Anyone ever had an Alfa 33?

[giddyupgaz]

Looking at buying an older car to do up in the garage and hopefully use to teach my son how to drive.

I am looking at an Alfa 33 (1984) model, looks in decent nick and not too much to do to make it nice again. Might be a cheap entry into a nice car for him.

Has anyone ever had one of these? Any major problems i should look for? Are they a shite car and i should run the hell away from them? any advice welcomed

[Dotty]

An employer had one in 1985. He said it was a real pleasure to drive, on the very rare occasion that everything worked. I'd 'Stay away'.

Why aren't you looking at Camry, Corolla or HiLux for his first car ?

[PeteyD]

Buying older car = get something common so there are heaps of parts = Corolla / Pulsar / Falcon / Dunnydore.

[henno]

Corolla. They run and run, parts are everywhere, cheap as chups.

[giddyupgaz]

Cheers guys, thanks for the input.
Only looking at this as it is cheap (ish) and really well looked after. Just looking at something to be able to tinker on and get looking OK.
Have been looking at the Corolla's as well actually, hard to find a cheaper one that hasn't had the shite smashed out of it.

[zigwah]

If you wanna tinker mate, get something older, so when you look under the bonnet you know what your looking at. Ford XA to XF, older corollas, even an old HG, HR, HT,EH, the old Fords and Holdens are great to work on.

[Ferrins]

I had one and got rid of it when the brakes failed at high speed. Nearly s**t myself. By a toyota

[bebo]

You'd have to hate your son that much to buy him a 33!!

I would rather pick a Volvo 244GL!

[giddyupgaz]

Hmmm, seems there is no love for the Alfa, hope this guy doesn't accept my offer then also bloody glad i lowballed him as well.
Hi ho off to hunt some Corolla's we go (4 cylinder was one of the requirements for this particular car)

[Johnny Canuck]

parts for the alfa will be very expensive. we manage a couple of them at work and the guys get killed on them.

one client in particular, has just dropped $6000 in the past 18 months, on little, minor repairs that keep creeping up.

ask idgolfguy about alfas. he'll tell you to stay well clear.

[Lucasto23]

Alfa, pretty to look at. great to drive if you can ever start the thing. Damn Italians always taking a dive;)

[Daves]

The 33s were notoriously badly built, some literally rusted away before their owners eyes! I knew a guy who had one in the late 80s and it leaked like a sieve! And he had lots of mechanical problems with it as well. Alfa made some great cars but the 33 wasn't one of them! Stay away, it is cheap for a very good reason!

What sort of money are your looking to spend? As much as I dislike them you can't kill most Toyotas with a big stick, just stay away from the Coronas, they had a very bad suspension setup and literally run (bounce steer) off the road! Corollas and the early Camrys are the pick. Mazdas also tend to be above average, otherwise buy the garden variety Fords and Holdens, cheap parts and easy to fix.

[zigwah]

If you want a car to do up with your son Gaz, i have the perfect one for you. An 84 Jaguar series III Sovereign, needs a new head gasket and a bit of a clean up, it's in pretty good nick you can have it for 750!.

I've been meaning to get pull it apart and sell all the parts, but haven't been able to.

[giddyupgaz]

Sounds cool Zig, but looking at a 4 cylinder so he can afford to run it later on when he gets his licence. Although I reckon he would think he would be pretty cool zipping around in a Jag

[mike]

gaz, how's your mechanical knowledge? Are you pretty cluey with this sort of thing or are you going to wing it?

Any Alfa is going to be hard to get 2nd hand parts for and new parts aren't going to be cheap. Having said that I love alfas and one of these days I want to 'do up' one of these.
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t325/yumbotto/1974_Alfa_Romeo_GTV_2000_Sedan_Fron.jpg

A Corolla would be much easier but much more boring too.

[giddyupgaz]

Mike,
I'm cluey without being one who does this a lot. Love the look of that little classic.
The parts are hard to get, and I know of the extra cost. Just thought that getting a cheap alfo might be a little cooler for the young fella than a Corolla, but sounds like the Toyota is the way to go unless the price is too good

[mike]

Check insurance too. Expensive for teenagers especially if the vehicle is European.

Good luck with it.