I've got another red car

I'm now an official member, bought the red on tan '83 QV from Cammisa's this morning and drove it home. I've been wanting to do this for so long and I'm fully aware of the old adage "never meet your heroes" but this car was everything I expected it to be and more. Welcome to the 70's. So raw, so smelly, so loud, so direct. It did take me a bit of time to assimilate driving through SF traffic across the bridge wearing hiking shoes but hell, I'm a pilot and I've controlled many much more cantankerous machines than this.

Gosh this is such a beautiful car.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Two red cars and a Land Rover Engine
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

An other view
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I think this one shows the delicacy and intricacy of the 308. A new Corvette would make the Alfa look small.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Yea probably should I've always been an Alfa guy now I guess I'm an Alferrari guy lol

I'll say this though, I'm sitting in the garage just looking at this thing and it's so awesome. I've dream't this dream and now it's true.

 

Larry and Mike at Cammisa were great. I walked in, looked at the car (the only one they had that I could afford) and made them an all in out the door offer. They pulled out the calculator, mulled it over a bit and said okay but wanted some assurance that I was serious so I asked for 24 hours to sleep on it and they agreed. Turned out Mike lives in the same town as me so after I made my decision he picked me up the next day, took me to the bank and then into Burlingame where all of the papers were ready to sign. Half an hour and I was out the door in my Ferrari.

The reason I wanted to think about it was because I was on the fence over this or a black '78 I had looked at a week earlier. I was drawn to the carbed car just because I'm a mechanic and the challenge intrigued me but in the end the logistics and hurdles of getting it smogged in California caused me to tilt for the injected car. Now, of course, I love this thing and there are no regrets or second thoughts regarding the decision.

Although this car came with a complete set of maintenance records and a fresh belt service I plan, after having some fun today, to put it on my lift and go over it nose to tail with a fine toothed comb. I have already noticed, for instance, that despite the documented "professional" care the hazard and wiper speed switches on the center console are installed backwards LOL.

Another interesting thing is that just by chance reading posts here oh Fchat I found the previous owner and talked with him on the phone before buying the car. That's kinda neat eh?

Anyway, it's a beautiful Saturday morning. I'm going for a drive.

 

Well I'd love to do the Cars and Coffee but can't tomorrow because, as planned, I put the 308 on the lift to do a thorough inspection because as honest as most people are I really just need to see things for myself. As it turns out it's probably a good thing, take a look at my main fuel feed line.

The rest of the car looks pretty decent, there's no hold down for the battery and I'd really like to get the parking brake working, need to do some research on that.

I'll make the next Cars and Coffee for sure.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Oh probably too much you know my motto "buy high, sell low" LOL but I really don't care I wanted it, I got it. It was just money sitting in mutual funds that everyone else was using to get rich off of turned into something I can exfoliate my knuckles on. Close inspection in the light of day shows me it's not perfect, it's just a 33 year old 308 with 52,000 miles on it that has been sitting around waiting for me. I've only owned it for 36 hours now but I've already put 178 miles on it - BIG grin...