Alfo Romeo trouble

Sir,

I have read with relish your comments on Alfas, plus the explanation from Thomson & Taylor. I purchased an Alfa Romeo Spyder 2.6 about a year ago from Taylor & Crawley. Apart from the fact that it took me nearly six months to get overriders (two contusions to the front grille forced this upon me), I discovered pitting on the chrome cluster surround to the rear lights and reflectors. This was followed by a similar malady to the chrome strips round the windscreen and deep rust on the supporting bars to the hood. In addition, I was gathering an excellent crop of mildew inside, while the paint was peeling off the edges of both the driver’s door and the passenger’s door.

Plug trouble was a built-in accessory which I managed to get over fairly simply by buying new plugs. However, when the rust became slightly embarrassing, I took the matter up with T. & C. They said that I should go along to Chipstead in the Lower Richmond Road. So I went along and saw a representative of the firm, who said “right, I’ll make a note of this and send comments to Alfas.” This apparently he did because Alfa wrote back to me and more or less said “more bloody fool you for not complaining about these items while the car was in warranty.”

I digested this for some time and then wrote back saying that if all the complaints had appeared while within warranty, I would naturally have taken steps, but as I could not have foreseen rust appearing after warranty expiration, I could not very well have complained.

Any time you want to have a look at the 2.6 after one year, you are welcome to do so. I am, of course, consoled that Alfa and their distributors are vitally concerned with every customer’s satisfaction.

Bramdean.
L. R. P. Landsberg.