Martin's series I Alfasud Sprint
First series
Alfasud Sprint with the "small" 1.3 litre engine with a capacity of 1286 ccm
and the brown interior trim with mixed skai and fabric have become quite rare.
Only
a small number of cars survived. The nearly unprotected bodies died a quick and
rusty death and the small 1286 ccm which tended to overrev made its contribution
to the early death of this species.
Of course the much stronger Veloce-engined Sprints of the series II seemed more
worthy to be conserved or restored. Meanwhile there are some early Alfasud
saloons which appear on Alfa meetings, some of them perfectly restored, but a
series I Alfasud Sprint is still an absolute rarity - and will presumably remain
it because it was built in much smaller numbers than the Alfasud saloon. The
first Sprints were still embellished with some chrome e.g. around the windscreen
and the rear window and around the side windows. 
Martin Kruse, classic car-, Italy- and Alfa Romeo-enthusiast for a long time was searching exactly for such an early Alfasud
Sprint. Martin, already well-experienced in fine Italian cars made in Milan, already owned a lot of different Alfa Romeos. There
was a 1965 Giulietta Sprint
some early Giulias, an early Giulia Sprint GT, a 1750 GTV Bertone first series and
two Alfettas (both, saloon and GT). He even once drove a Nuova Giulietta
series 116. The majority of the cars had been imported from Italy, some by the
pre owner, some by Martin himself. In the early Eighties Martin drove an Alfasud
saloon for some time. It rusted faster than everything else around but Martin kept
some nice memories concerning the road holding and performance of his Alfasud.
The only thing he had not yet seen was an early Sprint - even at the largest
German Alfa meeting during the "Oldtimer Grand Prix" at the Nürburgring in
August or on the classic car fair
Techno Classica in Essen in April. "Somehow I simply had to get such a car... (the
old instinct of chasing and collecting)!" In the spring of 2004 Martin then
found a Sprint on the Italian ebay. It stood in Naples - not far away from its
place of birth.
At least the photos gave the impression of a good and original
condition.
After some negotiations with the seller
Martin accepted the much too high price of the car. "What else will you do, if it
is impossible to trace an alternative?" After the car's documents had been faxed
to Martin, the local German authorities registered the car in the documents of his
07-number plate (an interchangeable number plate specially made for users and
collectors of cars which are older than 30 years) - something which would be
impossible today. Martin bought a one-way-ticket to Naples and started his trip
to Italy with a bag full of tools and his 07-number plates.
"I met the seller at ten o'clock in the evening on a
parking lot" It was the first time that Martin saw his Sprint. As he
expected the car was not in the condition the owner had told about on the
telephone. But would you expect something different? The Sprint had already been
partly resprayed, the tyres were as old as the car and the car itself showed
many traces of age and abuse. At least the original Cromodora light alloy wheels
were mounted, even the spare wheel had a Cromodora rim. You do not travel for
more than two thousand kilometres for returning without the car.
"So I paid the car, fixed my number plates, and off I went to the Autostrada
northwards. Only 2000 km awaited me...", remembers Martin. The bad tyres
gave no good feeling - "I can tell you driving the car on that tyres was
one of the last adventures of our civilisation..."
Fortunately only one puncture near Kassel stopped Martins voyage home. The
totally worn spare wheel from 1977 made it for the last few hundred kilometres.
After Martin had arrived at home he paid closer attention
to the Sprint's condition. The body had never seen any welding since it had left
Pomigliano d'Arco, that was the good news. But the rear wheel arches were a
masterpiece of work with putty and some parts of the structure showed beginning
rust which had to be stopped instantly. As always it was now the time for the "do
it completely or let it be forever" question. Martin answered it
with "do it completely" - there was no other choice for him. So he disassembled
the Sprint completely, put everything into little bags (this time with some
notes on them - you always learn from your first restoration...),
removed engine and gearbox and gave the seats to a specialist who sewed new skai
to the fabric of the seats and reworked the foam cushions of the seats.
The technics got a complete revision. Only the engine and the gearbox remained
the same. Everything else which was still available as new spare part was bought.
Martin installed new exhaust mufflers, new brake pads, brake discs and brake
hoses, The callipers were reworked with repair kits. Martin also installed the
inner spray-deflectors for the rear brake discs which were standard on the cars
sold to Scandinavia. They avoid rust on the inner side of the rear brake discs.
The clutch and their clutch master and slave cylinder were also replaced against
new parts. Finally some minors things as the gas struts for the tailgate, some
ignition parts, a new alternator and of course the timing belts and their
tensioners were replaced by Martin. After the Sprint came back from the paint
shop, Martin reassembled the big puzzle. Since summer 2006 Martin's greatest
automotive challenge is back on the road again.
Last Update: March, 9th 2008 Created: March, 9th 2008
© Layout and text by Tim Rauen. Photos by Martin Kruse.