1968 Alfa Romeo 1750 GT Veloce

The vendor is just the car’s third owner, having purchased the car in 2004 from a Lake District doctor who had owned it since 1970. 

The vendor has spent a considerable amount of time and money restoring the car, which retains its matching numbers engine. 

His objective from the outset was to ensure that the car could be used as intended by the engineers who built it, and that meant ensuring that it was dynamically and mechanically optimised for use by enthusiastic drivers. 

The car is sound, solid and a joy to behold, but the vendor hasn’t set out to reach concours standards.

The restoration work included new floor panels, all three sills replaced on both sides, rebuilt chassis rails, rear quarters on both sides, a full rear panel, new front valance and new cross member….among a number of other refurbished/replaced sections.  

Stripped back to bare metal for the restoration, the car was professionally resprayed with a top coat of two-pack AR 031 ‘Spino Bianco’ paint – the same shade with which it left the factory in 1968.

The previous owner had the engine rebuilt with new pistons and wet liners. The vendor has stripped and rebuilt it again, adding new rings and bearing shells to the original, standard-spec engine with its twin Weber 40 carbs. The engine has been dyno-tested and has an impressive 130bhp+ on offer.

The car has recently had the head gasket replaced.

The transmission is the standard five-speed gearbox. There are HD bearings on the prop shaft and new UJs. The rear axle is from a 2000GTV, with the Alfa limited slip diff. 

The vendor has taken great care to optimise the car’s suspension for spirited use without compromising either ride quality or the car’s ground clearance. 

The car is fitted with the tried, tested and proven Alfaholics Fast Road kit: springs with Bilstein dampers and 25mm FARB (rear ARB deleted); adjustable top arms to allow some negative camber, with poly bushes on top arms, caster arms, front ARB and on the diff mount for the trunnion; and rear trailing arms with high-density rubber bushes. 

The car comes with its original steel wheels and 1750 hubcaps. The brakes are standard discs and callipers with Ferodo DS2000 pads and an Alfaholics race brake master cylinder conversion upgrade. Braided flexi hoses are fitted and the rear circuit has a Tilton balance adjuster. 

The cars electrics have been properly addressed, too. 

A replacement Varley Redtop battery affords much better access to the alternator and oil filter. A battery isolator switch is fitted under the bonnet. All four headlights are on relays powered directly from the battery and give a good strong light spread. 

The column-mounted switch for the side lights remains but has been bypassed with a separate toggle switch for reliability. A thermostatically controlled electric fan is fitted. 

A separate switched circuit feeds a jack plug, a 12v socket and two USB slots on the passenger side of the centre console.

These are such good-looking cars and, if anything, they’ve grown more attractive as the years have gone by.

Compared with its heavier, bigger, more aesthetically complicated successors, the scale of this car makes it look balanced, symmetrical and entirely proportionate to its original goals and objectives – namely, motoring pleasure delivered in an unadulterated, unfiltered, visceral way. 

It is not festooned with all manner of spoilers, flaps, flares, vents, ducts and steroidal bulges.

And we think it’s all the better for it. 

It has a simplicity of form and a purity of line that modern cars cannot hope to emulate or embody, thanks largely (and inevitably) to rules and constraints imposed by safety legislation.

This restored beauty is a fine exemplar of both the model and the marque.

The bodywork is reassuringly devoid of any dinks, dents or creases of consequence that we can see anywhere.

The panel gaps and shut-lines appear to be consistent and even.

The paintwork is bright, shiny and smooth. Even entirely standard light scratches, stone chips and scuffs are more noticeable for their absence than their presence. 

There is a little nascent blistering and bubbling at the base of both rear wheel arches where they merge into the rear wings, and another minor outbreak on the o/s/f wheel arch.

The rare Golde sliding/folding sunroof is fitted and has been recovered with the correct white vinyl on the outside.

The car’s chrome-work looks to be in very good order throughout, as do the original wheels (bar the odd scuff or two) with their matching Vredestein Hi-Trac 2 tyres.

There is a little discolouration around the rims of the headlamp lenses. Otherwise, the lights, lenses, badging and other exterior fixtures and fittings are all in broadly irreproachable condition. 

The interior is every bit a match for its exterior counterpart in terms of preservation and condition, and is hugely evocative of the 1960s and the achingly stylish ‘La Dolce Vita’ era into which this car was born.

The original Series 1 flying buttress seats are no longer with the car, but their replacements are similar in design to those fitted to later 2000 GTVs and are trimmed in leather.

The rear seats are the originals.

The front seats have yet to earn much more than a light crease. The rear seats are also in very good condition, although some of the trim at the forward base is a little loose in places.

There is a split to the vinyl on the side of the transmission tunnel at the rear, and a small area of cracking to the trim on the dashboard on the left-hand side.

The original Hellebore steering wheel is retained, intact, and a tactile and visual treat. 

The vendor replaced the headlining with the correct ‘Snake Bite’ material some 6 years ago.

He has also installed 3-point inertia reel seatbelts and fully sound-proofed the car with Dynamat and Dynaliner. 

The carpets and mats are decent, as are the door cards.

As far as we and the vendor are aware, all buttons, knobs, dials, gauges and switches do what they’re supposed to do, with the exception of the column-mounted switch for the side lights, which has been bypassed by a separate dashboard-mounted toggle; and the wipers, which are currently working with just one speed, not two. 

The boot is as good as the rest of it and contains a full-sized spare wheel.

The engine and engine bay are notably clean and fresh-looking.

There are no tell-streaks or drips anywhere that we can see and everything appears to be in its right and proper place.

The good news extends to the undersides of the car, which look to have plenty of structural integrity.

The car comes with all manner of bills, invoices and receipts attesting to its restoration, maintenance, repair and long-term curation.

All the right names - Alfaholics, Classic Alfa, Eurocarb (to name but three) - are well represented. 

It is, self-evidently, in very good condition and, the vendor assures us, it is a pleasure to drive. 

It comes with an HPI report, a V5C, a purchase invoice from 1970, full sets of keys, and an original instruction manual.

This car has been restored by an enthusiastic and expert owner who wanted the car optimally set-up to be a rewarding drive.

The Alfaholics upgrades have significantly improved the car’s handling and balance without overly compromising authenticity or originality, in our opinion, and the car is, consequently, an entirely useable classic. 

It starts, goes and stops as well as it looks – and it looks sensational.

What’s not to like?

We’re confident to offer this fine car for auction with an estimate of £23,000 - £28,000.

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located with the vendor in Cowton, North Yorkshire. To book a viewing, please use the ‘Enquire About This Vehicle’ button on the listing. Feel free to ask any questions, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.