[fred cook]

I built the Spider (street car) first. Everything works, the headlights even come on when you put the key in the ignition! I learned a lot on that kit and when I built the Monza (racing version) I put much more detail into it. For example the steering wheel is wrapped in leather strips, the wheels and hubs were assembled and painted and then disassembled to have the spokes put in place. The exhaust pipe on the opposite side is wrapped in adhesive tape that looks like asbestos. I drilled out the spark plugs in the plastic head and used some left over small screws, nuts and some white wire insulation to make "spark plugs". I took the cylinder head which was very detailed on the bottom side and using an ink pad stamped out a head gasket that appears to have all of the water ports, etc. The Alfa emblems in the grills are painted with all 7 colors, no small feat since they are about 3/16" in diameter! The brake shoes are painted to look like friction material and expand when the brake pedal is pushed. It took me about 18 months to build the two kits. They were finished in 1978. I ran across the two kits in a Kmart of all places. They were selling for about $25 - $30 per kit. I bought the two Alfas and a Fiat kit. I later sold the Fiat as it was much simpler than the Alfas and did not look to be much of a challenge.