AROC Alfa at Burghley House

Cyclone1

Member
Messages
525
From being in a member on here's selespeed GTA it feel massively different to a boggo TS sele.
In fact I think it suits the GTA.
I’m pretty certain the unit they used in the GTA was different to that used in the none GTA Alfas, but can’t remember the differences
 

Nayf

Member
Messages
2,745
The GTA Selespeed is different to the Twin Spark one and is similar to that of the Maserati Cambiocorsa system. The gearbox is actually the same as the manual, which means it can - in theory - be changed from a hydraulically oriented rod to a fleshy human foot, but at some cost and complexity.
The thing I’m concerned with about Sele GTAs is parts and finding people to fix it - they sold just 1 or 3 officially when the car was brand new, and some more much later (2006) when a boat load of RHDs heading for Asia became a bit burny and had to come back to the UK. The issue is parts and knowledge base…
 

davy83

Member
Messages
2,821

Cyclone1

Member
Messages
525
The GTA Selespeed is different to the Twin Spark one and is similar to that of the Maserati Cambiocorsa system. The gearbox is actually the same as the manual, which means it can - in theory - be changed from a hydraulically oriented rod to a fleshy human foot, but at some cost and complexity.
The thing I’m concerned with about Sele GTAs is parts and finding people to fix it - they sold just 1 or 3 officially when the car was brand new, and some more much later (2006) when a boat load of RHDs heading for Asia became a bit burny and had to come back to the UK. The issue is parts and knowledge base…
Great info thanks. Agree with your comments and is likely to be just as much a reason some potential owners steer clear.
 

gb-gta

Member
Messages
1,135
The biggest upside of the *** imports is the lack of salt on their roads, so they tend to be better underneath.
However, for me, that is the only benefit, I’d much rather have a manual car. One of the things that is great about the GTA is that it is not just satisfying to drive fast, but also just going with the flow at much lower speeds. Just driving about normally with the tractability of the busso from tickover is much more enjoyable than most cars in my experience.
I’ve not driven a selespeed one, and I guess it may be just as much fun when pressing on hard, but maybe not so enjoyable for 95% of the time.
 

Nayf

Member
Messages
2,745
Thank you. I’ve seen these for sale and many have been for sale for quite a while. Doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with them, but a friend has seen some of them and given me a run down etc.
They’ve been for sale so long they’ll need cambelt and probably a water pump (£1k). Probably a Q2 diff too (£1k). Then there’s generally fettling, possibly tyres.
The thing is that’s all less than curing rot/bodywork/paint, especially if the front wings on the UK car are shot. Find a mint Japanese car and it makes sense for a manual conversion if a return on your cash isn’t the prime motive.
 

Cyclone1

Member
Messages
525
They’ve been for sale so long they’ll need cambelt and probably a water pump (£1k). Probably a Q2 diff too (£1k). Then there’s generally fettling, possibly tyres.
The thing is that’s all less than curing rot/bodywork/paint, especially if the front wings on the UK car are shot. Find a mint Japanese car and it makes sense for a manual conversion if a return on your cash isn’t the prime motive.
Agree.

I’ve had a few chances to buy GTA’s over the last few years, both UK and Japanese imports. It was a very low mileage (23k) Pearl White 147 GTA import that led me to importing my Fiat Coupé. I wanted to buy the GTA but missed it by a day! I still went to look at it which proved excruciating as it was stunning, but the positive was I turned my attention to the Coupe which I now love.

I always try and buy on condition, so in this case the type of box would be secondary.
 

gb-gta

Member
Messages
1,135
They’ve been for sale so long they’ll need cambelt and probably a water pump (£1k). Probably a Q2 diff too (£1k). Then there’s generally fettling, possibly tyres.
The thing is that’s all less than curing rot/bodywork/paint, especially if the front wings on the UK car are shot. Find a mint Japanese car and it makes sense for a manual conversion if a return on your cash isn’t the prime motive.
Maybe, not sure how easy it would be to find a GTA gearbox though! Or all the other gubbins you’d need. Maybe get a ropey/crashed uk GTA and swap everything over to a mint Japanese one. You’d have all the parts I guess. All sounds expensive though, probably cheaper to just buy a good uk one!
 

GTVGEOFF

Member
Messages
386
Did anyone notice the red Alfetta GTS? A very rare car and in fantastic condition, I think it was up for a prize on Don,t know it it got one. I Regret not taking a picture of it. Believe there was an article on it in Auto Italia sometime in 2018