1984 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint / Sprint review from Australia and New Zealand

Many electrical faults.

Headlight switch died.

Previous owner had done some very dodgy backyard wiring which took a lot of time and money at the auto electrician to sort out.

Starter motor needed rebuilding.

Leaking cooling system repaired.

The tyres were quite bald. I had a puncture and then bought 4 new Kumho 185/60's.

Engine repeatedly needed retuning; it kept dropping onto 3 cylinders and in a flat 4 that is really, really not a good thing.

Rear control arms needed replacing.

Battery needed replacing.

Carburetors needed rebuilding, but I didn't have enough money to do this before I sold the car.

Door handles broken off inside.

Door locks all jammed up with what looked like cement. Solution? Never locked the doors, they didn't lock anyway.

Stereo only ever worked sporadically.

Needed new brake master cylinder, as previous owner had rebuilt his own and forgotten to put half the parts back in and it was leaking badly.

Window seals leaked, but I never got them fixed.

The driver's seat was torn.

The rear muffler had a hole in it.

Now, you're probably wondering why I even bought this car after all reading all the above problems. Most of these Alfas are eaten away by rust and this example had hardly any. So I bought this shiny Monza red example for $2600 from Collectable Classics.

I loved this car soooooo much. Even though I had to fork out $4500 more in repairs and maintenance, I loved it.

The chassis just had an impeccable balance and despite being front wheel drive never, ever under-steered, but stayed extremely neutral right up to the limit.

It was 100% a driver's car. On my favourite road up to Windy Point which is very windy and twisty this little Alfa was a dream come true. The raspy bark of the 1.5 twin carb engine echoed off the rock walls on the side of the road, and I screamed around corners faster than I ever imagined possible in this little coupe.

Even though I have sold this car (for $2300), I will never forget the snarl of the twin webers, or the bark of the exhaust, or being thrown back in my seat in first, second, and third gears.

The engine didn't have a lot of torque under 3000 rpm, but it just loved to rev right up to about 7200 rpm. The harder I drove this car the better it felt. Once my foot went to the floor and the next corner was in my sights it seemed to crouch down and charge off as if eager to thrill me more and more every time.

This car was definitely not perfect, the interior was a bit cramped, and the windscreen fogged up easily, but was quickly defogged by the after-market air conditioner, which worked very well.

If only it hadn't needed so many repairs, if only the previous owners had looked after it, if only...

If this car was brand new today, I would buy one without a second thought, then cherish it, pamper it and love it to death.