1.5ti Green Cloverleaf, the last of the sud range. 3 door hatch back Silver with Black & Red Ti interior. 105bhp 1.5 water cooled flat four boxer motor. Sounds great hence the name.

Bought it from a bloke in Barnsley who restored it when it was 5 years old, he then ran it as a toy for the next 5 before finding its way to me. I ran it as a daily driver, ungaraged until 2000, when I bought an Alfa 164 24v 3.0 V6 as the daily driver.

The sud then got garaged and I started to take it apart ready to resto rod it. Currently it is still there minus all but the engine, gearbox,wheels, front and rear glass. Its parts are stored in various different locations awaiting time money and my new Garage being built!

Ok its got some rot in the floor pan, rear wheel arches, and inner sills, but actually is not as bad as many suds can and do get.

The plans are, rebuild the shell, the original engine and close ratio box, but only install the box. In the 1.5's place will go a 1.7 out of a 33 model though not sure yet whether to go 8 or 16 valve. If we go 16 Valve then it goes petrol injection not carb (boo hiss- you can't beat twin 40 dellortos), and also you really need to go to 33 model outboard brakes and black box ecu. The exhaust is a BLS stianless from aft of the manifold, and I may well get a stainelss manifold made up too.

I was going to restore and then just lower and hot motor this, but now plans seem to include a cage for a weekend race/track day car, so the interior may never make it back in.

If it does it will be restored with black leather and Ti cloth from a later model, with decent quality carpets and not the foul nylon thing that was the original.

Whatever happens Bianco Autos just outside of Reigate will do the mechanical work with Delta Autos in SW London doing the body restoration and paint to better than original standards, just with the inner wheel arch lips rolled to avoid fouling wider wheel and tyre combinations.

I've got two different sets of wheels- one set for summer and one for winter with mud and snow tyres on.

Both sets of wheels are from Alfa 33 cloverleaf's, the winters are the multi hole plain centred ones from a later 33 1.7, the summers being the original pattern "telephone dial" wheels off an early 33 1.5 ti as these are able to take normal dimension tyres and not the special metric michelin tyres that the orginal Sud wheels ran with (I've still got these too somewhere).

The springs are all uprated Just Suds lowered springs on all 4 corners with spax adjustable (or koni- not finally decided) shocks.

Brakes will be vented and grooved with different calipers but probably the inboard front ones and out board rears that were standard just in this case uprated.

If we go to outboard front brake discs then we are looking at a 33 front set up

Motor wise if we go 16V then we should get 160BHP straight after the bolt in, 8V is 130 plus BHP although that depends if we then go the vernier timing of cams and gas flowed heads route, these can go all the way up to 180 BHP with the right mods.

All in a small and light (compared to modern cars) package it should lead to fun and frolics once again. This'll be the last time of restoration and it'll be garaged and pampered once done. Will keep you posted on the developments.