Heres an admission. Ive enormous feet – this means that most Italian exotica is out of my scope for daily use. Theyre not as big as they used to be (size 17 back in the day), but if I leave my shoes outside the house I often find caravans have pitched up next to them, thinking my gardens a camp site. This is all particularly painful, as one of the most beautiful cars ever made – in my eyes at least – is the Alfa Romeo 105-series, particularly the later models. For many years I thought Id never own one comfortably, when one day, about four years ago, I happened across a certain GTV 2000 on the internet. A 1975 car, it was built in South Africa and used a ZF automatic gearbox. Its a very rare beast – production numbers appear to differ depending on who you talk to. Around 200 such cars was one figure mooted. Its also fairly rare to see a right-hand drive version, too. Not many survive – eight across the world (apparently), and this is the only one known in the UK. Ive only ever seen two others – one in Eastern Europe with peculiarly over-sized wheels, and another in Australia in unrestored condition and a bundle of oranges in the ashtray. It looked fantastic in Farina Red, and Id often catch myself dreaming about giving it the beans in the Scottish highlands on the spectacular wee roads one of my writing heroes (and thus journalistic inspirations), Iain Banks, wrote about. Its 136bhp may not have the face-melting heave of the 8c Competizione, and it may not have the engineering-as-art V6 found in the 156 GTA – my other two drive before I die Alfa Romeo loves – but in my eyes thats just enough to make every drive a thrill and without much need to go too far into speed camera-troubling territory. Yes, if I had the choice Id take a manual but theres really nowhere for my left leg to go. So thus I spent the next few years watching this bi-pedal marvel go from dealer to dealer, seemingly unwanted. Purists will always want a manual, after all. I thought that perhaps this car and I were fated to be together – was I the only person to want this GTV? But then things went quiet earlier this year. It disappeared from sale again and didnt resurface. Obviously Id not won the lottery so it wasnt gracing my driveway – someone keeps stealing my winning numbers – had someone else had given it a home? How dare they! But after a restorative coffee, I was pleased that at last someone would be using it, and that it wouldnt be the last one in the showroom again, all alone and gathering dust. After all, cars are meant to be driven… But then, imagine my joy when I spotted it up for sale with Silverstone Auctions at the NEC Classic Motor Show this November. Then imagine my misery when I realised I still hadnt got the estimated £16-18k. However, even if it does find a new home, I hope that its new owner gets the most out of it and, who knows, takes it up to Scotland to take on those spectacular wee roads. More details at silverstoneauctions.co.uk. And if you happen to spot a tall ginger man forlornly eyeing it at the NEC Classic Motor Show, its probably me. Nathan So do you have a particular car that youve wanted for ages - not a model of car, but one specifically? Let us know below.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 17:00:01 +0000
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