Well the advertisement is true and Nick Granville Smith of the Milton Ulladulla Vintage and Classic Car Club has recently fallen under the Alfa Romeo spell for the sixth time and bought a 2010 100 year anniversary edition Alfa GT 3.2 litre V6 two door coupe. 

For the last 10 years a 911 Porsche was the regular club car, so why change?  

Porsche are perfectly functional and their engineering is without peer and the 911 had reached a point where no reasonable work was needed on it.  

A fellow club member Graham Lyons now owns it very happily.  

With five previous Alfas over many years, it was time to become an Alfisti once more.  

This GT was the third seen before purchase and had one owner and 63000 kilometres on the clock. 

Some service history was also handed over with the car.  

A very quick earlier road test had only showed that the tyres were completely worn and one of the first jobs would be tyre replacement.  

So collection was arranged, money paid and a check of the levels before setting out. 

Wow… no oil on the dipstick.  

Owner says he did not ever check it between services as the nice man had told him it would be ok for 20000 kilometres and the last service was only 8000 kilometres ago.  

A quick trip to local service station and three litres of Castrol Magnetec brought the level back to normal.  

Needless to say the rain had started in earnest and the drive was slippery to say the least.  

The actual steering seemed a little vague on left bends with no inclination to self centre and a pronounced rattle from the front suspension. 

It was all blamed on the worn tyres.  

Blairs Tyre Service at Peakhurst fitted four new Michelin Pilote 225/40 R18 and discovered the steering rack had become disengaged from the chassis as the two retaining bolts had fallen out and the rack was moving from side to side. 

This would explain the rather unAlfa feel to the steering experience. 

The two bolts were found resting on an under tray and when refitted in their usual place, the steering resumed its usual precision. 

All this is not at all unusual in Alfa motoring and therein lies the charm.

Alfa Romeo made 80832 GTs in their Pomigliano d’Arco factory in southern Italy from 2003 until 2010 and were available with several engine options including a diesel and the two litre petrol.  

But the top of the line was the high performance 3.2 litre V6, 177 kws at 6200 rpm and massive torque 289 Nm at 4800 rpm.  

Mated to a six speed gearbox with front wheel drive the east west engine layout allows a great deal of car body space and the famous designers at Bertone have created a gorgeous two door coupe which actually is roomy enough inside for four people. 

The underpinnings of the GT are descended from the Alfa 156 with alterations including a limited slip Q2 diff, which eliminates the torque understeer which was apparent in earlier V6 front wheel drive GTVs of the 1990s.  

There are all manner of electronic gismos to assist traction control slipping sideways and the mandatory ABS braking system, all working quite independently of the driver.  

Lurking in all this technology the essential Aflaishness still is there and driving it is a great experience. 

Is it quick? You bet with all that torque and horsepower in only 1380 kgs and a superb gearbox with what seems like the right gear for every occasion.  

The servo assisted brakes are to die for and stopping reaches a new level of comfort, due to 330mm front discs and 276mm rears.

The 100th year cars were only supplied in Alfa red (of course), white and a factory listed Atlantic blue.  

Only 100 cars came to Australia and this blue one is number 96. 

However 30 were sent to South Africa.  

The interior is finished in dark grey leather and the seats are a special feature with good wrap around to hold you firmly and are almost infinitely  adjustable for any shape. 

The GT should turn out to be an ideal high speed long distance touring car with all the Alfa idiosyncrasies.

The next general meeting of the MUVCCC will be held at the Ulladulla Bowling Club at 7.30pm on Wednesday, February 11. 

Any new members wanting to attend will be welcome and it is expected the club will carry on promoting the club motto - “Let’s have fun”.