AUCTION PURCHASE ALFA CAN IT BE SAVED AFTER ANOTHER GARAGE SAID IT WAS TO COSTLY

[@andyhill8236]

My 1st alfa was the 156 sport wagon absolutely loved it let me down once in 13 years what a car

[@ItaliaAutos]

Nice.

[@tomshiel2299]

I can’t believe I’m watching this! I’m currently saving one of the other ones. Mine is Nuvola blue and is being sorted by the great guys at Autolusso Penrith. The one in this video and mine are 2 of only 3 in the country. Very rare indeed! @Neil I’d love to know the value of these things given their rarity

[@155stw]

Worth to keep. I’d locate a place which can do soda blasting or dry ice blasting, then do the welding, suspension, radiator. Timing belt and water pump. The owner is lucky found Neal. A couple of thousand but not £10k for sure.

[@ItaliaAutos]

its all pointless as its all getting cut out. after sand blasting the punto wish i hadnt of bothered as so much rust till their.

[@geoffarmitage6087]

What a Beauty and definitely worth refurbishing. Nice to know that the rip off garage is going to get a 100% of Nothing !!

[@Invisibleman7]

Well worth saving. 10 k is very steep estimate. Your the man to save it

[@ItaliaAutos]

Prob around £5k

[@Invisibleman7]

@@ItaliaAutos iwas thinking the same👍

[@peteohead]

I think £10k is expectation management, to account for the inevitable extra jobs that will arise as the car is taken apart and the full extent becomes apparent. That rust is way more involved than the 10x15cm patches discussed. Full sills are needed both sides and probably much more that currently can’t be seen, but is found once the slit disc comes out in anger. So knowing this, rather than quote £5k, then phone a customer to discuss what they want to do, with the car sat forlornly taking up ramp space in the garage, that company wisely decided to give a ‘right of arc’ estimate to avoid time-consuming arguments with the customer. Obviously it’s not their first rodeo with rusty old Alfas…

[@mattridgley9095]

Sounds to me like a garage that doesn't want the hassle

[@buggerlugz6753]

Sounds like an Alfa main dealer. Any half decent garage would jump at the chance to do this sort of work surely?

[@gothicpagan.666]

@@buggerlugz6753 Garages can't afford to have a car sat in the shop thinking, we'll do it as a fill in job, great as a hobby for a "Fred in the shed" but not as a business. 10k is a realistic ball park figure, it's the reason why few get repaired

[@T4TipsGuides]

It is going to eat up £3k fairly easily. Still a lot less than £10k to get it through an MOT.

[@organiccold]

Very rare car Indeed and salvageable for sure, and way far from 10k in repairs. I had some 156s and 147s in Portugal,.and of course never seen any rust on them, the last 156 i sold had 21 years and was like new under it

[@seppoeerola882]

Hope this one gets a new lease of life. Never had, driven or even seen a Q-system 156. Neil, if you fix this up maybe you could do a little test drive and give some comments on it? Also a "how to remove the roof rails" would be on my wishlist :)

[@majorgify]

I know very little about car mechanics, but find your videos fascinating. It's great that this car can be salvaged.

[@ItaliaAutos]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@jamesdecross1035]

That's a nice car - and a really good time to rescue it. Well done to the new owner!

[@hannchris2762]

Nice old car certainly worth saving and Neil you are the man to sort it good luck

[@psircos]

Thats more than salvageable that is!! Certainly shouldn't be 10k worth. Only thing to consider is; if and when the sills come off, thete might be some fixing to do on the chassis rails?? But even then, 10k is an awful lot of money!

[@jambacardi2474]

Could be a nice one , deffo worth putting the work in. As for the quote its one of those where the garage did not want to do the work

[@bennkavanagh4306]

Nice one Neil, hope you get it back on the road again. The 2.5 156 is the one I want and maybe one day I will and an SW too

[@ItaliaAutos]

Fingers crossed

[@steveash656]

What a coincidence Neil, I bought a nice blue 156 sportswagon off you about 12 years ago. It was s lovely diesel.😊

[@ItaliaAutos]

Was its 2.4 20v

[@PeterByles]

I have the 1999 model but a sedan exactly the same car surprised that the 21 model has no apparent changes

[@rjedmonds7091]

One to save... I want one of these... had a 156 2.4 years ago and regret getting rid of although did replace with a GT 1.9 which i loved...

[@susieshaw2910]

I also had a 2.4 jtd and was a wonderful car never any problems 180000 miles prefect only underneath rust took her out.2002 model ❤

[@sikersh3157]

Nice example and it’s good to see videos like this to show that what some garages quote is actually nonsense. Always best to have a second or third opinion 👍🏻

[@ItaliaAutos]

Great point!

[@daniellee9015]

Absaloutly brilliant video neil ❤👍what a beautiful old lady she needs to be resurrected brilliant

[@ItaliaAutos]

She will be

[@eyecatchersteenwijk]

My 156 SW 1.9 JTD was also a superb car to drive. Just give them some TLC and they won't let you down.

[@WilliamStevens007]

I have a Jtd Stilo Multiwagon that is just rusting away before my eyes, Drivers side sill area is the worst. Rear springs and shocks could need to be done as well and MOT is due in a couple of weeks. She is 20 years old in dec. Not entirely sure she will get to that birthday now sadly. I want to save her as in the 6 years I have had her she has never let me down at all.

[@simonhodgetts6530]

Very nice - I really would like another 156 SW……but getting very rare now!

[@ItaliaAutos]

They are and they do drive great still.

[@Negativvv]

Haha £10k repairs, not the last time a garage will try and rip someone off. I'll even throw a guess at the specialist that has quoted them. I had my 156 for 8+ years and I got it served at specialists mostly with some stuff done myself. I used some known specialists and some of them were con artists, eventually settled on my local specialist who was a 1 man band + some support staff. Won't out the rip off firms but I'll happily recommend who I used in Essex. That car is just old, nothing more. The rust coming through on the inner arches should be tackled at some point or it'll only get worse. Everything there is just age and not really neglect. If I had my time again on my own car I'd have stripped the inner arches out and painted the underside of the car sooner rather than on it's 18th birthday which was a bit late by that point!!

[@geoffholling4773]

I love the 156, probably one of best cars for it's size in terms of driving enjoyment, I would have another If I could find one in good enough condition, maybe even an estate =-D

[@johanstahlgren3602]

Hi Neil, nice video as ever :) The firm most certainly did not want the job so the over quoted. Common habit both in the automobile industry as in the manufacturing industry. Keep up the nice work :)

[@Jay-B1750]

Ooh that's a nice car! Looking forward to seeing what happens with it

[@simonjohnson2103]

That's a good looking 156 - certainly worth saving... presumably the garage with the £10k quote didn't want to do it!

[@stuarthepburn6508]

I've got my 25 year old Alfa in a tin, so this is absolutely fine

[@ItaliaAutos]

yeah its good.

[@martytdd1606]

Had three 156's (saloons), a 2.0 T Spark and two 2.5 V6's. The first V6 I had was the can of worms car 🤦‍♂️ 😂. Learned lessons from that experience, the other V6 was an absolute gem. Still think the GTA is one of the nicest looking saloon cars ever made 👌.

[@ItaliaAutos]

Gtas are awesome

[@kimwalton2873]

Nice looking Alfa, worth saving!

[@ItaliaAutos]

Definitely

[@Lewuaptedama]

This is the car with a v6 thats more common to be found second hand. Looking into them quite a bit lately

[@josephmifsud8261]

A beautiful colour, a nice rare car and in remarkably good condition. A quarter of what the customer was quoted should bring this back to the road again

[@hamzah3138]

That's a nice one. Great vid again Neil. Definitely worth the investment to give it a new lease of life. £10k did sound comical.

[@ItaliaAutos]

Totally agree

[@lubosibroxparty6583]

Glad To be back. I used to watch your videos then lost my subscription and couldn’t remember your name. Previous GTV & 145 owner

[@ItaliaAutos]

Welcome back

[@noladol]

I wish these cars were offered here in the US. That's a nice car and I would definitely put the money into getting it road worthy again. I would love to have one now. :)

[@run_cycle_life4005]

You forgot to tell us what the other garage was quoting for. Scraping through an MOT is very different to getting the car back to a standard where it would only require routine maintenance going forward.

[@Brisbane2024]

Still wondering about these rust issues. My 2000 156 JTD looks still good. It was also driven in German Winter but now only in summer. Just some welding was needed behind the front struts. Also the rear absorbers and springs have required replacement, because spring support on the shock absorbers were broken. That’s by the way a big safety item!

[@timhancock6626]

Some of the early 156s seem to last the best. I can't think of any reason why that should be but I have seen a few Series 1 cars come up that look surprisingly good. This one has been a much loved old beast hasn't it, and just used and not abused. I hope the owner decides to go ahead and fix it. £10k to fix ? They are having a laugh 😕

[@F51361]

The 156 2.5 V6 is very rare. Here in Italy almost all of them were diesel. It deserve to be repaired. I wonder how many salt that car has seen on the streets. My old 147 after 17 years and about 300.000km was in a far better shape. Just a little bit of superficial corrosion on suspension arms and exhaust.

[@aripenik]

Great video and a old girl worth saving. I'm interested to know about wlding part. It' the welding of let say underside of the car is done right and protected. How long it can hold up?

[@ItaliaAutos]

once complete it will want checking every year as unfortunately you cant get it all. shouldnt need anymore welding if looked after.

[@tidysampler585]

I once said to myself many years ago, you haven driven till you drive an Alfa. And I still stick to that. An Alfa Romeo is unique in its own right. Every Alfa is worth keeping on the road..

[@dee106ful]

They were either pulling a fast one or didn't want to do the work on an old banger.With these alfas suspension is always needing work. Service items changing fluids and welding less than a 2k.

[@paultaylor9652]

Lovely Jubbly video Neil. Either there a restoration specialist or saw the owner coming with their estimate.

[@ItaliaAutos]

pretty sure they just didnt want the work.

[@TheAndre8900]

First thing to avoid are name brand spare parts, look for the spare number and find a match with premium spares but not Alfa branded, like some Bosch sensors or some bushings made by Trw. Seems like needs some time consuming rust removal and prevention and new suspension parts and cosmetic touch ups.

[@simonfowler7561]

Neil I live in Italy so I have seen many of these cars. Lovely BUT very heavy so fuel consumption always quite high. I recently saw a 156 from Scotland in a local tyre shop on his ramps and he called me to look underneath, the underside was SOOOO rusty it was due for a funeral soon!!! Here we are obliged to have chains or winter tyres and they use almost no salt so corrosion is not a major problem.

[@Kededian]

Had a 156 petrol. What a nightmare. Also had the 166, that one was even worse. Never Alfa again.

[@ItaliaAutos]

Yeah even I don't like 166s

[@buchonite]

My guess is they didn't want the job and put a stupid price on it . Lots of places don't want welding work

[@ItaliaAutos]

maybe.

[@petermclynn2926]

There’s a q system near me if I had anywhere to put it I’d buy it

[@grotesmurf1]

With all respect, I think you could do it for less than half of the mentioned price, and use reconditioned parts....

[@ItaliaAutos]

That's the plan. I've done all the welding on it this week. Took 2 days

[@TassieLorenzo]

I left this comment on a Citroen Xantia video in response to a comment that Xantias *used* to be common in the UK: "What happened to them? Did they rust like most UK cars or was it mechanical troubles?" and received this response: "What a strange and bizarre comment. *Most cars in the UK do not rust.* " Were they off the mark? I'm confused! This 156 seems to have not insignificant amounts of rust and I've always seen videos like Neil's referring to a 'spot of welding'. I'm from Australia where modern galvanised cars essentially don't rust at all and modern cars are typically only scrapped because of mechanical issues that are uneconomic to repair (or accident damage).

[@jamiewood4280]

What happened was the government offered people money to scrap older cars. They took it the cars vanished. I fail to see how this is a 'green' policy. Salted roads= corrosion

[@brianleslie8371]

Haven’t seen one of these god knows how long. Lovely car and definitely hope the owner gets the work done. The garage quoting £10k are a bunch of thieves

[@ItaliaAutos]

Already done all the welding

[@vitocorleone8360]

Nice job spotting the nut missing on the droplink. That cars a rust bucket once you start taking it apart you'll find all sorts of problems. If you do a rubbish job that welding could be done cheap but for that car to be done properly it would definitely be close to 10k big difference between an mot pass and a good car

[@francom9692]

Another great video save it not many about I used to own 2 156s

[@ItaliaAutos]

nice and thanks

[@c11yan]

Garage probably want £1500 for a service and cambelt, £650 tyres, suspension brakes radiator etc £2500 welding £2500 assuming 40 hours as they know it will be a drama etc what have I forgotten for the rest… add a large VAT and it’s £10k 🤦‍♂️

[@karlos1060]

The corrosion in the UK is so much more then in ths Netherlands even though we are close to eachother. My 2004 156 has only some rust on the upside of the frontwindow/roof. And some really small places on the bottom but nothing close to this. Done major services on mine. I don't know if this one is worth keeping. I had a Alfa 156 2.5 about 6 years ago for 500 pounds with a little bit of damage behind. Everything else looked very well, and it was 98 or 99...forgot. Prices have gone up a lot. You think the 2.5 liters are going to be up in price or only the gta?

[@ItaliaAutos]

There the one to buy. Cheaper to maintain

[@Codzilla71]

Is that down to salt on the road in winter months or just more rainfall?

[@NaNa-wj8tw]

@@Codzilla71 Both. Mix the two with the cold/damp weather holding on the lower body and they just get battered.

[@Negativvv]

2.5 are rare now. About 10 years ago they were dirt cheap and plentiful. But that's when loads fell into the wrong hands and were culled off. Still a mix out there, seen a few dogs that sellers attempt to pass off as good condition.

[@robhines4537]

And if car is left for weeks not being driven, had that with my mk5 Golf didn't use it much and nearside sill failed Mot.

[@abidmahmood8961]

Worth saving and if going to do work might as well go belt sbd braces and clean off all rust etc and coat in protection.

[@jeffb9010]

Definitely worth saving and if you are handy with the spanner’s then wouldn’t cost much at all and just sub out the welding work and then you have nice runner for a few years. 🎉

[@ItaliaAutos]

Totally agree

[@chriswalford9228]

Just got myself a 2001 2.5 sportwagon. Can anyone suggest what adhesive to use to stick the plastic sill covers back on with .

[@fatwalletboy2]

10k was probably just a figure as the garage didnt want the work. My guess for all the welding new suspension tyres brake refresh fluids and a rad and service etc about 4000 , 5000 at a push.

[@ItaliaAutos]

Yeah that's my guess

[@owensteele1645]

The pre-facelift 156 Sportwagon is still the best-looking car.

[@Falconhunter276]

Alfa specialist doesn't mean Alfa enthusiast.

[@zzhughesd]

10k work ??? Watching on …. Busso Q System on pre number plate system a Y !!!!! Nice. Is this couple grand. Ish.

[@user-sr8bj6zq7o]

I have an Italian car 14 year's old. If i decide to get another, it will probabily be Italian. Us crazy people are like this...

[@nikolajolevski3232]

Beautiful 156 it's deserves to be refurbished,👍🇲🇰

[@ItaliaAutos]

sure does

[@jmqwert]

Why doesnt alfa owners give additional rust protection on a 2 year refresh.. You would avoid a lot of these problems.. Have an Alfa Gt from 2004, which is almost mint in compared with this 156. Its driven 214000km!..

[@sasamiletic]

Not bad, worth saving.

[@richbrice3299]

I wish you were nearer me! I have a GT that is nice but needs a bit of work.

[@ItaliaAutos]

No worries

[@drincogni]

Hi neil, this car needs a lot of rust convertor and it will look better.Seems the other garage just took a look at the rust and said change all and welding.They must have a lot of customers on the waiting list so they didnt need that job.😂😂😂

[@ItaliaAutos]

welding is now all done

[@Schlipperschlopper]

Sadly from 2030 on all combustion cars including classics will be banned from public streets in entire EU and Scandinavia :-( In Germany the Green Peoples Party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025 on by reducing all conventional fuel stations to only one state operated central gas station per city or county. Now they want to slow down all the gas station fuel pumps from 20 litre per minute to 2 litre per minute...From 2027 on in the EU certain car spare parts will be banned too....as exhaust systems, turbo chargers and even some engine and gearbox oils...California and New York will do the same from 2027 on.... So no investments should be done in oil burning cars any longer....They even created a new kind of crime here, called "Abgasbespaßungsverbots- und Kontrollverordnung" BABVVO in German.)

[@ItaliaAutos]

glad we left Europe then.

[@DruMcDoo]

Any Main Agent for any car make seem to dream up exorbitant cost, often with much of the donkey preparation work carried out by apprentices on a pittance ~ yet still charged at full hourly rate! I know having been an apprentice mechanic! You are paying for their very expensive showrooms and associated staff to run them. Good mechanics and repair shops, although hard to find don't have these extra cost, so you are only paying for their hourly rate plus workshop. Often premises may be a little scruffy, however their overheads are fractional therefore you are not paying for that hugely expensive cup of free tea whilst waiting for job to be done...

[@ItaliaAutos]

Thanks for the comment

[@goxy287]

Rusty but looks savable

[@Erk9908]

A friend is looking at selling their 1996 Alfa 155 if you are interested for an extremely good price. Would love to see you do some work / restore it.

[@ItaliaAutos]

If he wants to donate it to the chanel I'll fix it up and raffle it off.

[@TJC156]

To be fair by the time you did all the suspension, brakes, rust repairs, cambelt and servicing etc as well as other bits and pieces you’d be not far off €10k! Great video though Neil more like it please!

[@ItaliaAutos]

Cheers

[@lrdisco2005]

The mechanical and service items I reckon no more than 1500. The rust, plenty of hidden horrors in the cills.

[@simonstanyer8082]

Very decent 156 sportwagon, nothing to cause alarm and certainly not £10k.

[@F4Insight-uq6nt]

Labour and VAT account for 60% of most garage bills. You can always do it much cheaper yourself if you have the Time, The Skills & the Correct Tools.

[@jasonparfitt4299]

I hear you dont rate the 159 tbi lusso 1.75cc.Thats your opinion ,however ive had a 156,a mito,brerra,v6 3 litre cup,and the 159 is by far the most realible and overall best Alfa ive owened.

[@ItaliaAutos]

its not so much the engine its the weight of the car its in. :) glad your happy with yours.

[@jasonparfitt4299]

@ItaliaAutos agreed its a lump and pull of speed could be better ,once it goes it shifts .And I've had it mapped up to 240 bhp ,great channel you are very informative 👍

[@imapadlock]

I guess Times are hard people are just out there getting money in every way they can…. Shame on them.

[@karenmurray3098]

other garage did'nt want to do it neil

[@buggerlugz6753]

£10k to fix....nah..they couldn't be bothered and just quoted a "please go somewhere else" price. Had experience with Alfas in the past no doubt!

[@jakoblevesen8236]

You did not say your guess for what it would cost to get up into shape. "Not 10 grand" is not a price estimate.

[@ItaliaAutos]

Wait till the next video with what it actually cost.

[@zzhughesd]

Didn’t see the popped up price below value he paid. What a nice thing.

[@ItaliaAutos]

£1300

[@zzhughesd]

@@ItaliaAutos not bad thing. Suspect that right money. What with £££ right thereafter. My Selespeed did dry out. MultiEcu scan and sensor later. Wasn’t needed

[@cosmicHalArizona]

6 exhaust manifold pipes for one side (3cyls)????

[@TheEarlofK]

Disappointing that an 'Alfa specialist' would want to charge that much.

[@-DC-]

You'd have to REALLY like the 156 to take that on Riddled with Rust Needs Absolutely Every Service Item and after all of that you are still left with a 1k car lol

[@ItaliaAutos]

It's a v6 so always worth more. All done it will be worth around 5k

[@AlessandroBangau]

save it

[@dermottdevine473]

nice looking car ,

[@ItaliaAutos]

Sure is

[@johnchurch4705]

Love the colour ❤.

[@Yosemite_Sam]

Great video Ian. Nice car actually.

[@ItaliaAutos]

Who's Ian. lol but thanks

[@Yosemite_Sam]

@@ItaliaAutos OK I will call you Neil then, Cheers.

[@arnietwo11]

Yeah £3000 u doing it, and if owner could change parts and do a bit of welding himself then under £1000 !

[@MrSCOTTtheSCOT]

Sound like the quote is to really return this car to their Alfa service plan with the addition of " honesty we really priced it so high cause we can't be arsed to do this work on this age of car." unless your gullible enough to say yes.

[@MegaReddevil71]

A lot of garages don't want this type of work hence the high quote seen it all before I think that cars a money pit

[@ItaliaAutos]

aren't most old cars. :-)

[@DGT73]

Had a couple of 156 sw. Dynamically flawed car, didn’t handle for shit and a total arse to work on, esp the diesel. 159 way better since the BMW guy took over 👍

[@philtowle4683]

I wish it was mine

[@tjshill82]

I’m assuming the place that quoted £10k didn’t want to take it on … worth saving for sure

[@ItaliaAutos]

That's my guess

[@immo-jani739]

a little bit of rust 😂

[@ThePolaroid669]

wow, UK cars rust so much!

[@ItaliaAutos]

Yep

[@andrewmarriott4033]

Definitely get it saved Can’t scrap that one if it’s rare

[@ItaliaAutos]

Starting saving it tomorrow. First job welding

[@alexdebono4087]

If that car was mine, i'd scrap it & cut my losses

[@DRILLBABYDRIL]

It’s had new anti roll bar links (£25) a set. This car has been looked after! 😂😂 Needs about £2k spending on it now for just 12 month worth of use, but another £8k in the long run. It was full of tinworm, those wheelhubs was shot to pieces, my guess is that it’s been parked on grass or mud for sometime hence the state of the underside.. put it back in an auction

[@ItaliaAutos]

It's a sign it's been looked after everything else considered it's had some love. 👍