As described by the seller on eBay Motors:
No repair has been spared on this car, when any was needed. There has been extensive attention to maintain the car in original working order. This car is best purchased by someone who knows Alfas and appreciates them. The car starts on a dime and runs strong and cool. The air conditioning blows cold. The dash has no noticeable cracks (this is extremely rare for these vehicles and is an indication of how well this car has been stored and cared for.) The paint is very good, but is not in showroom condition. All in all, I have never seen a more original-condition GTV-6.
The car has been my daily driver for the last three years. It has new donuts and new rubber for the driveshafts, as well as a new clutch master cylinder, brake master cylinder and four new tires. It has a CD player, though I have the original plastic that the radio sits in, in case anybody wants to return it to a completely original car and make it into a show car. Of all the GTV-6s I have seen, this one has the most potential to get there with the least cost.
The car has been in California for most of its life, so it is free of rust. The paint is believed to be original and in good condition. The odometer reads 48,800 miles, but this cannot be verified. I would say it is really about 80,000 miles. These cars are notorious for having their speedometers fail, thus throwing off the whole mileage accuracy issue.
The engine starts, stops and idles without any problems. The car has high oil pressure and an oil pressure gauge that really works. It also has low oil consumption (about one quart for every 3,500 miles). I have used Mobil 1 synthetic oil on the car for the last three years and have regularly changed it every 3,500 miles. It leaves no oil stains when parked.
All gauges work and are in excellent condition. There are no melted dials, as I have seen on other Alfas. The black leather seats show little to no wear, with no tears nor sun cracking.
On the down side, the brakes squeal, there are three dings on the body, the passenger window does not go up as fast as it should, the horn hesitates to honk (it will work if you press hard), and the car is missing the washer liquid bottle.
With medium work it could be of showroom caliber. If you do not know Alfas, don't buy this car. If you do, you will be proud to own this.
{analysis} This car, item 1846293935 on eBay Motors, sold for $4,000. The sale received one bid and ended on July 30, 2002. The price paid is at the top of SCM's Price Guide, but it's not much money for a whole lot of car.
The GTV-6 appeared in 1981 at a time that Alfa was severely strapped for development funds. As a result, it is one of the very few Alfa models created by mixing and matching components from the parts bin. The mildly tuned 2.5-liter V6 engine of the 1979 Alfa 6 was shoehorned into an upgraded 1975 Alfetta GTV body. Enthusiasm for an Alfa coupe with a rear transaxle and de Dion suspension was tempered by the knowledge that nothing about the car was really new. In addition, it competed in a market filled with great, trouble-free sports cars. Over two decades, however, the GTV-6 has proved to be one of the more reliable Alfa models, even after logging well over 100k miles.
Due to a faulty lot of head gaskets, early GTV- 6s had a propensity to puke water into their oil, and water pumps were problematic. But most of those troubles have been handled by now. What will always be expensive is the servicing of the driveline flexible joints (there are three, and they cost about $100 each) and replacing the in-board rear brakes.
Further, the robust engine in the GTV-6 (100,000 miles before valve jobs is not unheard of) is let down by the pathetic build quality of the body, interior and switchgear. In mute testimony to Alfa's lack of faith in its own electric window motors, every GTV-6 came with a manual window crank in the glovebox.
But a good GTV-6 can be an inexpensive and low-key pocket rocket. As they have now been in circulation for over 20 years, enthusiasts have found ways to tweak the suspension and drivetrain to make them perform far better than they did when new (transplanting a 3-liter engine from the Milano Verde is a common upgrade).
The problem with buying a car like this over the Internet is the lack of information that only a detailed, on-site inspection can provide. However, the seller offered a Web address containing more than 100 photographs of the car, showing it to be in approximately #2+ condition. For those acclimated to Alfa ownership, this is a most attractive car. It has low mileage (we think) for its age, and everything works. For preventive maintenance, the new owner should replace the timing belt, its (surely leaking) hydraulic detensioner, and have a good Alfa mechanic perform a complete checkover.
At $4,000, the new owner still has a little room to spend some money and not be completely underwater. However, he should be aware that whatever he spends is an investment in pleasure that won't show up at resale time.-Pat Braden{/analysis}