Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I have recently come across a striking Alfa Romeo 1900 SS Barchetta from 1956 and wondered whether anyone knows this model and if any exist in the UK - slightly off Lotus topic I know....

Richard

What a beautiful car!

Adi

I had a 69 long body spyder ----delightful handling -nice crisp 1750 weber head motor -5 speed -comfortable and mostly water tight top ----ed

I have always thought it would be nice to have a Duetto, mid 60's version. No real reason, it just seemed very Alfa Romeo to me.

I rebuilt a Fiat 500 once.Complete new front.Painted it black & gold put the JPS logo on it with gold pinstrpes. Very nice. Wish I still had it!

Would not pull a soldier off you Grannie though.

Alex B....

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur ... N%26um%3D1

It is a beautiful car, no price on the one above. I sense they are not cheap. There are 3 for sale on classiccarsforsale.co.uk and all with no price, all in Belgium.

Jason

For my 21st birthday I was given a 1600 Gullia Spider, fantastic motor for pulling the birds. Royal blue with a cream interior. Insurance was ?100 for road traffic act, which is the minimum you could buy in those days.
Mac

Hi everybody

I am newbi in this forum because I may be a future Elan owner but in 20 years I have been deeply devoted to the Alfa community and ofcourse have had the plesure of several classic Alfas. Back to the thread. The cars you are showing have raised a lot of discussions in Alfa circles. I can only say that if you are interested in reading about our community and both original and more "freestyle" alfas then go to the alfa Romeo bulletin board called ARBB.

Lars

Hi Lars and welcome,

Are the Alfa boys getting worried that we are muscling into their beautiful cars? I was thinking of buying all 3 cars and putting Lotus badges on them What do you think can we pass them off as proto-type elans?

Lotus are also not know for their reliability so we may just pull it off.

Beautiful cars Lars any idea of price? Can I add this to my dream garage list?

Jason

I've had 3, an old Spider, a 97 Spider and a 147. Lotus cars are more fun than those three were.

Four Alfas in my case; 2 Suds (great fun, very reliable, both rusted away beneath me), a GTV (reliable other than the crank core plugs dropping out, losing most of the oil pressure - 'they all do that, sir'; also rusted away) and a 2000 Spider. Beautiful car, great engine and gearbox, handled well on a smooth road but turned into Jello on a bumpy corner. It had one small paint bubble behind a front wheel. I poked around a bit and my screwdriver went through the body. Realising this was possibly beyond Halfords cures, I took it to a specialist. He said he would cut away the whole lower front wing while I watched, and if it wasn't totally rotted out underneath he would make it all good at no cost. It was, of course; nothing but rusty swarf where a structural box section had been. The other side was the same. The car was just under three years old. Although the handling improved afterwards, I decided my metal bodied car days were over, and have had five Lotuses now.....

What Alfas, BMWs and Lotuses share is an intent to make driving enjoyable, even if other areas are compromised.

David

davidfost wrote: Beautiful car, great engine and gearbox, handled well on a smooth road but turned into Jello on a bumpy corner.

Interesting point. I used to say that about my 97 twinspark Spider. Best engine I ever had. Worst handling round corners I ever had. Worse than the early ones when you factor in expectations of a modern car.

Jason

That is the car and despite three emails I have yet to receive a reply from the advertiser! Exquisite styling and proportion...

There is another blue one advertised which is not to such a high specification and the price was from memory 83,000 euros..

David

Intention for driving Lotus, Alfa, BMW.. I've been fortunate to own two E30 M3's for the past 15 years, the Evo 11 for 5 years and the Sport Evo for the past 10 as both a daily driver and for trackdays - possibly BMW's finest drivers car ever...

Richard

price was from memory 83,000 euros

That's a lot of money approx ?72,500, I could buy a lot of Lotus for that. If I bought that it would definitely need a garage.

I'll ask the wife if I can have one.

Jason

Jason

I hope she says yes! then if you would not mind a visit I could drop by and drawl - someone has to own it... its definately a feminine car for all the right reasons - perfect proportions.

Richard