The Project Begins

"What a roach," I thought as I took the picture above.

It was actually worse than it looks above. To be fair, it was the most promising example I could get my hands on with as little money as possible. It was a 1988 Alfa Milano Verde with 198,554 miles on the clock. The first bonus - other than it ran - was that it had only one owner from new. It had never been in an accident of any magnitude and the body felt surprisingly taut for what looked like a really tired car. The other bonus was I picked it up for a cool thousand bucks. The woman at the DMV gave me a dirty look when I declared the car, an "Alpha Romeo", was worth only a thousand dollars. However, after she referred to her Kelly Blue Book, and noting the mileage on the car, she let out a small snort and mumbled something about "must be a typo" while handing my ownership papers before sending me on my way.

All things considered, that "Roach" was the best donor car for such a project. It had no rust, no accidents, and had every (large) original trim piece (bumpers, lights) still attached to the car. I drove it home, washed it and had great dreams the following few weeks about what I was going to do with it. I was very, very excited to begin the project.

Why a 75?

Some of you guys will understand this, I know some of my closest friends still have problems understanding why I started off with an old four-door "grocery getter" as one of them put it, instead of something "real" like a 1988 BMW M3, or a VW Golf GTI (the A2's).

Simple. One, I wanted to drive an Alfa. No exceptions. Two, it had to have four doors. Three, it must be rear wheel drive. The other criteria just falls in place following those three.

The Donor

Pictured here just hours before the its dismantling began, my fourth Alfa Milano awaits great times ahead. My first Milano was a 1987 Milano Gold which my brother Zamani bought from me, followed by my first Milano Verde which was then sold to my buddy Jess, and a second Milano Verde which I rescued from the junkyard, restored to original condition and sold to my friend John. None of those cars were in "donor" shape as they were (eventually) very clean examples.

This car was perfect for this project. Aside from some broken corner lights, its body was straight save some minor door dings. The engine was tired and the car could no longer pass California's emissions tests. All the accessories on the car worked flawlessly; even the sunroof worked!