When this Alfa Romeo owner was asked “how Italian?” He said “YES!”
Alfa Romeo and Ferrari have a long history of collaboration going all the way back to Enzo Ferrari himself racing for the Alfa squad in the 1920s. So, when the owner of a classic Alfa Romeo 2000 GT Veloce needed to fix up his engine, he said “hold my pasta” and dropped in a Ferrari 360 engine instead. It wasn’t an easy project but the result is a spectacular Italian dream car.
This builder, an Aussie named Jeff, started with a rusty 1973 Alfa Romeo that needed new body panels behind the B-pillar. Over the course of four years, he did all the work to create this wild machine and believe it or not, getting the engine was actually one of the easier parts of the build.
Moreover, he found this Ferrari engine from an exotic car wrecker in Adelaide, Australia, so no mint 360s were sacrificed in the making of this project Alfa Romeo. Apparently, it is cheaper to buy a Tipo F131 3.6-litre V8 than to make extensive modifications to the original 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Who knew?
Fitting the Ferrari V8 into the Alfa Romeo engine bay was a far more significant challenge. The power plant isn’t much longer than the original four-cylinder, but it is much wider and taller. Jeff says there was only about a centimetre of clearance in many areas and installed a custom steel hood with a transparent section in the middle to show it all off.
Now, while one would assume he would have opted for a Ferrari gearbox as well, Jeff actually opted for a Subaru BRZ gearbox that normally has to handle less than 250 horsepower and 200 pound-feet of torque. The Ferrari engine makes 395 horsepower and 275 pound-feet stock, which is far more than Subaru put into the BRZ.
So technically, this Italian dream car is also part Japanese. Regardless, Jeff plans to use this car as his daily driver. It even has air conditioning and cruise control, so it is well equipped for the job. He also upgraded the upholstery, including stitching the seats and door panels in a striped pattern inspired by the classic Ferrari Daytona.
So an Australian owns an Italian car that has Japanese parts in it and plans to daily drive it. What could be more odd? Well, this is nothing strange to me as enthusiasts will always find creative ways to show their love for their cars so we hope Jeff’s little Ferrari-Alfa hybrid runs a very long time.
We got all this from Motor 1 and their full article is linked here. Thank you Motor 1 for the information and images.
