1964 Alfa Romeo 2600

The Sprint is of course the coupé iteration of the 2600, and the prettiest version in our view. This one is a right hand drive version, which marks it out as a pretty rare beast.

This model was the last Alfa Romeo to have a straight six engine, and the Bertone designed Coupé is the most desirable of the tin top flagship Alfas from the period. As an upmarket continent eating Coupé, this Alfa has all the style and class to compete with the best that 1960s classics have to offer.

As is usually the case the Italian language manages to make the most mundane of things sound exotic, panini just means sandwich, for example. The same is true of this Alfa’s exterior colour. Grigio – go on, say it with a Latin flourish and it sounds brilliant. It means, of course, grey.

That said, it is a very classy looking shade of grey and the paintwork on the whole is nice on this 2600. There are faults – a small amount of bubbling on the offside front corner of the bonnet is something we’d want to rectify soon so as to prevent it getting any worse.

There are also some scratches on the nearside rear wing, although these look purely cosmetic so are a less pressing situation. Generally speaking though, the exterior finish on the car looks great, and it’s accompanied by excellent brightwork. Bumpers, grille and trim parts are all shiny and straight.

Cars don’t come with steel wheels these days, which is a shame in our view, as the stylish versions on this Alfa look fabulous. They’re in great condition with a silver painted finish and excellent chrome hubcaps to finish them off.

It’s definitely very Italian Mk2 Jag in here, and none the worse for it. Deep red leather abounds, and although the seats certainly exhibit signs of age, they wear it very well and the interior generally has a lovely patina. And look how stylishly they fold forward to allow ingress of rear passengers – the outer edge cranking towards the middle of the car to give easier access. Very cool, very Italian.

It’s not without its quirks either. We like quirks, they’re one of the things that make classic cars so much fun. In here, the driver’s electric window switch is mounted on the door. Very sensible. And the passenger’s. Well that’s mounted on the nearside of the dash. Why? No idea. Maybe the interior designer had one too many glasses of Montepulciano with lunch and lost his continuity.

Next to the passenger’s errant window switch is an original Motorola radio, which we imagine plays Pavarotti on loop, although we can’t actually confirm this. And a cigarette lighter, naturally.

The aluminium and resin steering wheel is beautiful, as is the interior generally. One could be very happy indeed in here. There are some wear marks on front door cards, the leather on the glovebox could do with some hide food, and the nearside and offside rear arm rests have split along their seams, but with some minor work these issues could be rectified.

Working on the basis that more is more, what could be better than a classic Alfa four-pot twin cam? One with an extra two cylinders, of course – and what a fabulous looking engine it is. Three twin choke Webers have long since replaced the troublesome original Solex carbs, and they add a sonorous flourish to the sweet sounding six.

The Webers breath via simple foam air filters but the original plenum and air cleaner assembly comes with the car and can be seen pictured in the boot. Whether this could be made to fit on the replacement Weber carbs is unsure, but it’s nice to have the original parts, all the same.

The car’s underside has been wax rust proofed and looks to be in in very sound order. There’s also fresh grease oozing from various ball joints and grease nipples, so it’s very likely that the car has been serviced very recently too.

The fuel tank looks new, and the fuel pump also looks like a fairly recent new part, as does the copper fuel line.

Included in the pictures of this car are some showing a bodywork restoration.

This Alfa also comes with its original handbook, lots of old MoT certificates going back many years, and a pile of old tax discs. There is also a large collection of historical invoices detailing work carried out, highlights of which include the following.

Master cylinder repair kit.

2006. Invoice for buying the car – £6281.

2009. New carb mounts, valve cover gasket and electronic distributor – £755.

2010. Modify inlet manifold to accept Weber carburettors. Fit ad tune new carburettors – £1337.

2010. New chrome petrol filler cap, oil/water temp sensor and rear view mirror – €132.

2010. Rebuild clutch slave cylinder and replace thermostat – £501.

2011. Replace distributor – £932.

2011. Repairs to nearside inner front wheel arch – £638.

2011. Brake servicing – £87

2012. Retrim both arm rests – £169.

2012. General servicing work, and repair of brake servo unit – £732.

2013. Major engine overhaul – £5515.

2013. Various new parts including head gasket and exhaust manifold studs – £227.

2013. New piston rings, gaskets and hoses – £929.

2013. Camshaft bearing parts – £809.

2013. Cylinder head pressure testing and machining work – £256.

2014. New thermostat, temperature gauge sender unit, rev counter repair and carburettor tuning – £528.

2014. Rolling road engine tuning – £448. Includes rolling road test sheet showing a maximum of 128.2bhp

Four cylinder Alfas of this period are a reasonably common site at classic car shows and historic motorsport events, but the flagship 2600 is a rare sight in left hand drive form, let alone a right hooker such as this lovely example. It’s a great colour in our view, and we love the lived in but gorgeous interior, which exudes historical vibes with every tiny crease of its deep red leather. One with which to very stylishly stand out from the crowd.

We estimate this car to fetch between £27,500 - £32,500 in auction.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; we are open weekdays 9am-5pm, to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.