Youthful enthusiasm overrode commonsense when I foolishly announced my intention of carrying out the restoration myself.  Some of the old hands must have had a good laugh at my expense.  A few hours spent taking ancillary pieces off the car were enough to convince me that however the work was going to progress it would not be my technical skill (Or lack of it) that saw the project through, nor would it be by the assistance of a fat wallet.  A current house restoration was taking up most of the spare cash around.  At that time vintage cars were still lurking in barns and that initial restoration was mainly financed by seeking, finding and selling these buried treasures.

The coachwork on the car as originally found was a rather handsome James Young four seat drophead coupe.  Unlike several cars around today, the rear was of “Bathtub” type rather than the flared out style.  The wings were without running boards but beautifully streamlined into the bodywork on the rear of the front pair.  Unforturnately the body was in a sad state and an easy solution came in the shape of the Yimkin body that Mic Comber had on his team 1500 which he was going to dispose of in order to fit a Mille Miglia type. 

This was duly purchased and since trim, windscreen, wings etc., were included and would drop straight onto the rolling chassis, this solved a lot of problems.  The chassis was originally cleaned up and worked on by Alan Wragg who then owned Sherwood Restorations at Blidworth, Notts.   The car then went to Kim Argyle, an ex-March Engineering restorer in Oxfordshire, best known for work on Bugattis who put it on the road.  One very early teething problem was the clutch seizing. The chaps gamely undertook the work, which is a pig of a job and involves taking the body off and disconnecting the rear axle/torsion tube. The one integral part that could not be incorporated in the newly presented UV 3349 was it’s original bulkhead which was for many years hanging in the garage.  This turned up much later still with the chassis plate attached incorporated into a “Bitsa” car and the first I knew of it was when someone was trying to claim ownership of a car bearing the chassis number of UV 3349. 

Events over the years both at home and abroad have given me enormous pleasure and more than a few anxious moments.  I well remember descending a 1 in 4 hill in Jersey while on an event.  The brakes completely disappeared, handbrake included.  Managing to scrub a little speed off on the grass banks, I bullied the gears down into first but could not stop completely.  A traffic policeman on duty at the bottom of the hill was facing away from us and didn’t appear to hear the not very raucous Bosch horn. There were substantial stone walls on each side of the narrow road, so no chance of veering over.  I had visions of being an unwilling guest of the Bailiwick of Jersey for some considerable time when he fortunately turned our way and cheerfully waved us through, never guessing how close he had come to adding to the island’s accident statistics – Ignorance is bliss!

Those fortunate enough to have driven a 1750 Alfa will know exactly what I mean when I say that it is one of the few cars of that era that give the impression of being an extension of ones self on the road.   During the years of fun when I ran the car with the Yimkin body, she may not have been much of a “Looker” as some of the more glamorous cars around at the time, but performance wise she did not disappoint.  One very good reason why the engine had plenty of zip was the magic touch of “Wilkie” Wilkinson who I shall always be proud to have called a good friend of mine.  He used to enjoy tinkering with the car and often the car would be at my other good chum, Roy Gibson’s Roman Garage while we all mulled over some minor (occasionally major) problem.  Anyone, after a simple uncomplicated lifestyle, is well advised to steer clear of vintage motors, they are for everlasting presenting one with the unexpected (usually a large bill). 

In 2004 I accepted an offer from young friends of mine to buy into the car with the express intention of injecting enough capital to restore the car and fit a new body to Zagato specifications. With authentic drawings in hand I approached Derby coachbuilder Mick Sharpe and over 2004/05 with much chasing of bits and pieces and debate on interpretation of the drawings, the bodywork gradually emerged. As the original bulkhead had long since gone missing, a new one had to be constructed. It is rather complex with a separately fitted scuttle tank which houses the gravity fuel feed on a similar system to an Autovac. Eventually in May of 2005 the bodywork was ready to go to Lichfield coachpainter, John Ward, who did a splendid job. My original thought to have the finish in the darker Italian Racing Red went by the board when the flamboyance of the lines seemed to demand a rather more dramatic colour, so Rosso Red it was.


The trim/upholstery was done by Stan Chilton also of Derby. Stan would not mind me saying that he is one of the old school and would normally be well into retirement. I am so glad that he isn’t, his work was brilliant and carried out exactly to my wishes. For the last stage of restoration, the car travelled down to Swindon where my friends the Days put in the fuel lines and finished off the electrics.  The car took longer that expected (don’t they always?) but one bright September day we proudly drove the car home from Swindon feeling that all the hassle and cost had been well worth it and UV 3349 looked every bit as good as she had always performed.
Just prior to the car being finished I happened to be staying with a long time friend in Devon when he unearthed some photos showing the car in it’s original James Young clothing parked by a bridge.  I was delighted to see these and asked if he knew where the car had been photographed.  “Yes” He said  “About 4 miles down the road, a friend of mine owned it in the 50’s and took the photo”  It turned out the a chap by the name of Michael Gaudin who owned Wrangaton Motors which was on the A38 Exeter to Plymouth road and still lived up the road.  Correspondence followed and Michael was delighted to know what the car was doing now and made me promise to bring it to see him as soon as possible. He was a mine of information and told me that the car had been supercharged when he owned it and how much he had enjoyed driving it. 

Piecing together what he was telling me and what I already knew, the stitched patch near the front end of the crankcase was not there when he had the car and we have to suppose that sometime between him disposing of the car and me finding it, the engine must have had a major disaster at which point the crank was probably replaced and the blower taken off.  One has to bear in mind that spare engines were not that difficult to find in the 50’s and it would have been relatively simple to switch all the ancillaries over from an unblown engine along with the crank.  This has to be supposition since one cannot be sure.  However, this information made me all the more determined to put the car back to supercharged specification and with this end in mind all of the parts, most of them newly made are at the moment being fitted.  Fellow 1750 owner Robin Toone very kindly loaned his blower for comparison while his engine was having essential surgery.  Indeed many of my long time friends, have been of great help and without their unstinting support, this rather daunting project could never have been undertaken.  As a group, the vintage Alfa owners are a brilliant bunch and as much fun to be around as the cars themselves. Hopefully UV 3349 will be back out in late Spring ready for some more fun. .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Footnote: Information has recently come to light that Michael Gaudin advertised the car as A supercharged 1750 with unsupercharged engine when selling it.  He had been adamant that he had run the car supercharged so I can only assume that since he states in the advert that he had carried out and extensive engine rebuild, this was when the car was "De-supercharged".  He could have been forgiven for being somewhat confused in his dates etc., since he was in his eighties when he was conversing and writing me letters on the subject.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Heading photo by Ken Carrington