Wow! That was hairy... Thanks for sharing this cool story

My Dad's work colleague put a Leyland P76 V8 (4.4 litres) in a Microbus. I understand the terror of which you speak

Great car!!

Congratulations, great car👌👏. You need to speed up to get the license not in order to get sad not to drive it

That's one hell of a way to start! Congrats!

Bravissimo

What a first car! Nice start to driving life.

Cool, I'm glad you've enjoyed the video, thank you!

🎯👍🏽👍🏿👍🏻👍

Hruska is the demonstration of the perfect possible collaboration between Germans/Austrians and Italians

@@studiocalder818 , yes, you're totally right 😁

Those engines are perhaps more appreciated now than they've ever been, at least here in Italy. Buyers back then complained about the fuel consumption, mostly.

Thank you! Yeah those engines sounded fantastic, especially the twin-carburetors ones

I had a 33, rust wasn't much of a problem (apart from the driver's door), the electrics for the dash however.........

Unfortunately the severe rust issues of the early 'Suds did a lasting damage to Alfa Romeo's reputation, as your story further confirms! By the time that 33 was built, Alfa had banished already that demon, but it wasn't going to go away from people's memories anytime soon! The Tipo was a good car, miles ahead of the 33 in pretty much every respect, so you didn't get a bad deal ;)

Two fwds, carrying same badge but with different spirits

studio calderini very true indeed.

You're right, the boxer was very much overbuilt, a tough little engine indeed

Awesome, thank you! Glad to have matched your expectations :)

Couldn't agree more!

Keep it as long, as you can drive.

I can imagine the boxer models are unknowns in the USA, as none was ever exported there new. Here in Europe they were very successful though, creating thousands of new Alfisti that love the marque to this day

The 155 was much more modern and refined, so it wasn't a bad choice after all :)

@@Matteo_Licata That's right. In just 4 years, I did 160.000 kilometers cross-country, comfortably, at speeds that everyone though that I was speeding, while I was just grand touring! Despite its humble underpinnings, the 155 was a great grand tourer. It just had the unfortunate position of being the model connecting the time line between the 75 (...) and the 156 (...} But that's another, well told story I guess.:)

@@through_changes The 155 was a shock, yes. Its Fiat roots were evident and it superseded the 75, the last old-school Alfa saloon. Enthusiasts inevitably pushed back. But it's a model that wrote fantastic pages of motorsport history, so it's a worthy part of Alfa lore nevertheless ;)

Glad you enjoyed it!

Glad you enjoyed it!

I will :) Thank you very much for your kind words

Glad you like them!

Maybe one day! My idea has always been to let the stories and the cars be the stars, instead of drawing attention to myself. But never say never...

Thank you for watching! Is your 145 a 1.7?

Appreciate it! Thank you for watching :)

I believe so! These engines were very much overbuilt, hardy units.

Unrestored, original 'suds like yours are very rare indeed. Congratulations!

@@Matteo_Licata Thanks. Was owned by an elderly gentleman, couldn't believe that there was almost no rust.

Congratulations. It confirms that Alfa is the most democratic collecting marque: from the young passionate who loves a cheap 33 to a millionaire who conqueres a 8c2900 at a golden auction. Alfa is unique

You've owned a Cherry Europe too! Those are very rare. The Arna handled safely, but did not entertain like the 'sud, you're right. The history of the Alfa-Nissan venture is one rarely told properly, and that's why I've written a book about it. Those cars weren't sexy, but never deserved the crap everyone gave them either.

@@Matteo_Licata yes i owned a Cherry. I bought it for £50 as it had an unhappy engine..... it had snapped a timing belt..... and someone got another head and slapped it on.... most likely had not checked valve sizes or put the original cam back in..... so it didnt run very well.. i had broken a green cloverleaf sprint like mine and had a spare engine available for transplanting.... so mine had 105hp not the std 95 hp.There were a couple of them living around here back in the day..... infact i was in a competition to get my sprint with a guy called Andre who had a cherry but wanted my sprint. I posted a picture on my channel of my car ..the pictures were taken i would say mid 90s. It was surprisingly rust free but was crashed into and written off. It had a brand new clutch in it... literally 2 weeks old. We removed it again and i stored the clutch for many years and recently it went into my sprint....

Great cars. I owned a Permanent 4 for around 15 years, great fun in the snow! The Alfasuds are the real deal. Have a couple of them I treasure.

@@gr182 i loved my P4 but it always suffered with the viscous coupling banging on the floor when i made tight turns...... i sold mine in 2003 when i bought my delta Evolution 2.. that i still own. And i still own my Sprint.. but i wish i could have kept the 33... K216ARD RIP...

I will :) In fact, a video about the TS engine is coming this Friday ;)

Grazie mille! I complimenti dall'Italia fanno sempre particolarmente piacere :)

I worked on the interiors of the Giulietta: www.roadster-life.com/post/alfa-memories

Awesome story and very cool to know :) I think you did a really great job. I´ve had the car for 3 years now and still enjoy driving it every day, no car on the market (within my budget) I would rather drive. I got a 2011 Alfa Rosso QV :)

Very nice! Cool cars both of them!

@@Matteo_Licata yeah an early 1.2 63 CV Alfasud and a 907 33 Double Carb :)

@@scuderiasenzasoldi8740 Cool. Early Alfasud are among my favorite models: so clean, light and sharp

Roadster Life Indeed exactly my opinion.

Many thanks!

Thank you! The Arna story has always fascinated me, and that's why I made a book about it! Which Arna did you have? 1.2L?

Yes the 1.2. But it taught me how to work on the boxer engine. The sprint was 1.5 with inboard disk bakes that where a bugger to change. 🤨👍

Right on! Yes the 145/6 weighed around 150-200 Kg more than a similarly-engined 33, taking the edge off performance markedly. I've made a video about these too, check it out ;) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y5p6bK5ozKfcdWw.html

:) Thank you very much!

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

I bet you wish you still had it. Alfasud ti 1.3s are probably the most collectable Alfasud and the basis for the Trofeo Alfasud race cars. Rare colour too! 👍

Right on!

That came from a 1987 tv commercial for the 33. The two formula cars are "Alfa Boxer" formulas too, an Italian racing series that used the Alfa flat four engine.

I'm working on it ;) Can't quite make promises on when it'll be ready though, as researching it is not simple.

Clarkson : quatro formagio 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Thank you! 😃

Matteo is Italian, he would be in big trouble if, he did not know how to pronounce it.

Here in Italy we've had the "formula boxer" championship: single seaters specifically designed to accomodate the Alfa boxer engine.

Grazie molto 👌

Forse parli delle prime Alfasud. Io ho avuto 2 Alfa 33 e tutte e due sono arrivate oltre i 10 anni praticamente intatte!

It's true.

We agree!

It does seem so, yes. Even here in Italy the boxer-engined 145/6 have all but disappeared from the roads, while I still spot regularly their Twin Spark brethren.

@@Matteo_Licata that's a shame, people don't notice until a car really starts to get rare and some people would break one for parts than keep it running.

As you know, you'd have to import one. Prices for the few nice survivors are firming up, but I doubt these will ever grow as much as 105s have done.

Yes, I've left the Formula Boxer out, thought it wasn't worth mentioning.

Not sure yet, but the 164 is a story that must be told!

@@Matteo_Licata finally someone will speak about this car. So underrated no one talks about it because it's fwd. But it's a train on rails on the corners! While keeping it classy and stylish

@@user-bj3fj2bg3j You know what? Here in Italy the 164 is already a classic. Good survivors command decent money too. It was one of the best cars Alfa has ever built, under many aspects.

That's lovely, one of my favorite Alfas. Which color?

Maybe! I'm preparing a story of the "bialbero" engine, which includes the early 8v TS engines, as they used the old engine block. 16v TS is another cattle of fish altogether, and they'll have to get their own video

@@Matteo_Licata yes i have a pratola serra unit and it's very different than the early twin sparks, it's hard to tell about the variator to the people :)

Looks like we have a deal ;) Ok, send me the links or scans of your sources, plus a pic of your Alfasud and I'll draw it.

I will try to get links etc done this week. My IT skills are a little lacking, but I should be able to do it. Thank you

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y5p6bK5ozKfcdWw.html

They still sound pretty good. What is missing is the induction noise that the carburetted engines had which added yet more character.

@@Matteo_Licata Thanks a lot! I think it should be a carburated Sprint 😎 thanks also for your videos, i really enjoy watching them and thankfully learned about the fantastic alfa boxer engines!

Grazie! Si, la mia idea è sempre stata di raggiungere il pubblico più ampio possibile. Qualche compatriota si è lamentato, ma non importa: non obbligo nessuno a guardare ciò che produco :)

È proprio ciò che scontiamo. La diffusione della nostra storia ai più resta affidata agli stranieri appassionati

Thank you too!

Yes indeed. But by the time the 1.7 16v was made, the boxer was already on borrowed time...

No. It wasn't easy to have an equal length exhaust manifold clear the discs of the inboard brakes so production alfasuds had a less than optimal straight-pipe manifold with very long uneven 4->2 pipes connecting the cylinders of the same bank. When the Alfasud Trofeo was designed Autodelta designed a cross-piped tuned manifold barely clearing the discs that would connect cylinders from opposing sides. This manifold made a difference and was copied by tuners of the era despite being hard to build.

I've never changed one myself, so I don't really know. Will ask :)

Quite easy... first loosen the Alternator bolts to help taking the alternator/waterpump-belt off... next: 1) for the later Sud's have cambelts covered from all-around: loosen off the four 10mm screws to able taking the plastic front pieces off... 2) the older Sud's don't have the plastic front halves, so no job there... 3) open the camshaft-covers (all the 8-valve model engines, except the ones with hydraulic lifters, on those the covers are not able to open) rotate the crankshaft (clockwise by looking from front of the car) from the flywheel to find the Cyl 1 TopDeadEndMark, align it with the pointer, check that the Camshaft Timing-marks are aligned with their marks with the Camshaft Housing-marks, if not, rotate the Crankshaft one more full circle, check the Camshaft-marks alignment, they must get aligned. Now if the Camshaft-marks are aligned, loosen the Cambelt tensioner bolts, but DON'T take them off, by hand lift the other tensioner so that the Cambelt is loose, tighten the tensioner in place. On the other belt, by hand press the tensioner so that the Cambelt is loose, tigjten the tensioner. Now you can slide the old Cambelts off the Camshaft Teeth-Pulleys and from the Crankshaft Teeth-Pulleys. Now you can put the new Cambelts in place, mske sure the Crankshaft hasn't moved, by cheking the Cyl 1 TopDeadEndMark is in place. The Cambelts must put back in the way the Crank-end first, the by holding the CamPulley in place (check the marks) and keeping the belt tight from the "straight"-side and matching the belt onto CamPulley teeth and sliding it onto it, when the belt is on, loosen the tendioner bolt and let the tensioner spring tighten the belt. Do this on both sides. NOTE: the Cyl 2/4 Bank Camshaft MAY move a bit, because it has one Valve-spring pushing, so the Camshaft-mark MAY not be aligned, but it is easy turn back in place by hand hold there and in the same time do the same procedure with the new belt there. When the both new belts are in place, check again the Crank-mark and both the Cam-marks have stayed aligned. THEN: rotate the crank by hand TWO FULL CIRCLES and check the marks alignement again. If they don't match, you must make the procedure again on the side that does not match (usually it's the 2/4 Bank side, because of the one Valve-spring pressure). If all marks matches, you (now put back the plastic front-half covers back on the newer Suds) can assemble the alternator/waterpump-belt back, adjust the belt tension and tighten the alternator bolts.

Well, Agnelli did want to buy Citroen back in the late 60s, but in the end the deal was called off because of the French government's opposition.

@@Matteo_Licata Well, selling it to Peugeot i stead did Citroën a ton of good. NOT! Ah well, at least we still got cars like the BX and XM. Come to think of it: The Alfa boxer in a BX would also have been a nice fit. :-)

a 100+ PS GS? Nice idea ... though I fear, the dampers and tires would need a major, obvious update.

Well, the 33 was a success. It’s second only to the Alfasud for number of units sold in Alfa history.

Personalmente sono d'accordo, un vero peccato

No need to apologize when one is right! It's me that I have to apologize for the oversight! Yes, 1490cc was the correct number, while 1570cc was the capacity of the "bialbero" 1.6L of the Giulia. I'll write a disclaimer in the description. Thank you for pointing it out!

@@Matteo_Licata I have a much loved Sud 1.5 ti that I purchased new in 1980. Really enjoy all your informative posts. Thanks.

That’s a cool idea!

The responsible was the great Rudolf Hruska

Ouch, sad your cool 33 is no more. UK winters tend to destroy every car, it seems... 33s and 75s here in Italy don't rust, even after all these years, while I clearly remember how the previous Alfas rusted even here!