1967 Alfa Romeo Duetto 105.03.663882

Our Duetto was purchased on eBay in May of 2007 from a small dealer in the Dallas area. The poor dear had sat there forlorn and exposed to the elements for 2 years. Water seeping through a crack in the rear convertible top’s window caused some damage to the floors. The trunk, wheel arches and rockers were in beautiful shape. - something almost unheard of in a 50-year old Alfa. This was a benefit from having lived its first life in the dry Dallas, Texas area.

I have located and spoken to the first two owners. She was delivered in white over red, which was not what was ordered, but the red upholstery soon grew on the first owner. He kept the car for 10 years, rebuilding the engine along the way. He says he did it under the back yard tree, using a branch to secure the hoist. During these years he also backed the car into an obstacle and put a dent in the trunk lid. In the care of the second owner, she was oblivious struck in the nose (as usual) and received a few cosmetic spot repaints. When the estate of the 2nd owner sold to the dealer in Plano, Texas, it had been sitting in storage for a number of years in indoor storage.

In our care, she was given a full mechanical rebuild, and the floors replaced. After getting the Duetto registered in the spring of 2009, we ran the car for a few months. The white paint was an eyesore; with the hidden body damage gnawing at us, we had her media blasted and prepared for a full repaint. Automotive Restorations applied a self-etching primer to the bare metal body immediately after it was delicately media blasted by American Dry Stripping of Milford, CT. The engine was treated to a full rebuild, as was the transmission. The folks at The Panel Shop did exquisite surgery stitching in new nose and trunk lid section to return the body to pristine shape. I personally painted the trunk and engine bay areas in quality single-stage paint. The bare chassis, doors and lids were then assigned to Twin Ridge Autobody in Stamford for surface prep and application of a two stage paint/clearcoat finish, resulting the Duetto’s current spectacular finish.

The head and crank machine shop work was outsourced, as well as the 5-speed transmission’s gear & sychro stack - the latter done by Dominics in White Plains.

All suspension components were either replaced (springs, bushing, bearings) or blasted and poster coated for preservation. That was also done for R&R of the pedal box components. Most of the hardware was restored and re-plated where appropriate. M big effort went into fully restoring the convertible top frame - all sections blasted and powder coated, and re-assembled with new sealing gaskets and top material from Re-Originals. The windshield and its gasket were also replaced with quality replacement items. While my original build included leather seats from a 1972 Spider, I later restored the original Texas seats in using the correct vinyl fabric and installed them, making the interior period-correct. Assisting in that effort was World Upholstery, who now have the dies and equipment to press new door cards from the exact upholstery material used in the seats.

At present, our Duetto represents a virtually “remanufactured” vehicle. At the 2015 Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club convention she received the 1st prize blue ribbon for best in open cars at the Concorso. The Certificate d’ Oro was awarded with a score of over 98 points. Since restoration was completed the Duetto has traveled about 7k miles, having participated in numerous short-distance classic car rallies, as well as long-haul round-trips to Toronto Canada and Nashville, TN to participate in AROC Conventions.

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Done!

Lovely leather seat covers, door cards and console carpet from World Upholstery. They now have the production dies to fabricate the door cards in your selected vinyl, so no more mismatch between seats and doors!
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1600 cc Alfa twin cam, during rebuild


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Traveling down to Nashville for Citta della Musica 2016. Blue Ridge Parkway
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