Alfa Romeo Owner's Bible: A Hands-On Guide to Getting the Most from Your Alfa (Paperback)

by Pat Braden (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
If you own or lust after an Alfa Romeo, this book is for you.

Few cars evoke the passionate experience that comes with owning an Alfa. Accelerating at 100-rpm increments just to hear the musicality of the rising exhaust note. Finding corners where the tires bite like newly sharpened skates on clean ice. Admiring the sensuous body styling and engine castings-all compound curves and aluminum alloy, so often copied in the designs of lesser cars.

Alfas can also be demanding, frustrating cars to own. They are not so much unreliable, as difficult to understand and troubleshoot when problems do arise. "Alfa Romeo Owner's Bible" gives you precisely the kind of experienced information you need to serenely buy, maintain and drive an Alfa.

Head gasket repairs, valve adjustments, camshaft timing, carburetor and SPICA fuel injection tuning, and driveshaft "donut" replacement are just a few of the many maintenance and repair procedures explained and backed up by hundreds of step-by-step photos. This tremendously valuable information is crucial to owning, understanding and driving an Alfa, even if you don't work on it yourself.

You will also get expert advice on things you should know when buying a used Alfa-specifically, where to look for rust problems, or signs of neglect or abuse-plus high-performance tuning for street and track, choosing accessories, and fascinating marque history.

Author Pat Braden has owned and maintained more than 50 Alfas and is a columnist and former editor of Alfa Owner magazine. Though many fine books have been published on Alfa Romeo, this is the only book that provides you with the experienced, hands-on guidance you need to keep you in the driver's seat. No Alfa lover should be without it.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Bentley Publishers (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0837607078
• ISBN-13: 978-0837607078
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #568,756 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction, January 24, 2001

By	Karl Matthias "karmat" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For those who have a decent understanding of how cars mechanicals are laid out, but who know nothing about Alfa in particular, this book is an EXCELLENT resource. Pat covers all the unique features of the Alfa engines in an interesting and engaging style of writing. The focus is slanted much more toward the 4 cylinder cars, but if you own a V6 you will find information here which is also very useful. Pat says right in the beginning of the book that you should also have a shop manual handy and that he will not repeat that information here. If you didn't read the introduction, as some people here appear not to have done, you would not know this. This is why you should read the introduction: it tells you what to expect from the book. If you are new to Alfa and you want to get your hands dirty, this is an excellent reference. Pat even gives good strategies for the hobbyist to work on things without the special Alfa tools required in some places. The hobbyist is also warned about which parts are dangerous, difficult to work on properly, or should be taken to a skilled shop for repair. He will not steer you wrong. All-in-all this is a fine work on the subject!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended work by an authority on the topic., October 5, 2000

By	"alfoonery" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

An excellent work by a well-known authority Pat Braden whose previous efforts include books on Abarth, Ferrari (Daytonas), and Weber. He is currently a regular columnist for the Alfa Owner, publication of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, and the Sports Car Market Magazine.

No single work could possibly cover all the mechanical aspects of post war four cylinder Alfa Romeos (contrary to the previous posting's allusion) and neither does this. For that one can purchase one of the many shop manual reprints available from several independent Alfa parts suppliers. On the otherhand, Pat's work is an excellent (and interesting) overview of the subject written in the friendly conversational tone he is known. So buy a copy, sit in your favorite chair or under your favorite car, and be entertained.....

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bible? Anecdotes is more like it., July 2, 1999

By A Customer

Pat Braden comes across as an affable, mellow Californian with a true affection for the cars. For anyone wanting to solve a particular problem, however, he comes up short. To call this book the "Bible" implies a sense of completeness that is just not here. "One Alfa Romeo Owner's Collection of Anectodes" is more like it. He spends more time on the cars he happens to like (i.e. Giulias) than the bigger selles, and ones most likely to be owned by readers (i.e. 2000 spyders). The most egregious example of incompleteness? No circuit diagrams! Oh, sure, the description of the book advertises them. What are they? The most over simplified block diagrams of a starter circuit that anyone with the most basic knowledge of cars could draw from memory. And some are not even labled (sloppy). But Pat seems like a nice guy. He definitely loves the cars, and has clearly spent many many hours in his garage going over them. So if you want to commune with a fellow Alfista in print, and sigh and smile, go ahead and buy this book. If you have an actual problem to solve, better go elsewhere.