It worked! So did Miss Tony too.....? I really was not sure at that point. She ran like a charm till the day I covered her up. I bought the car in 92-93 and got a new Toyota 4 Runner Limited in 1996 and the daily Miss Tony became a once a month date thing. Then every few months and then just summer and then.... well we kinda went separate ways.
For many of those years I figured if I were to keep her I would do her justice if not just cut my ties. Well a few years went over a decade! In that time I lost my hoses as gas and such began to leak. I kinda took care of those issues as well as removing battery and such. When I finally realized that the long standing on those beautiful P6's were destroying the rubber I got some jacks thinking it would help preserve them. Well you all know what happens when your car goes on TEMPORARY jacks!
The stress test for me began when I put my house up for sale. Once in escrow I knew I had a few weeks to get this girlfriend running..... The tires were now way shot and my hoses all but gone. Then came the " I KNOW I HAVE THAT KEY HERE SOMEWHERE"! So no tires, no battery, no hoses, no key. Time was flying as I had to move out and Miss Tony was the last one standing. Sitting! I called AAA the last day and we got he scooted on some apparatus the service had. She arrived at my mechanic on 4 flats!
The mechanic said give him a few days to inspect. Start and clear for further decision by me. I then went back to the one thing I knew was going to kill me. Putting any rubber on that Italian auto that was, well, NOT ITALIAN! Pirelli had stopped making 13" tires. Just this part almost caused me to quit! I finally gave into the fact that to keep my original rims I would have to go Asian or American. I went with Cobra's 205 13's.
This was also getting me a bit concerned as my previous mechanic once said to me after he informed me he was selling his shop and going to Ferrari..., "When was the last time you saw a typewriter repair shop"? OH MY!
It turns out my new mechanic was so versed in all of this Alfa and FIAT stuff that I became more comfortable spending all this money on the project. He invited me out to the Italian Car Show at Woodley Park in So Cali Valley and I saw how many guys were going strong in this game with their 30. 40, 50 year old Italian sports cars. PINNAFARINA FOREVER!
So here she is sitting on her new tires awaiting to be taken apart.........
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