This immediately makes it clear that this beautiful coupé has a special place in Eeltje's car life. This Bertone creation has become a very popular and sought-after classic among old-timer enthusiasts. When Eeltje bought the car in 1977, it was not that difficult to get one Alfa to be found, they were offered quite a lot at the Alfa dealers, as well Alfa Romeo dealer Braaksma at the Harlingersstraatweg in Leeuwarden. This one Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT from 1964 was only made for a few years, and is now highly sought after. It turned out to be a fluke many years later.
By: Dirk de Jong
Initially, Eeltje was not even concerned about the sporty driving style of the Italian. But for its design, its flowing shapes, slender and slim, the letterbox idea, the front view was formidable. Of this original model the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT, a book was kept from the import by Louwman & Parqui in 1964 and the delivery to the dealer in Leeuwarden, and from 1977 the company's own Alfa adventure as a proud owner.
The history
When the car was purchased, the dealership was transferred and the entrepreneur Braaksma took his trade-in stock to a private address. Eeltje found him through an advertisement in the newspaper. The engine was not 100 percent, but despite that knowledge Eeltje was convinced that it was a sensible undertaking to Alfa to purchase. It later turned out that the front suspension was completely stuck, the seller thought it was too expensive to repair, but Eeltje thought it was too beautiful to demolish.
The feeling wins
The feeling came first… and the mind came later. As a result, there was finally one Alfaspecialist had to come in to overhaul the engine. The impact on the wallet of that revision was many times greater than the purchase price.
Other priorities
A person makes many plans for his life, which then take a completely different turn by chance or circumstances. Sometimes life is not pleasant and you cannot change the setbacks and outer circumstances.
It owns the most important
The hobby did not disappear, but the choices were made differently with the result that the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT remained under a blanket for years and years, and thus became an accessory in the garage. The most important thing was that it remained in possession, with the result that in 2022 there is now an almost new one Alfa – with original upholstery – appears on the road, with a happy Alfa enthusiast from the generation of over 80s. That even (Alfa) wheels can roll strangely, as Eeltje's story proves.
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In 2003, after nine years of owning a Alfa Spider 1600 built in 1975 as a hobby, a truly beautiful one Alfa GT 1300 Junior.
The unsurpassed sound of those Nord engine blocks and the way they hang on the "throttle" is unsurpassed. A party to drive with, if only for the admiring looks and claims along the way. And also enjoy just looking at it when it was in my garage because let's be honest: the design is just a “piece of art”!
Yet… love is blind because reliability was not his strong point. When I once again had to interrupt a ride prematurely (this time a leaking radiator, shoes covered with coolant) and had to go home, my patience ran out. The electronics had driven me to despair before.
I sold the car to Belgium. For a price… Let me put it this way; when I see where the Bertone's are going now, I'd rather not be reminded of that :-).
But the memory remains and… I still have the photos!
Ditto here, about the same story #sales regret
Remains a beautiful car and I had many fond memories of it at the time. Had exactly the same version, white, Giulia Sprint GT Veloce with license plate 90-01-EH. I owned it for 11 years and then I wanted something different. Too bad, too bad, if only I had it….
Sold 10 years ago for 20 grand. Was dreading the much work that still had to be done with ditto costs. Now regret as hairs on my head. Luckily I don't have it anymore.
Now there is one alfa 105, 1750 from the year 1970 with me in winter storage.
I bought it in 1988, it came from Naples, luckily no rust.
Driven with it for a few years, experienced a furore in my youth, until suddenly a baby came along.
Alfa too small, and stored dry! at a farmer.
On blocks, cylinders filled with oil, and let sleep..
Towed out in 2014, brakes stuck and started major works to get it back in traffic. Shock absorbers, brake repair kits, brake pipes, brake pump, water hoses, delco….
Driven for 2 months, white smoke, stall, restart, and put back in garage.
Next attempt engine stuck….let it sleep again until,
2020
Engine out, fully serviced, new head gasket, almost everything renewed, only the pistons, segments and cylinder liners are not. Assemble and hooray!! the job…
Hard to start after a while... run on three cylinders. clean spark plugs every 200 km, yes oil
2021 Engine out again, pistons buses, segments, valve seats renewed….
and now enjoy.
The sound of the Nord 1750 engine, lovely, and yes it is moving forward…
Finally enjoying my alfa in bleu hollandaise, original paint.
You know, I look at vintage cars very differently now
Truly a beautiful car and wonderful to drive, especially in terms of sound with the Nord engine!
I myself had bought the red 1600 1966 GT Sprint (blue upholstery) as a student in about 1976 and eventually sold it in about 1986, unfortunately, because I didn't have my own space, but rented a piece of farm in Huizen. I think I was brought back from Friesland in 1984 or so to renovate to a rented garage box in Hilversum without electricity and not long afterwards in the rented part of a farm in Huizen. At the time I could just drive back and forth from Almere in a free hour, touch it briefly and return. After a few years the rental costs became too high for me compared to what I could do and then sold what I had: the partly dismantled Alfa, new cylinder liners and pistons, fenders, etc. Very unfortunate of course, but that's the way things go if you don't have your own space. I then also promised myself not to do anything before I would have my own space at home to do something (became building a Cobra in 1989).
But what a cool car this was, had 10 years of which only drove for 2 years until, as written in the piece about the Diane, in my internship year in 1979 in the Rotterdam Benelux tunnel, a hole burned in the piston of the 4th cylinder due to a stuck non-return valve in the vacuum booster and I could put it in the garage in Friesland with family. Before that, when I hadn't had it long, when visiting my grandmother in Groningen from A'doorn, an increasingly unpleasant noise could be heard on the way back, which made me drive faster and faster to get home and walked up to Beilen the A28 is now stuck at 180 my gearbox. Wow, what skid marks… There were no emergency telephones back then, it took about 4 hours before it was towed to a garage there. Removed the cardan shaft and towed it back to A'doorn by a fellow student, an adventure in itself because he happily overtook me behind me. And then watch the people as they get overtaken, saw a tow rope and then mine Alfa… In the summer house where we lived with students at the time, the gearbox was taken out and everything was overhauled: it turned out to be leaking and without oil, the gears were just welded to the input shaft at a good time. Anyway, everything ran fine after that until that piston unfortunately broke down, but one of the nicest cars I had.
This type Alfa I would like to have it again for years, but in terms of prices that is no longer very nice. I did have a 2nd hand 1300 Nuova Super afterwards, but it wasn't very super: my first car that I bought at a (Alfa) dealer bought and therefore did not crawl all the way up and under as usual. That turned out to be a big fake, which, thanks to the price when Bovag was guaranteed, but what, when it turned out to be a lot going on, turned out not to be guaranteed. A very educational event in terms of misplaced trust or scam!
Wonderful experience of my old teacher with whom I still have contact and both addicted to the Italian virus, Eeltje aan de Alfa and me on the Fiat.
i envy the engine sound of one alfa no other brand can imitate that.
Otherwise maintenance sensitive and not very reliable.
What a nice story by Eeltje, and by Jan `t Spijker too. It's strange that if we are infected with a brand of virus at a young age, it often doesn't help. I'm so sweet even with 1 leg in the grave, but the Citroen love has never diminished. I think it's a shame that it is now on the brink of death. When the “Luxury Brand” was called DS, the writing on the Wall was clear.
My sister has one Alfa which she acquired when Jesus was still a carpenter. I don't know if she drives it often. Over the years, old cars have shrunk considerably, but a little Vaseline works wonders. Greetings from a radiant YVR with no protesters on the street.
Bass.
I myself bought a faulty one in 1987 Alfa 1300 GT Junior from 1975 in Hoogeveen Alfa specialist Berjan. This mainly caused damage Alfa's.Mine was no exception and had had a somewhat heavy-handed kiss on the back. The butt was pressed down and you could see under the rubber of the rear window….. Unfortunately this was not the only inconvenience: inner and outer sills were a bit crunchy, as were the rear fender edges. The engine was of the same cloth and suit: at the pump it was oil filling and checking petrol. When I accelerated hard, a fog warning immediately came on the radio ... but yes, love is blind. The purchase price of 700 hard florins made up for it! Fortunately, I had my own garage at the time and the hands weren't wrong. The oil-dependent engine was replaced by a fine 1750 engine and the body received an extensive restoration. All this is now 35 years ago. And guess what? I still have it! I have some other classics, but this is the last one to go!
Wasn't the purchase 750 guilders?
Posted in another comment.
florin is an old name for guilder