Alfa Romeo Restored....

Highrev1 · 10-10-09, 06:35

So I prettymuch finished up my garage and sure enough I have to go do a detail somewhere else...

So I packed up my stuff and went down to his wharehouse. I just did his Z06 and I have my own key to his wharehouse so its almost a second home for me

He has like ten cars and I do all of them at least twice a year

Well, this time he wanted his Alfa Romeo Spider done. I knew this one would be a challenge. Its a "beater" he has, he throws it in his 18wheeler when he goes for weekend races.

I pulled it out to check it out and then I started with a wash. CG Citrus Wash and Clear. I knew that alot of the chrome was pitted and wouldn't get corrected. There was some greasy substance on the hood, dunno what it was, but it washed right off...

I pulled it back in and started pulling off anything I could.

Highrev1 · 10-10-09, 06:36

I moved on to start claying. This took forever as the car was covered in what I think was black tree sap. It wasn't tar I know that, but I had to sit there and "scrub" each spot with the clay bar to remove them. I tried alot of different things and that worked the best...For such a small car it took forever to clay this thing.

After that I started doing some test spots. I started with the fender to see what sort of pad/compund combination I would need to get good correction.

I found what I needed to do...And went at it. I called my buddy up to have him come by and follow me with the DA after I did the heavy cutting with the Rotary. We started going around the car. I did all the curved areas with a 3" pad, then switched to a larger pad for the big panels. Thats why you see what you do

I also decided to do a 50/50 on the trunk..I continue to move around the side of the car, while the woman started Opti-sealing the fender we started with.

We still have to go back tomorrow and finish up with some chrome and interior work. I will take some final pics of the car tomorrow with more detail but here are some for now

As always thanks for looking

I hope he doesn't have me do this next...

Vdubby18 · 10-10-09, 06:42

Very nice.

Highrev1 · 10-11-09, 05:49

I went and finished that sucker today. I cleared the back plastic and did some final touches while the woman finished up the interior.

Here are the finals I pulled it in the sun and had the woman take the pictures...She's much better than me

Difficult to see but the rear window was "frosted"

blue-sun · 10-11-09, 06:55

wow, that's an amazing restoration! Nice job!

Cactus1 · 10-11-09, 07:41

That Alfa's definately not a "beater" anymore! Nice job.

ten39 · 10-11-09, 08:00

Amazing transformation!

One of my best friends bought an Alfa just like that shortly after we graduated high school, close to 15 years ago. His wasn't the same year, because it had these horrid North American-spec (guessing) large rubber/plastic bumpers. It was a fun car, but nearly impossible to keep in a reliable condition, and needless to say didn't work so well as year-round transportation.

Alfa also made a "round tail" version that was much, much better looking from behind, and really fit the front end better. At the time they had (and still do have) a much higher demand and value. No go for an 18 year old (then).