Rip 145

dickyb

dickyb

Member
Messages
432
Sadly the time has come to say goodbye to my beloved 145. After 11 years of faithful service and clocking up 149000 miles the old girl has succumbed to rust:(.

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An advisory on the MOT mentioned rusty inner arches and the front suspension turrets were beginning to crack so I booked it in to a car restorer to carry out some renovation work including new front bumper, front end repaint and all the rust repairs. I thought it would be a couple of grand, a lot to spend on an old car but I thought it was worth it as it was cheaper than buying something else. Unfortunately once the bodyshop started to strip the car this is what they found:

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The quote to do the very basics and squeeze through an MOT was just over £2000 but I'd still have further work to do and that didn't include fitting and painting the new bumper so I'd still have a slightly scruffy car. The floors are also pretty bad and the quote for all of the work amounts to over 100 hours and nearly £5000 so I have had to make the very difficult decision to call it a day. I am gutted as I loved my 145, so great to drive and nice to have a car that is now getting rare. They only sold 15 Cloverleafs in this colour in the UK too so even more upsetting. I was going to try to sell it as is for spares or repair but someone else will only break it up so I am going to break it myself so at least I can recoup some money. It breaks my heart but its really the only sensible thing to do:(

I bought one of these as a replacement yesterday:

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I told myself I'd never lower myself to a diseasel but the petrol 147s are a bit dull and slow. I thought long and hard about what could be interesting and toyed with a Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo but as they have the same floorpan and underpinnings as the 145 it was likely that I would end up in the same mess in the future and prices seem to be daft, £3-4k for a decent one and they are all getting on a bit now. Changing personal circumstances and having too many other money pits money pits meant I needed something a bit cheaper to run with lower tax/insurance etc so this fits the bill I think. Mine doesn't have the side stripes so looks a bit more discrete.
 
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2b1ask1

2b1ask1

Special case
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20,271
At least you can focus on the other restoration and the final bits Dicky. The new replacement is none to shoddy either :)
 
dickyb

dickyb

Member
Messages
432
dem maser said:
You scrapping the 145??
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Tragically yes. It breaks my heart but I can't spend £5k on a car that's not going to be worth much for many years to come. Maybe they'll have their day but not for a long time and I think Fiat era cars will always be worth less than the earlier stuff. The 33 isn't worth much yet but boxer engined cars are slowly climbing and are pre-Fiat so may be worth decent money in the future so worth persevering. If I sell the 145 someone else will kill it and I don't have the space to stash it away for a rainy day:(

2b1ask1 you are right, I will concentrate on the 33 and get that up and running so at least I will have an interesting Alfa to run around in. I've been borrowing a friend's LHD 75 for the last week or so and its a revelation, although its rattly and the build quality is ****, it has so much soul and character, rather like the 33. I suppose it galvanised for me that although the 145 is lovely to drive, the older stuff is better.

Glad you approve of the replacement, I'm pretty pleased with it even though it is diseasel:(. Should be fun though, sport button, Q2, lots of torque. I asked around about them and everyone I spoke to said how good they were so I thought I'd go for it.
 
M

MAF260

Member
Messages
7,662
What a shame that another little Alfa bites the dust (or turns to dust!). I'm sure you'll really like the 147, great car and far less rust prone. The handling is great and the Diesel engine has plenty of poke.
 
Emtee

Emtee

New Member
Messages
8,446
I feel for you Dicky. I had a 145 Cloverleaf and have very fond memories of it. Shame yours has reached the end of its life, but 149K on the clock is very good going.
 
philw696

philw696

Member
Messages
25,439
That is a shame but as an Mot tester myself best to get it off the road you wouldn't have wanted to be in a accident in her with all that tin worm. Its a shame there's not any old stock body shells hidden away.
 
CatmanV2

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,786
What a shame. Mrs Catman had a 145 Cloverleaf Awesome little thing. Someone ran a Mercedes Sprinter into the back of it, and bent it rather badly :(

C
 
dickyb

dickyb

Member
Messages
432
Phil, That statement is a great help, its going around in my head that I should do my best to save it but a view like that confirms its just not really viable. The car restorer assures me he can fix it all and it will be safe (but at a very high cost.)

I made the right decision but it was very hard. I suppose even if it was fixed it would still be a high miles well used example so never going to be very sought after. Added to that, when you consider every mechanical component has covered 149000 miles it would soon be time for some big mechanical bills, Twin Sparks aren't renowned for their durability, the gearbox is getting noisy (probably input shaft bearings), springs rusty, shocks probably need replacing etc etc.

Onwards and upwards...
 
conaero

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,631
I have a GT which is basically a 147 and love the old soot chucker to bits. The poor bits are the from suspension rattle and feels cheap. I am forever replacing bushes and whisbones, its a shame as they are great cars full of character.

Shame about the 145 but you have done the right thing.
 
Andyk

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,154
Such a shame..The 145 Cloverleaf must be getting very rare these days and they are great little cars.
 
CatmanV2

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,786
Andyk said:
WOW.....Wonder how much he wants for that...280 bhp is far more than the GTV and that could struggle with the power without a Q2.......
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Personally I reckon that would be un-manageable. I stand to be corrected, though.

C
 
dickyb

dickyb

Member
Messages
432
Andyk said:
WOW.....Wonder how much he wants for that...280 bhp is far more than the GTV and that could struggle with the power without a Q2.......
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It was on for about £12k a while back, stupid money. Its a fairly well known car in the 145 community and was built a long time ago starting with a 2.5 v6 and has slowly been developed to what it is today. The V6 is probably a little too heavy for a 145, a much better mod is to fit the Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo engine, it drops in with no mods needed to the engine mountings etc as they are basically the same car. All the suspension swaps straight over too and with a few tweaks will easily achieve 400bhp.

A guy in Germany built a 145 GTA, a really nicely engineered conversion:

http://www.alfisti.net/876.5.html?&L=1

http://alfisti.net/alfa-galerie/thumbnails.php?album=212
 
safrane

safrane

Member
Messages
16,861
Sad day...I'm shocked by the rust...my 1991 Golf as just two 5p size rust spots ans the underside is unmarked
 
TridentTested

TridentTested

Member
Messages
1,819
safrane said:
Sad day...I'm shocked by the rust...my 1991 Golf as just two 5p size rust spots ans the underside is unmarked
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My 1991 Peugeot 205 has long gone to the great car park in the sky because of rust not unlike dickyb's 147. It does seem the Germans can do better rust protection.
 
D

dem maser

Moderator
Messages
34,251
germans did make better cars with regards to rust.....old polos and golfs still going but french and italian dont so much
 
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