Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Big Boy's Toys (4 Wheeled Variety)

[Ian Harris]

Originally posted by MARTIN H
I still have a few valves left from mine, Xmas eve 1992 pulling into a multistorey car park to do my last minute shopping and the engine just stopped and would not restart!

Sounds like a classic cambelt catastrophe! Exactly the same happened to me (spookily, just about to drive into a multi story car-park just before christmas!) Fortunately, it was in a Rover 2600, and apparently the valves are far enough away from the pistons in those that you can get away with a cam-chain busting....different story in a 164 though

Don't want to tempt fate, but I have had 1 GTV6 (old style) 3 164s and a GTV 3.0 (new style) over the last 20 years, and never had a problem with mechanicals or electrics. When the AA man came out to look at my non-starting Firestorm a couple of years ago, he looked at the 164 on the drive and said:

"They're reliable cars , we hardly get any callouts for them" I guess this is partly because there aren't that many left, but I think Alfa finally got the build quality right on the last 164s, their main problem now is that, on the new era cars (147,156 , 166 GTV etc) they make the interiors too plasticy . With regard to the bushes, polyeurethane all round is the way to go, absolutely transforms the ride and handling, and last well too.

Trouble is, the car is probably worth £1500 tops, and I must have spent about £7,000 on it over the last 5 years...never mind, it makes me smile every time I drive it, and you can't ask any more than that (just need to get that second engine in the boot now)