Turismo Tasmania 2012 – Day 2
The second day of the tour started with a visit to Launceston’s National Auto Museum (www.namt.com.au/). For a small museum this one certainly packs in the quality, with lots to see including vintage bikes and a couple of quite significant race cars. The next leg followed the Tamar Valley north from Launceston until we reached the picturesque Batman Bridge over the Tamar and stopped to take some photos. Then the leg...
Turismo Tasmania 2012 – Day 1
This year there is no traditional Alfesta at Easter time, so my family joined the Turismo Tasmania – a four day driving tour of Tasmania (http://www.alfaromeoturismotasmania2012.com.au/). On Thursday evening before Easter, we sailed on the Spirit of Tasmania – the large ferry that crosses Bass Strait from Melbourne to Devonport in Tasmania. The boat was well subscribed for the Easter break, so there was a long delay...
Mario II blossoms into life (-ish)
We’ve had a busy month or so preparing Mario II for the gruelling shitbox rally. Preparations have included attending to a leaking rear caliper, and a leaking clutch slave cylinder, replacing shagged swaybar bushes, fitting of second hand rally tyres, alternator mounts, and various other bits and pieces. Finally Mario was declared fit for the highway, and was granted a 45-day club permit. We’ve also fitted a stereo with...
1750 GTV – March 2012 #3
Lovely weather here at the moment, so I’m enjoying spending a little time each evening tidying up parts and making small progress. I pulled apart, cleaned up and painted the window wiper mechanism, and greased the pivot points. The motor I have is I think from an Alfetta with a 5-wire plug. Now I know why the wipers didn’t self-park. The original motor is a 3-wire plug, I’m still not sure if it was one-speed or...
1750 GTV – March 2012 #2
The early 1750 GTVs had no adjustment lever built into the outer headlamp units, so there was no cut-out in the stainless headlamp rings. Our car had one of each kind, so I asked around and Rob Panetta provided me with a spare cut-out-less headlamp ring. Apparently he dropped it off for me in a mate’s race car at Phillip Island last weekend, and it made itself known as he was driving out onto the track for the next event!...