Rusty But Trusty

If you’re finding that the cars you liked from the 1960s and 1970s that you liked are escaping your reach, the fully-depreciated cars of the 1980s are worth a look. Yes, the 1980s hosted some of the worst examples of stickers-n-spoilers performance packages, tacky gold trim and excess chrome on luxury cars, and engines detuned for the still-new emissions laws. But it was also the first time turbocharging could be called mainstream, and some improvements like electronic fuel injection made for much better reliability, performance, and starting. Of course, those also complicated diagnosis of problems. For a car with funky Italian styling, one of the best-sounding engines of its decade, and handling that was, like, totally rad, check out this 1988 Alfa Romeo Milano Verde for sale for $2500 in Cedar Falls, IA.

How many Alfas were sold in Iowa, and of those, how many still exist? The US got the bulk of V6 production, which is awesome since the Busso V6 is musical, but unfortunate for the more common (in the rest of the world) 4-cylinder. Alfa presumably thought they weren’t mainstream enough to sell the (already-EPA-approved for the spider) four-cylinder to compete with BMW’s 318i and Mercedes’ 190E. A sort of modern Alfetta sedan with the durability of the four-cylinder would make a cheap, fun classic without all the hubris surrounding timely replacement of the timing belt.

That said, this car has been enthusiast owned, and benefits from a new water pump, timing belt and tensioner, battery, fuel pump, injectors, and center and rear exhaust sections. Brakes and gaskets are also new, so you should be set to go for many miles. Said to need repairs to the air conditioning and replacement of the sagging headliner, it’s in otherwise good shape. The seller does not mention rust, but you should expect it on a snow belt sedan.

Here’s the amazing part – this 192,000-mile car has what looks to be a pretty tidy interior. The dash looks to be free of cracks, the arm rest on the center console is in good shape, and most impressively, the Recaro seats look to be free of any signs of wear. Perhaps the center material has been replaced, but as it was impossible to get for quite a long time, perhaps the owners ran the car with seat covers?

Neat little detail – does this US Forces – Turkey plate come with the car? It would be interesting to know if the seller actually kept this car in Turkey while in the service. It does seem he has some experience with the more unusual Alfas, with a variety of 33s listed in his signature under this listing on the AlfaBB. A newborn is forcing the sale of the car – that in combination with the approaching winter means you might be able to get a steal on this 3-liter bruiser.

Tags: alfa romeo, Feature, italian, milano, sedan, verde

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