Alfaholics: Guilia GTA Reborn

Cars

alfa_guilia_9

Alfaholics, run by the Banks family, (Max, (below) his brother Andrew and father Richard), have for the last decade or so been the go-to people if you want to trade, restore or build a classic Alfa. And with race-bred factory Guilia Coupé GTAs becoming rarer and more expensive every year, they are building a thriving business in recreating fully specced examples of the car – with modern Alfa parts and every bit of the soul of the originals.

The Alfa Romeo 105 Series Guilia Coupé is surely one of the most evocative and desireable of classic Alfas. In its stripped-down, lightweight GTA guise, which dominated touring car racing in the 1960s, the desirability of the cars goes through the roof. Asking prices of course follow suit. In fact, a nice example of an original GTA has been known to edge into six figures.

The GTA was originally launched in 1965 with a 1600 engine, but the two replica GTAs that have been built so far by the Banks family have been equipped with 2.0 litre Twin Spark power plants that produce in the region of 200 BHP. It’s not just full track spec rebuilds that can be provided. A full range of bolt-on parts to enhance and improve a basic Alfa, including engines, suspension and brake kits for speccing up your car for the road or track.

This bespoke parts service remains the core of the Banks’s business. Years of experience thus guarantees that should you want to go for the full GTA re-creation, there is no better knowledge base from which to work.

Once you have sourced the base car, (which could be any decent 105 series coupé), a full ground-up rebuild and recreation of a GTA will cost around £60k.

The question obviously arises: do these recreations constitute classics in themselves? Or are they mere representations of classic elements; simulacra that will never quite match the originals? Take a look at the pictures of these beautiful creations – then, you decide.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

4 Responses to “Alfaholics: Guilia GTA Reborn”

  1. Andrew

    Be interesting to see a photo of the engine bay with the twin spark engine fitted.

  2. I don’t think anyone is pretending that these cars are anything but lookey-likeys. In the age of the tribute band now we have the tribute car. I’ve seen a lot of tribute bands – in fact I’ve been in a few myself. OK but they always seem to miss the vital spark (pun). These cars are cool but they’re not GTAs or classics. Still – what can you get for 60 grand + these days?

    (Answer – quite a lot actually….)

  3. Robert

    I tend to agree with Jon… I own a 105 Giulia GTV, bought new by me in 1967, that has the same 1600 cc engine as the GTA. Over the years I had to replace various bits and pieces (mainly bodywork) and although I always coveted a GTA it never occurred to me to transform my GTV into a GTA – and certainly not for 60 k +! It's been on the road since mid-December 1967 and although these days it tends to be a dry-weather car I can safely say that it is the best car I've ever had – and probably will have…

  4. The classic car market is awash with “tribute” and “replica” cars these days,everything from Shelby Mustangs to Mini Coopers and so long as no-one is trying to pass these vehicles off as the real thing wheres the harm? By all means spend 60k+ on a genuine GTA if you can find one,but you may find yourself reluctant to drive something so rare and valuable with any vigour.My own rather scruffy GTV 2000 is without doubt the most rewarding and satisfying car I’ve ever driven,a completely rebuilt and uprated version sounds very desirable.Not a GTA?no-one is saying they are.Not a classic?Ridiculous!