Boot floor for Spider 1970-1993 - including spare wheel well
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1600cc COSWORTH FORGED RACE PISTON - 78.75mm bore
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2000 fast road / track day cylinder head
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2000GTV / Spider steering wheel, new production
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Classic Alfa Bertone GT bodyshells

When I restored my first 1750GTV nearly 20 years ago I used to look at the opening pages of the original Alfa parts "bodywork" book and see this beautiful line drawing of a complete new bodyshell which you could order - part number 105.45.49.200.01 and think "if only..."

Now with the availability of very high quality repair panels, sill sections and floors it is possible to restore stripped bodyshells to a very high standard.

In doing this, we have established a new way of restoring these fabulous cars previously only available to English classic car owners who could buy brand new Heritage bodyshells and rebuild their cars that way. It means that you can buy, for example, a very rusty but complete 1750GTV (as a donor car) and one of our bodyshells and then prepare and paint the bodyshell in the colour of your choice. Then slowly, as time and funds allow, remove parts from the donor car, renovate or replace them and fit them to the new shell.

There are a number of advantages to this method of restoration -

1. It instantly removes the one item which is never a fixed cost in a full restoration and that is the bodywork repair. No restorer can ever quote you precisely for the rust repairs because until they cut away the sills and other corroded areas they will not know what lies behind them and how many hours labour it will take to restore.
   
   
2. You only restore parts as you remove them which means items don't get lost while a 6 month body restoration is in progress.
   
   
3. Because you are removing, renovating and then re-building piece by piece you can easily remember how a part is fitted to the car because you've only removed it the previous week! It also means that if, for example, you have never re-built the front suspension of your car before, you can dismantle it from the donor car and decide whether the job of re-building it is within your abilities. Often, once you have seen how something comes apart it takes away much of the mystique about re-building it.

Some information about the bodyshells -

• They are restored by John Holden, one of the UK's leading Alfa restorers whose workshop is always full of Bertone GTs - they're his staple diet and he owns two himself!
  
  
• Typically all 3 sill sections (inner, middle and outer), front crossmember, spare wheel well and all floor panels are replaced.
  
  
• The bodyshell is then sent away for careful sandblasting (but not to the roof, doors, bonnet and bootlid - these are done by hand to avoid panel damage).
  
  
• The cars then have all lower wing repair sections and rear wheel arches replaced as well as front and rear panels (or lower valances if the upper sections are good).
  
  
• Doors are repaired as necessary as well as any other areas of corrosion such as the boot floor and rear seat area.
  
  
• All repairs are butt-welded beautifully leaving no unsightly edges where corrosion can re-form and meaning minimal filling is necessary after the repair.
  
  
• The shell is then sprayed with a two pack epoxy etch-primer (which will resist moisture), all joints are sealed with a polyurethane seam sealer and the underside and wheel arches are coated using Immotec medium solid spray sealer which can be painted straight over with body colour if desired.
  
  

The shells will require all final shaping and filling prior to paint because this means what you come to view is just metal without any filler hiding anything.

We have sourced 6 cars as a starting point and have the following models available - Giulia Sprint GT 1965, 1967 Sprint GT Veloce, 1967 GT Junior with wide bodywork (see photos), 1750 GTV Mk1 1968 (see photos), 2000GTV (2 cars). We hope to add a Spider or two to this list soon.

Some cars are ready immediately but if you want a 2000GTV or for us to do a shell restoration on your own car there is a 3 month waiting time. We only have right hand drive UK cars available at this time.

Prices start at £8,500 and the 1750GTV shown here in primer is available immediately for this price along with a donor car of the same period which is complete but very rusty for £1,500 (should it be required).

Our first shell which we supplied back in late 2007 & spawned the idea was a 1750 Spider (1968). This was supplied in exactly the same way (restored by the same restorer) as a bare shell to customer Max Haycocks who subsequently had the car rebuilt by Titus Rowlandson in Suffolk to concours standard and it went on to feature on the cover of July 2008 Classic & Sportscar.

If you act now you could be a part of Alfa Romeo’s 100th Anniversary celebrations in 2010 with one of their most classic models of all time.