Alfa Pages

[Ian M]

Hi guys
Looked at a 1.5ie on an H plate today.
Its in v good condition (only rust was round the fuel filler as usual)and just had engine refurbished totally,it has some mot and tax on it.
The guy is asking £395 for it but I think I can get him down to about £300.
Does this sound like a good deal?
Also is there anything to watch out for on this model?
Thanks in advance Ian
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Presntly own
Red Abarth 500c

[GaryUK]

They have non vented discs and crap interiors and the engines get more hammering due to less power. £300 is a lot of money for a 1.5 33. You can get a 16v'er for a few quid more.

[paddy granger]

Ian,

How many miles on the clock?

I ran a quick search on Autotrader and couldn't find any other 33's in the same price range. I would not be surprised if you could find a 1.7 for the same price though - a friend of mine was even given one for free in a pub the other day.

Did come across a 33 with only 29000 miles on the clock though....seems fishy.... Garage is Southern Alfa's.

[GaryUK]

Basically if you can do mechanics you can build a 33 1,7 Mk 2 with all the nice bits from several donor cars for well under £300. In the UK 33's are throw away items. If you can't do DIY mechanics DON'T BUY ONE!! as garages won't touch them or charge you the earth.

Keep an eye on damaged repairable auctions and get a stolen recovered 16v'er with lock damage for £50-75 QUID you'd just have to wait a while for one to come up.

Also keep an eye on e-bay I've seen MOT failure 33's in good nick go for £20.

A forum member was wanting £500 negotiable for a MINT P4 a while back may still be available (do a search on the for sale section).

Offer £100 or walk away for the 1.5in question. Plus you really want a 1.7 a much better car!!

[paulhide]

Yeah, I'd like to add, I bought, through AROC 33 registrar Dave Peters, a white series two 1.7 for £7.50 on ebay because it had a blown engine and dented drivers door. I had needed a gearbox for my black series two, but when we got it back we realised what good condition the body was in - passenger side utterly pristine ontop and underneath, even pure normal metal under the side-skirts still held in place by the plastic plugs. There was some rust in the floor under the driver's feet and some more unimportant in the rear quarter, both of which have been sorted. I bought a 56,000 mile engine for £80, put it in and got a replacement door for £30. It passed its MOT last month and I'm so pleased with it I'm going to get it resprayed. So with a bit of work there are definitely still bargains about.
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Owner's Club 33 Registrar. Now from P4 & S2 1.7 QV
http://www.alfa-pages.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=5188

[Ian M]

Thanks for the advice guys.
The reason I was looking at this car is that I dont have the time or space to
do all the mechanical stuff anymore...if i did I would keep the old sportwagon and sort that out.
I put it on ebay this morning for spares or repair and its up to 41 quid already
Im not really worried what model it is(but would rather stick to 8v) I just want to be driving a 33.
This 1.5ie goes well enough and is really tight handling wise and has been well looked after and has just had a total engine rebuild so I guess the guy wants to get some of that money back.
I will make him a silly offer tomorrow and see what happens.
Cheers Ian

[Ian M]

Well I bought it and now the proud? owner of a 1.5ie (with K&N filter) which sounds lovely and goes alot better than I expected.
Ended up paying about £200 for it which in my opinion is cheap for any car with mot on.
The tyres arent very good but I will put the wheels on it from the sport wagon today.
The wiper linkage was broken but that was easily fixed with a drill and a splitpin.
As someone said the interior is not the best but I can live with it and I found the seat very comfortable and supportive.
Only other problem is the speedo not working at the moment but Ill have a look at it later.
Anyway thanks for all the advice(which i probably ignored)