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[White Anthony <anthony.white@domain.elided>]

Hi all,
 
Have only been on the list for a week, and already am thoroughly impressed with the quality of postings and advice.  
 
Picked up my first Alfa around two months ago -- 1985 116 Giulietta 2,0.  Paid $NZ900 -- that's about 400 of your American dollars, or 300 pounds sterling -- and towed it away.  Took a couple of weekends to get it going properly: new battery, plugs, distributor cap and rotor, leads, a few other electrical gremlins that took some time to track down.  But the body is sound, I've receipts for loads of work over the years, and all the mechanicals are in good shape.  The interior is tidy.
 
The whole thing is a truly hilarious device.  Really, I bought a gorgeous engine in a red metal box, and then was delighted to discover that it goes round corners and stops too.  No, I simplify: I expected it to do those things; I just didn't expect to be this delighted, this quickly.  
 
It's a flawed automobile.  Very flawed:  
You couldn't call it pretty.  It looks more like a cubist collage of a car than a car itself.  
The gear shift is pretty much awful.  
After I replaced the master cylinder and adjusted the brakes as much as they could be adjusted, I took the brake pedal out, cut it up and rewelded it into a shape where I could actually heel-and-toe comfortably.  
All the interior switchgear is in the wrong place.  No, places.  They must've loaded all the switches into a cannon, fired them into the car, and then just wired them up where they landed.  
The glove compartment is a drawer.  A drawer!
And so on...
 
Who can tell?
 
Nonetheless, I'm hooked.  Now I just need to find a prettier one.  An early seventies GTV as a driver, and an early sixties Giulietta Spider for long summers?  We'll see what happens ... 
 
And the enthusiasm of all of you looks like it could be infectious.  
It's good to be here.
Anthony.  
 
 
___________________________
 
Anthony White
Policy Analyst
Schools Resourcing Policy
Ministry of Education
PO Box 1666
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
di: +64.4.463.8362
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