My Alfa Romeo's and other cars                                

When I was 18 years old I tried one of my friends Alfasud 1.3 and the 30 minutes trip I had in the car made a strong impression to me. The car gave a joy of driving that I  never found in any other car. The result of this was that the famous "alfavirus" caught me, and I have never had other cars than Alfa Romeo's.

My first car was a blue Alfasud 1.3 from 1977 which I bought in 1985. The car was very cheap and very corroded, but it lasted for 3½ year before a friend of mine borrowed it and totally crashed it while trying to impress his new girlfriend with the roadhandling of the car.

I then bought a white Alfasud 1.5 Ti from 1979 with a tuned up engine on125 HP. After approx. 2 years the rust boogie had caught it so I bought an Alfasud Ti 1.5 version 3, which was sandblasted and Zink threated. This was a 95 HK version, so I keept my 125 Hk engine and installed it in my new Sud. The Zink threatment was really paying off, since I had this sud for almost 6 years and when I, due to family extension had to sell it the car was still without any corrosion.

The size of my family now forced me to buy an Alfa 164, 2.0 TS from 1989. What a car, very spacy, fun to drive on country roads and very fast and comfortable on the highway. The twin spark engine was fantastic. I never had to make any repairs on it and it alwas was above 12 KM/L.

As a second car for my wife I bought an Alfa 33 1.7 ie from 1991. A real beauty and a fast car which was fun to drive.

The Alfa 164 and the Alfa 33 1.7IE served us well but since I got a 3 year expatriate assignment abroad, we had to sell the cars.

After my expatriate assignment, we went back to Denmark and since I could never forget the joy of driving an Alfasud i decided to buy one as a "hobby car". I  bought an Alfasud 1.5 Ti (95 hp) from 1982.

I only had this one for a couple of months since I found a more attractive Alfasud QV from 1984. One of the last produced Alfasuds (there was only made 155 Alfasuds after this one). The QV sud is 100% original except from the Engine, which is a 1.7 engine with mechanical valve gear and CSC exhaust system. It is absolutely free of rust and there are no signs of that the car have ever been repaired for rust.

For everyday use I bought an Alfa 164 Sport from 1992 (US model imported from Nashville, Tennesee). The S model is almost identical with the european QV model. The only differences I have found is that the S model is equipped with Airbag, knee protection panel, Anti theft system, cruise control, 65 L Metal fuel tank (QV has a 70 L plastic Tank), reinforced doors, improved insulation, Mini size emergency wheel, Alfa Romeo USA sound system, different type mid consol, heated rear seats, different designed front seats.  The 3.0 liters V6 engine is a masterpiece. It's developing 200 HP and have a max torque of 274 NM at 4400 revs. More than 200 NM is available at 1500 revs.

For my wife I bought an Alfa 164 2.0 Twin Spark from 1989 with 380.000 km on the clock. The Engine was still in perfect shape without any oil consumption, but the many danish winters had started the corrosion process. There was traces of corrosion above the front shield, at the rear wings and above the front door upper mounting. This car was like the V6 version very fast and comfortable, allthoug the engine was more noisy during acceleration. The 2.0 liter twin spark engine was fantastic. No worries with timing belt since it was chain driven and always above 12 KM per liter.

After one year my wife falled in love with an Alfa 145 1.6L Boxer from 1995 and we sold the 164 2.0 TS. The Alfa 145 is a (in my oppinion) very beautyfull car with a very special design. The car was at that time considered to be very safe with 2 airbags and a very strong reinforcement around the cabine. This made the car almost as heavy as the 164 2.0 TS (Only 25 KG seperated the two cars). Unfurtnately this gives the car a "heavy" feeling. The boxer engine needs a lot of revs if you want to accelerate fast. The road handling althoug is fantastic.

 

In 2003 I bought an Alfa 164 QV in germany, which I wanted to use for spareparts for my 164S, but the car was in such a good condition that I did not want to scrap it. Instead I sold it after a few months. This car was tuned to approx 220 hp and equipped with a gearbox which was much higher geared than the original QV gearbox.

In 2004 I sold my wifes Alfa 145 and bought an Alfa 155 2.0 16V for her. What a fantastic driving machine. Its extreme direct steering and the  2.0 16 Valve Twin Spark engine makes it a real pleasure to drive. Unfurtenately the engine broke down after a few months. It was one of the main bearings. Those 2.0 16V Twin Spark engines are fantastic when they are working, but to me the seems quite vulnerable. I got the engine replaced but this incident made me want to sell the car and go for the old thrustworthy 2.0 8V Twin Spark engine.

After I sold the Alfa 155, I bought an Alfa 164 2.0 Twin Spark from 1995. Nothing much has changed since the previous mentioned older versions. Some of the differences are: Updated front lights and instrument panel, heavy reinforced doors for better protection in the case of a side collision and the engine was slighty updated now without mechanical ignition distributors and a bit more volume.

Now the day arrived when I had to sell my Alfa 164S from 1991. It served me well and was a fantastic driving maschine, but due to family extension, we needed a more spacy car. I have alway had Alfa Romeos but since they did not make spacy cars I had to buy a Ford Mondeo estate from 2001. I must admit that this car was driving pretty well and it was very spacy, but it was much more fun to drive the Alfas.

The Ford did not last long in my garage. The family extension became bigger than expected and we were in the need of a 7 seats car. I tried out all kinds of MPV's and realised that only 2 types could cover our needs. With all 7 seats in use we also wanted sufficient space for lugage so it ended up with either a Renault Grand Espace or a Chrysler Grand Voyager. From my side there were no doubt since the fuel prices in Denmark are sky high. We bought a Renault Grand Espace 2.2 DCI from 2000. This car got a quite poor reputation on realibility (So did the chrysler) but when it came to safety and design it was far ahead of its competitors. So far I have beeen driving 15.000 km without any kind of problems. The 2,2 DCI engine is fantastic. It runs 13 to 14 km per liter Diesel no matter if its with +150 km/h on the german highway or in daily use with many short trips. I think that this car has a lot of karisma and like all the Alfas I have had it can wake up some entusiasme.

The Next Secondary car I bought was a Fiat Punto Sporting. The Punto Sporting was a fun and sporty car. Even it had only 80hp, the 6 speed gearbox gave it a sporty feel. The small 1.2 liter 16V engine was a pearl. Spinning like a cat  all the way up to  7000 revs. This car could exceed 19 KM/L when driving very economic. Normal consumption was approx 16 KM/L.

The next car was ........................ an Alfa Romeo. Off course.  The Alfa 156 2.0 TS is allmost comparable with the Alfasud in the catagori pleasure of driving. I said almost, because I have so far not been able to identify a car which can match the Alfasud when it comes to shear driving pleasure. On the photos the standard size winter wheels are mounted. The summer wheels are 18 inch aloy wheels with conti sport contact 3   size  225/40/18. Those wheels gives the car a total differnt look and feel.