Description
This right hand drive GTA Chassis 752547 was completed on the 8 th July 1965 and delivered to Alfa Romeo Great Britain on the 23 rd July 1965. According to Centro Documentazione Alfa Romeo it is one of the first RHD GTAs built. This particular car was delivered to Australia although nothing is known of its first owner or when the car arrived there. It was subsequently acquired by its second owner Ray Gulson, a Canberra garage owner, in 1970. Although Gulson raced cars in his spare time he never got to use the GTA on track as it suffered damage as the result of a fire in the workshop at his premises. Despondent, Gulson sold the car to Royce Fullard, a Victoria farmer, who was a collector of Alfa Romeo cars and owned the only TZ in Australia. Fullard kept the car for 25 years, resisting all attempts by prospective buyers, until in 1997 he agreed to sell it to Andrew Murray a leading light in the Alfa community based in Perth. Murray immediately commenced restoration of the car but soon realised that it was a project too far having already started work on another GTA. Murray then sold the stripped down car to Sam Calabro, another Perth resident who worked most of his time on the east coast, and he sent the car there for a complete restoration. That work took almost 4 years and the car was finally completed in 2002. The car initially ran a 1750 block using the original cylinder head but Calabro decided to return it to 1570 capacity. He purchased and installed a newly built block complete with special crank, rods and pistons from the legendary Roman Alfa tuner Franco Angellini. That block remains in the car today number 191. Calabro sold the car some 4 years later to John Terpu, another Perth resident, who kept it only briefly before the current owner acquired it through Duttons of Melbourne in early 2008 and imported it to the UK. Over the past 18 years the current owner has made various changes to the car to restore it to its factory Stradale specification. It has the early chrome quarter lights and one piece bumpers as well as the original “half moon” Campagnolo alloy wheels. Recent mechanical work includes a rebuild of the gearbox at Cloverleaf Transmissions and a new clutch. The car also comes with its very rare original English version of the drivers manual.
