159 (939) 2005 - 2011

There she was; somebody's cherished Alfa languishing at a side-street dealer in Hull.

There I was; passing in my 155 MiTo, head turning from looking at this beautiful car, and seeing when the light changed to green so that I could pull a quick U-Turn.

It was a hot Sunday in June 21 so that garage was closed, but it was love at first sight!

I contacted the dealer and went to see the car Monday morning. By the end of week, my 10 years of MiTo ownership was over.

The rest, as they say, was history.

My third Alfa Romeo; a 159 TI TBi with 68,429 miles, registered 24 September 2010.

A new project to sink my teeth (and cold hard cash!) into! 

I'd had the car mechanically inspected and the green light was given to strip the car back and give it a new lease of life.

The dealer had polished the car to a good standard, but once all that polish had rubbed away the paintwork was a little dull and lifeless; some panels were evidently painted in a slightly different shade of red, and there was some poor filler work completed previously.

Thankfully, I have a good friend who owns an accident and repair shop who agreed to take on the project! 

A little over three weeks later and she rolled out of the workshop in as-new condition; all badges renewed, together with a new scudetto to boot!

All three of us tore out of workshop for the parade drive; me, the car, and my empty wallet.

The woes with the red continue with the brake calipers; faded, pink and flaky.

Badly in need of a paint job!

Thankfully I have the best detailer in the country in Michael of Luxury Detail Car Care, and this was a task I laid at Michael's doorstop.

One that was completed absolutely faultlessly!

This guy really does do it all! Whether it's maintaining the car on a monthly basis, refurbishing calipers or really just considering any job that pops into my mind on a whim.. and then cannot stop thinking about! We shoot a message to Michael.

Anyway, i digress..

New decals adorn the newly painted calipers, bringing the contrast between the alloy and caliper back in line.

Given the money spent on the respray, it was a bit of a no brainer to have the car fully ceramic coated.

I must admit I was not prepared for sheer scale of the result!

I knew it would bring the paint to another level, but having JUST had it painted i was extremely surprised how much more potent the colour could be!

The paint job and the coating has received alot of praise from people at shows, which is testament to both the work of RMB Accident Repairs & Luxury Detail Car Care.

Thankfuly Michael is an experienced and accredited ceramic applicator, and I'd say the photos speak for themselves!

The paint is smooth, silky and glossy, and water beads straight off the car. It really is a beautiful sight.

The car from top to bottom was ceramic coated, and brought the car to a whole new level!

Ceramic coated was fully completed in August 2022, and looking phenomenal at 82,000 miles

It was an honour and a privilege to be asked to be the wedding car for my Auntie & Uncle's wedding in October 2022.

Thankfully the weather held, and Michael fettled with the Alfa within an inch of its life, and it shone beautifuly in the late summer sun.

I took cues from the approved wedding colours, and a floral display was fashioned into a bouquet for the scudetto and secured to the polished chrome using cable ties!

Another long floral display was placed atop the parcel shelf, and I even managed to trim the aerial with three single roses.

The ribbons were the most stressful part of the process; no matter how hard I tried to keep them taut against the body, they just would not sit. In the end, I tied them around bonnet latch and hoped for the best!

The car got so many wonderful comments, but most importantly the bride and groom were so happy.

It was a real pleasure to be able to do this for them on their special day.

The TBi has alot of things going for it, but sadly the factory exhaust note isn't one of them. The tips don't even really fill out the trim.

I'd recently had the car in for four new tyres, and whilst it was on the ramp it was noted that the Y section was corroding around the back box connection, and the passenger side box was starting to rust through.

Time for a new exhaust, then!

AlfaShop to the rescue with their specially fabricated Y section, saving me a boat-load on replacing the entire exhaust.

Que a spontaneous check on Instagram (@939driver if you're interested!) and he'd posted about the sale on the Wizard straight through system! £750 down to £350.

Out came the credit card.

Having had them fitted I love the way the tips now fill the cut-out of the trim. A much better look than stock in my opinion (and let's be fair that's all that really matters!) and a fantastic burble on idle. An all round fantastic sound under load, without being too Max Power.

Win win in my book.

Much like the Jewish among us, I've taken the tip off.

Now it's true what they say; it really is cleaner without!

Unlike the Jewish however, I've stuck another on.

Every now and again Alfa Romeo UK ask you to use a hashtag here and there to feature in their next post.

Imagine my surprise when I see my own car in a photo competition! 

Now, I am not humble enough to not vote for myself, so I now had one vote. 1 Like to me, love from me.

98 more ensued, and out of a total 157 votes I walke away with 99!

Thankyou to everyone who voted, even if it wasn't for me!

And thankyou Alfa Romeo UK for the swag bag!

Which is why she is a daily!

While the 939 line is generally solid, they do tend to rust around the subframe and the sills, especially with the undertray and the TI sideskirts fitted.

Having had the car inspected on purhcase, I was pleased to find out that the car was solid with no extensive rust on the subframe or sills, and that the car did not have the undertray fitted.

The foam that sits within the undertray absorbs water, and is in constant contact with the subframe. Not ideal.

Anyway, neither of us are exactly spring chickens, and we all need a little extra protection!

Remember Michael? He agreed to wash and prepare the underbody for treatment, so off i trotted, card in hand, to buy the large Lanoguard kit and the additional injector pack.

I left the car with Michael and he wire brushed the entirety of the underbody and all the metal-work, fully stripping away any rust in his wake. Once the underbody was as clean as could be, the Lanoguard was applied and injected into the doors and the sills, and additional grease applied to the more vulnerable areas.

I intend to re-apply once a year, but there shouldn't be as much preparatory work before application.

Thankfully, there was alot left in the bottle!

Finally made my street view debut! 

Rolling on home from work when I happen to spot the Google street view car winging its way aroud the roundabout on Mannaberg Way in Scunthorpe.

A couple of weeks later and it popped back into my head, so I had a quick look on Goggle and HUZZAH, there I am in all of my historic glory for the world to see!

Sadly, I cannot fathom for the life of me why anybody could happen upon Mannaberg Way in Scunthorpe, so I'm sure i won't be needing to write a speech anytime soon.

National Alfa Day at Bicester Heritage Centre is always the biggest event in an Alfisti's calendar.

There were two competitions to enter in August 2023; the Show & Shine and the Concours d'Elegance competition.

I didn't read the instructions on the email and signed myself up to both of them, but unfortunately it was a one-or-the-other situation, so I got in touch with Nick (a couple of days later) and I decided to go ahead with the Concours over the Show and Shine.

The Concours competition is open to all cars registered up to 2012 and scores cars on overall presentation and originality. Being a 2010 registered car, I was sat square in category F.

Now, unfortunately I didn't get the memo that there was separate parking on the day for show cars, and I lined mine up with the rest of the 939 family. It wasn't until I thought to ask how the juding panel would contact me that I was told I should be elsewhere.

Once I had managed to squeeze mine with the rest of the show cars, judging could then begin.

The Alfa scored high praise for its restoration, originality and overall condition, most notably the quality of the respray. It hadn't occured to me that my after-market Wizard exhaust, lack of back-boxes and red Alfa Romeo tyre pressure caps would be part of the judging process, and as these were not fitted to the car as standard we did get marked down accordingly.

That didn't stop us though, and we walked away with the top prize in the category, and trophy for the mantlepiece!

Next, tackle the Show & Shine competition in 2024 and add to the collection.

Midlands Italian Car Day at Burghley House, October 2023.

A chilly, cold, possibly wet day, said the weatherman that very morning.

The car was shining having been cleaned the day before and I, laden in my Autumn finery of jeans, boots and a jumper, set off from a foggy Scunthorpe for the 1 hour 45 minute drive to the event.

We arrived, sun blazing down on us from a bright, cloud free, blue sky.

A fantastically organised day by the East Mindlands section of the Owners Club, set in the beautiful, sun baked grounds of Burghley House. So many cars to see, owners to talk to, and friends to catch up with.

It really was a fantastic day; a perfect location for the appreciation of all Italian marques.

The excitement clearly got the better of me and a fellow GT owner, but the picture was almost worth the 3 points alone.

The Holy Grail of 5 figure mileage.

Next milestones to include:

159,159

159,939

And a slightly more ambitious 939,939.

Watch this space.

Another man's loss is another man's gain.

Sadly, a fellow member had to part with his 159 TBi having recently sourced the coveted TBi badge.

Sold out in the UK, they had contacted dealerships in Italy and managed to ship one over to the UK.

They reached out after I expressed a great deal of interest in how they sourced the badge, however I never actually got around to sourcing it myself.

A deal was struck, together with 4 new wheel centre caps (to be fitted) and the badge was posted out to me, and installed on the Alfa.

Why Alfa Romeo never fitted the TBi badge to the TI trim as standard remains unanswered.

A collaborative event for the 159 models 18th anniversary alongside the GT Register, and the milometer ticks over to 99,000 en-route.

We're on the home stretch now to a six-figure mileage, marking a total of 32,000 miles in the last (almost) 3 years in my ownership. 

An absolutely fantastic first event arranged by our new 159 registrar Debbie Lindsey.

We met at the British Motor Museum, itself well worth a visit, with very knowledgeable volunteers offering free tours of historical british marques withan extensive model collection.

The rain didn't hamper our spirits, and it was good to meet fellow members I hadn't before.

Naturally, the day ended in an appreciation of Italian style featuring Bella, a fantastic and well known example of the model owned by GT Registrar Nathan Mahoney.

Learn more about Bella and her extensive history at https://aroc-uk.com/guardian/2608.

Kicking of 2024 show season with a bang, and looking ahead to Spring Alfa Day in April 24.

..Not quite the 6-figures I'd always dreamt of, but quite a feat non-the-less!

Aptly reached crashing the South Midlands Section's drive out weekend in the Peak District, up through Winnats Pass and driving some of the best, though pot-hole ridden, roads of the beautiful English countryside, organised by Paul Bedwell & Paul Mayes (thankyou again for the invite - shame we couldn't organise the weather!).

An overnight stop at the Oakhill Hotel with fantastic food and company, before setting off on our Sunday visit to the Great British Car Journey which was a really informative and eye-opening delve into the history of British motor companies and their part at the forefront of the road transport revolution.

The Alfa was a real pleasure drive, especially spiritedly, over the weekend and we managed to cover just shy of 500 miles from home-to-home.

Looking back, im pretty sure we both have a drink problem.