Found a '79 5-Speed in Italian racecar garage today

[Fixer]

On the way home form work (in Philly) I stopped in to introduce myself to the owner of a shop which restores and prepares vintage Italian racing cars. The owner and his wife are from Italy and being Italian American, we hit it off and they showed me around their multiple huge garages. (I did not have my camera) Anyway, crammed between Alfa race cars is a dusty '79 928 5-speed. Been sitting in there for 11 years and ran fine when parked. Motor # looked to be M28/02
It is the owner Nick's Wife's car who is a very knowledgeable mechanic too. She loved the car but stopped driving it because she told me she couldn't pass a gas station..drives a little old beat up Alfa graduate now.
Motor looked clean, it was dark but it had weird recovered seats in a cloth, had the owners manual, 97,000 original miles. body was in good condition & looked to have been repainted. These people are serious craftsmen, i am sure it was cared for mechanically.
The car does not appear to be a euro car (no extra rear facia light and had the bumperettes)
I will go back maybe tomorrow if i can and get photos, she would like to sell.

[5l32v4c]

Cool. Post some pictures when you can. I like the early ones; they look a lot cleaner without the body rubbing strips along the side.

[Danglerb]

The early cars did not sip gas, they guzzled, but today even with $4/gal gas may be an in your face cost, but not that much as a portion of total cost.

[Fixer]

M28/02 motor, very dry and dry underneath, clean straight body, no sunroof, f.glass S4 style wing, 16" phonies wearing Yokahamas and no cracks in the dash. has aftermarket rub strips adhesive taped on. She says it has always been garaged.
Ruth (in pic) own's many racing cars and was on the board of directors for Phila chapter SCCA. The Alfa race car she is standing in front of is hers, they just completed it.
She loves 928s and bought this one in 1988 to use to take highway trips rather than drive her spider. In hibernation in a heated garage since 2001. She says it runs like a champ, she has tracked it once or twice many years ago, the shop kept it in fine working order. Nice lady, very knowledgeable.
her website: nickfalconeenterprise.com

[Fixer]

more..

[Fixer]

Originally Posted by Danglerb

The early cars did not sip gas, they guzzled, but today even with $4/gal gas may be an in your face cost, but not that much as a portion of total cost.

They kept the car running nice. It looks bad to the untrained eye but is really a very clean car if you can see past 11 years of garage dust. She used it to drive to her weekly SCCA board meeting so highway it wasn't too bad on fuel.
Motor was dry, she said they did everything to it over the 25 years.
She and her husband really know their cars. I talked to them for a while again today. They are the kind of previous owner you'd be lucky to buy a car from. I don't think she really wants to sell though. All the cars in the photos are her race cars, she keeps everything. The Swift in the photo she raced is awesome.
Weird thing about the motor, M28/02 should be a euro/auto motor for '79.
All the rubber seals like the door scrapers seals were in excellent condition, the interior is actually really nice it just needs to be vacced and wiped down. The mess on the floor makes it looks much worse. Solid, nice car.

[Danglerb]

The orientation of the WUR seemed odd to me, but I get the std and S mixed up, one straight front to back, and one is angled like this one is. Intake tubes are non S, but in a shop and owned by the shop the variation in parts can be large.

Could be a nice car, but grain of salt, there is usually a pretty good underlying reason a car like a 928 isn't driven. Plenty of times we hear about the straw that broke the camels back, but not the rest of the load of nitpicking issues behind it.

All is moot if the owner doesn't really want to sell. OTOH the right attitude might persuade more than any purely financial offer.

[Fixer]

Ruth doesn't care if she sells, i asked her to think about finding a home for it since she no longer uses it. I asked her why she would park it and she told me that she no longer was on the board w the SCCA and it's a gas guzzler in town. She also told me that the window regulator needed attention on the driver's side. She made a point of telling me when selling a car in her business one must fully disclose, so i believe her when she says the car runs excellent. Italians drive small displacement fuel efficient cars in Italy, looking around their shop and how they do their own work with only 2 helpers i can see she is frugal and may be the type not to drive a car like that in city traffic due to fuel consumption. She said she wanted 10k for the car and i told her she'd be lucky to get $4k. I took her out to look at my car which she really liked, and told her i'd be very fortunate to get 7k for mine. She liked it a lot and said it (928s) were the most beautiful German car ever produced.
To selling at a realistic price she replied that "the baby isn't hungry, so i guess i will keep the 928" I thought that was a tell, i think she needs the cash.
They seemed not as busy with projects due to the economy.

She went on to tell me as i said previously that it was tracked twice but she felt she needed to set it up correctly first to continue to track it. She said the weight was not a problem, the things it needed in her opinion as a '79 were improved brake cooling (she pointed to the front end and said it was set up to do so easily) and she wanted to improve the engine cooling before she would use it on the track again.

I agree with your post Danglerb, always beware of the car "that ran when parked"
but this is their business and reputation at stake, she is not lying in my opinion.

If you had an Alfa for them to work on, she would sell it cheap on that condition.

[stepson]

Originally Posted by The Fixer

If you had an Alfa for them to work on, she would sell it cheap on that condition.

But I thought all Alfas needed someone to work on them!

[Fixer]

Some models LOL!
Others were awesome.

[Fixer]

Wanted to resurrect this one.

Those rub strips were stick on only, they were thinner than the factory rub strip as well.

I may go and see this car again. Still sitting in there.

[stepson]

I loved the 7th picture in the set: the one that shows the wing being used as a shelf for odds and ends.

You all know that if your wings starts being a shelf, you ain't driving it enough because then you have to find a place for all your crap you've got stored on the wing!

[Landseer]

Garaged 79, reasonably maintained, no major issues, very clean interior and body from a wear perspective you're looking at $7+, all day long, not $4, especially if original paint.

[bureau13]

I don't know...if it's been sitting there for years it's bound to have some issues no matter how well-cared-for it was when it was an active driver.

[Danglerb]

I'm a big fan of very nice original paint. Not a big fan of sitting a dozen years.

What has spooked me a couple times with a very nice car is that I know I would have to give it the best treatment, and that can be expensive. OTOH treating it right might be the best bargaining chip.

[Fixer]

Originally Posted by stepson

I loved the 7th picture in the set: the one that shows the wing being used as a shelf for odds and ends.

You all know that if your wings starts being a shelf, you ain't driving it enough because then you have to find a place for all your crap you've got stored on the wing!

At least she was smart enough to put down a sheet of polyisocyanurate foam.

It would look great without the wing and rub strips. Wheels are very nice.

I may go take another look at it.

[Hold On]

I wish I had known about this last month. I was in Philly for a few days and would have gone to see them. I also have owned several alfas and I`m just starting a resto on a 74 2000GTV. Purchased as a garage find. I saw it 20 yrs ago and thought it was long gone. Purchased it for $1200. Smokin deal for me..

[AirtekHVAC]

Having grown up in a German car shop....the seat fabric looks like what was on a lot of VW seats..

I want her....the 79 that is....

[stepson]

Originally Posted by AirtekHVAC

Having grown up in a German car shop....the seat fabric looks like what was on a lot of VW seats..

I want her....the 79 that is....

Ron,
You can't have her. #30 will get jealous!!

[AirtekHVAC]

Lol...I keep telling the wife #30 is lonely....I do have an empty bay....