"You're taking what?" We always need to explain our vehicle choice to people when we tell then about our little drive. A lot of thought went into choosing our vehicle. Most people think of something like the vehicle pictured on the right. The sort of thing that comes equiped with a long range tank, low range gearing and dependable reliability. However we weren't just looking for transport. It had to be something special, something full of character in which we could enjoy the raw experience of driving. A vehicle we were excited about. The original choice of vehicle was a Beetle. It's ease of repair, reliability, low cost and character made it appealing at first. We had never owned one before and after we had thought about it more and done some research we realised that it's short comings exceeded it's assets. Ride comfort, storage and safety come to mind. Julian is a keen and experienced Alfisti and it wasn't long before he suggested an Alfa. We both love Alfas and he has an immaculate '82 GTV. Also we had had an Alfetta in the family for the better part of 15 years so his suggestions started to make sense. Julian did all of the preparatory work on the car as both he and the car were in Melbourne. He explains his logic for taking the 75 below.

We looked at many different cars as possibilities but we had a set of criteria it had to fulfil which cut the selection right down. Other possibilities we considered included; Toyota Hilux, LHD Porsche 911 (briefly) and of course the 75. The criteria was fairly extensive. The car needed to be:

I believed (and still believe) the Alfa Romeo 75 Twin Spark fits that criteria very well. Every other car we considered had some fault against our criteria. As an added benefit I had a very good working knowledge of theses cars which would make fault finding and fixing easier. We did consider the need for a 4WD but decided a LSD was sufficient as we weren't going to be doing too much off roading. So, in Jan 2011 I managed to find a suitable 1989 Alfa 75 Twin Spark. I then spent the next two years slowly preparing the car. Mostly I have just returned the car to good stock condition as I believe that was the best way to have the car for such a journey. The only modifications included an aftermarket stereo and larger diameter wheels to give us a higher ride height and better ability to absorb poor road conditions. A few test runs on outings with the Alpine Chapter confirmed things were going according to plan. Thanks to AROCA Club sponsor Mauceri Motors for their assistance towards the end when I was running out of time to complete everything!

I deliberated over which tyres to take and in the end I decided upon Yokohama A drives in 185/70/14, mainly for the greater wall height and strength to deal with nasty pot holes or just really bad terrain. As a bonus they also raised the ride height further. The downside to the bigger wheels (beside the speedo inaccuracy which has not been a problem so far!) is a reduction in torque. The car used to feel quite lovely and torquey (for a 2L) but now it struggles a bit off the line or up hills. Needless to say, when we get to the Nurburgring I will be attempting to source another set of second-hand tyres of a different nature!

Obviously many would question the sanity of driving an Alfa Romeo half way around the world and I know Andrew had his doubts. However, I believe the 75 to be actually quite robust mechanically. Yes, the electrics are not fantastic but at the end of the day provided the engine electrics keep going we can work around anything that fails. Alfas also have a bad reputation (deservedly so) for rusting. However, the 75 is actually quite alright in this regard provided it hasn't been involved in any accidents. Also, in a journey of under six months rust is not really an issue! Mechanically the 75 only has a few weak points. One is the rubber guibos that balance the tail shaft that have a tendency to disintegrate with time. Needless to say I had them all replaced before we left as a matter of course. The gearbox can have issues with the synchros but this was not an issue for my car and it comes on gradually. The engine and differential are both very reliable however a few sensible spares were carried for the engine like spare filters, HT leads and even a coolant overflow tank! Whilst the car was in quite good condition when I purchased it, she was still quite old and had covered over 250k kms. So, a brief list of the work done in preparation includes;