 2020 7:11 am Malta drives on the left like us, and I’m fairly sure that hasn’t changed. Confusing sticker!

They do, or did, have a rule about right of way for the person going onto the roundabout. But yeah, istr they've always driven on the left.

Maybe just a handy sticker used for another trip somewhere then

Thought it would have been odd to buy a rhd car then immediately ship it somewhere where they drove on the right.

Still amused me when I folded the visor down for the first time.

And yes, it is a bit of a midlife crisis nostalgia trip. But with classic car insurance £115 a year and tax and mot exempt from next year I’m hoping running costs will be negligible.

integrale_evo wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2020 10:21 pm
Shame plenty of idiots assume you’re going really slowly and pull out in front of you and don’t accelerate.

This was the same in the 2CV - air horns didn't solve the issue but certainly helped them realise when they had fucked up

I think that’s an ugly little thing but I bet once you wring the engine out and start driving it you’d be smiling like a tard.

Excellent purchase and the stickers, patina etc make it very cool .

Dave!

I really enjoyed the wheeler dealers Sud Ti episode, they look like a fun quirky car (something a little different to the norm, which for me is great having tried to do this as much as possible). I wish my old man had as interesting cars when I was growing up but he only had 3 in that time as he used to keep them ages and they were all quite boring apart from the VW Variant Fastback he had when I was born so I don't remember it. After that the Mk2 Cavalier is the only one that I'd like to try again (having had mine written off in 3 weeks) in SRi130 form though as he had a fairly mundane 1.6GL.

Of course I love the flat 4 boxer and I'll point out to Simon to look a few posts above his

I used it for work yesterday which was my first drive in the dark.

I’m getting used to driving it, and I don’t know whether it’s muscle memory or they’re starting to work better with use, but the brakes definitely feel like they’re starting to work better. I’ll probably headbut the windscreen when I take the mito today

The lights are shocking though, I think the whole electrical system needs a check over, at idle with the lights on the indicator flash slows to one every couple of seconds and all lights plus heater fan plus rear screen defrost meant the battery light started glowing slightly.

I’ll give all the earths a check, clean up and contacts, possibly put a new regulator in the alternator and am considering sticking some leds in where they won’t be noticeable to take some load off the system.

Not quite sure what to do with the headlights as they’re the big bulbous bulbs and doubt anyone does a modern equivalent, but using a dedicated related supply is quick and easy to do and very common on older cars where the power is wired through the switch ( golf and Lancia were like this as standard too )

I’m getting the hang of driving round the quirks and getting better at getting it started which in turn makes it more relaxing to drive.

Need to double check the distributor type and get an electronic ignition kit, they’re only £30-£40 and will remove the need to ever mess with adjusting points again.

And yeah, it’s no ball of fire, but 85bhp when new, probably about 70 now, and 880kg, more like 800 now it goes ok. Probably quicker than a most of the tiny engine superminis a lot of people buy. It’s a massively over square engine, 84mm bore, 67.2mm stroke, so definitely needs a keen throttle and plenty of revs to make progress.

100bhp/tonne is not to be sniffed at. That's probably what my Fabia is.

getting better at getting it started

what a great thing to write in this day and age

Don’t get me wrong, it always starts, it just sometimes takes quite a lot of turning over, with the instructions in the handbook being pretty vague even from when they were modern and new never mind 40 years on.

I’ve not driven a car with a manual choke for 20 years, and that car was less than 10 years old at the time

integrale_evo wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:37 am
Not quite sure what to do with the headlights as they’re the big bulbous bulbs and doubt anyone does a modern equivalent

If they're the bulbs I'm thinking of, if nothing else you should be able to get some halogens to fit (I might even have some somewhere).
There are some random shaped (5x7 ish) oval leds on t'bay. If the indicators on the Sud are separate they might fit.