We love an excellent “barn discover” story round right here.
And that’s doubly true when mentioned barn discover is an excellent uncommon Italian sports activities automobile from one of the iconic names in automotive historical past.
So after we noticed this classic Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider nestled in between the rows of traditional Detroit metal on the 2024 Goodguys Summit Racing Nationals, we needed to monitor down the proprietor and get its backstory.
“It was in-built ’57 and, in Europe, they go by the yr it was constructed,” Chad Clark explains. “By the point it obtained right here, when it reveals up on the boat, it was 1958. So in line with Ohio, it’s a 1958.”
Chad’s been a automobile man since endlessly and grew up engaged on the classic American vehicles his varied relations owned—however his gearhead journey took a decidedly Italian flip as soon as he graduated from school.
“I moved to a small city in northwest Ohio, the center of nowhere,” he tells us. “I’m an engineer, and my neighbor was a retired engineer from the identical place that I labored.”
Seems, his new neighbor was a automobile nut too. “He had an outdated Mannequin T that was his day by day driver,” Chad muses. “So I’d simply go and assist him tinker.”
Then one fateful day, his neighbor took him to an outdated barn he had on his property.
“He confirmed me this outdated Alfa. He had restored it within the Nineteen Seventies, however now it was caught and full of acorns,” Chad describes. “So he principally simply gave it to me.”
With the brakes frozen and automobile sunk as much as its axles in mud, Chad summarily dragged the automobile out of the barn, loaded it onto a trailer, and started sorting all of it out.
Chad stresses that his purpose wasn’t a full restoration right here–he needed to take care of the automobile’s originality whereas making the Alfa a enjoyable, dependable driver. “I’ve completed loads of mechanical stuff to it,” he describes. “However cosmetically I’ve saved it the wanting the identical approach as we pulled it out of the barn.”
The earlier proprietor had rebuilt the 1.3L engine within the Nineteen Seventies, so it simply wanted some going over to get it again up-to-snuff. Chad additionally went by means of the brake and suspension techniques, and rebuilt the transmission himself.
“Yeah, it leaks some oil,” he laughs. “However the automobile runs very well.”
Past that, the automobile is a rolling time capsule, nonetheless carrying the red-over-white paint respray that the earlier proprietor did again within the Nineteen Seventies.
And Chad explains that the Alfa’s as-found situation is a giant a part of the attraction right here. “I retailer it within the storage and if the children bump their bikes into it, I don’t care about getting it scratched.”
Extra importantly, Chad drives the automobile—quite a bit.
“The youngsters prefer to journey in it,” he smiles. “So I’ll take it to soccer practices and stuff. And I’ll take it to work on good days.”
Once we requested Chad about his future plans with the automobile, he didn’t hesitate to snap again a response:
“I’m retaining it endlessly, simply retaining it drivable and on the highway,” he says. “It’s excellent proper now.”
…And we couldn’t agree extra.
