Work Horse Taking A Little Breather And A Gulp

[Timo04]

Even though this is not a Lancia I thought you fellow Italian car fans would be interested in this. Here is a pic of my daily driver taken yesterday at a Carmel Highlands, CA filling station. This '94 Alfa Romeo 164 LS has been outstanding daily transportation for me. It has 194,711 miles on the clock (all original engine/transaxle) and is still ticking strong. I know of a couple of other LS's in the area with well over 200K miles on them and they are even in nicer condition than my car. The owners refuse to sell or put them in the bone yard as they are such comfortable and reliable transportation. The neat thing about this Alfa is the faster you go the better it gets, it is absolutely rock steady at freeway + speeds. Last year I purchased a part for my Lancia Scorpion from a local e-Bay seller. This fellow loved German cars and praised their reliability. When he saw my Alfa and learned how many miles were on it, he was in almost total disbelief.

[Tony K]

Very nice, Tim -- especially the color! I like 164s, have wanted to buy one now and then, but all of the ones that turn up for sale here are 1) red or black, 2) rusty, and 3) neglected. One of these days . . . :)

[1,6 HF]

Tim,

Absolutely stunning; hard to imagine it's close to 200k miles. And IMHO that color is much better than the usual red over black color scheme, one of which I saw on the street here in LA a couple days ago.

[upnatum]

I've spent a lot of time working in Italy and always wanted a 164 TSpark after seeing them there. The problem on the East Coast, of course, is rot so I stuck with German stuff as my daily drivers.

[DJ]

I've spent a lot of time working in Italy and always wanted a 164 TSpark after seeing them there. The problem on the East Coast, of course, is rot so I stuck with German stuff as my daily drivers.

I've seen a lot of 164s all over the country and have only seen one with ANY rust and it was on the trailing edge of the trunk lid. I've been told by Alfa experts that this is because they used galvanized steel. Have you actually seen rotted 164s or just assumed that they would?

I do miss my 164 but the Prima Edizione makes things bearable. :-)

[upnatum]

Good points DJ. Having owned a Beta Coupe that the front end literally rusted out of , I wasn't pre-disposed to take a chance on a T-Spark. It's one thing to own these Italian beauties for pleasure, another as daily drivers in the Northeast. You'll, of course, recall your comment that even your stainless steel muffler system was corroding since you moved East ;-)

[DJ]

Good points DJ. Having owned a Beta Coupe that the front end literally rusted out of , I wasn't pre-disposed to take a chance on a T-Spark. It's one thing to own these Italian beauties for pleasure, another as daily drivers in the Northeast. You'll, of course, recall your comment that even your stainless steel muffler system was corroding since you moved East ;-)

Oh, I certainly agree. I was just curious as to whether you'd actually seen a 164 with bad rust because I've not. Wondering if I've just seen lucky examples or if they really do hold up better than some other cars.

[Timo04]

Gents, Thanks for the kind words about the 164. It has really become like a trusty old friend to me. I suppose there will come a day when I will have to move on to something more practical (practical as far as parts availability).