£400 IN 2007 ALFA ROMEO £15004000 ALFASUD 1500 SUPER ONE KEITH’S FOUND

ALL THE CARS I’VE EVER BOUGHT

WHAT I PAID

Used car addict Keith looks back at his best – and worst – classic buys. This week, an Alfasud that was fixed up and then parked up… and which is now sorely missed

which it was a case of getting it through its test. And this is where things started to get sticky. Both sills were rusty and the inner and outer front wings were shot, as was the boot floor. The good news was that my local mechanic was a genius with a MIG welder and even had a couple of wings in stock. The sills were no longer available, but he modified a pair of Cortina ones to fit and with a localised re-spray and a new clutch slave cylinder fitted, it was all back together and ready to enjoy in time for summer for less than a few hundred quid.

WHAT’S YOUR ABIDING MEMORY OF IT?

I have to say that it was every bit as good to drive as the magazines I read said it would be. The steering was light and direct, the handling absolutely delectable and other than a tragic gearchange, it was an absolute joy to travel across the UK in. I remember the pleasure it gave me in the corners and roundabouts, its lovely engine note and rasping exhaust. With 85bhp on tap, it was more than enough to paint an ear-to-ear grin on my face, proving more of a laugh to drive than many cars I’ve driven with five times the power. But in the end, my own busy life put paid to our time together – after a riotous few months together, I put it into a remote storage barn for winter, and it ended up not coming out again for eight years. A salutary lesson why being out of sight and out of mind can be a very bad thing for we classic car owners.

WHAT ARE YOUR TOP TIPS FOR BUYING ONE?

You know what I’m going to say, but I’ll say it anyway – watch out for the quality of rust repairs – ‘Suds will go in the inner wings, chassis rails, sills, windscreen and rear window surrounds, A-pillars and boot floors. And that’s just the structural rust – cosmetic corrosion can also be rife, with doors and bonnets fraying around the edges, too. But here’s the thing – ‘Suds are worth decent money now, and survivors will have been through the mill like mine and come out of the other end. Just be sure that rectification work has been done well. As for the mechanicals, don’t worry about those – supplies and expertise are plentiful, and the club scene is absolutely fantastic. Your biggest issue, in fact, will be tracking one down in the first place.