By Peter Walker

Photos by Peter, Frank Maldari, and Stéphane Reymond

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, long-time AONE member Frank Maldari invited club members to his house for a tech session at which Frank demonstrated tuning the SPICA fuel injection system on his lovely red two-litre 1972 GTV. That session is remembered for the excellent spread of Italian-themed antipasti that Frank offered us, for the clear and fascinating demonstration of how the SPICA system works, and for the disappointment of all involved when we were not able to get the GTV’s engine to run nicely. (How Frank finely did get it to run right is a story for another time.)

In the interest of variety, Frank acquired, during the intervening years, an equally lovely, yellow 1971 GTV. Part of what is interesting about this second GTV is that it is a Canadian-market 1750 GTV. U.S.-market GTVs of the same vintage used SPICA fuel injection, while the Canadian import market still permitted carbureted Alfas. As a result, Frank’s yellow GTV features the same stock dual-carburetor setup found on 1970s and 1980s European-market four-cylinder Alfas. (Frank’s 1750 GTV even features the Euro placement of the oil dipstick, on the passenger side of the engine.) However, as Canada’s roads still used miles in the early 1970s (the change to kilometers came later), the speedometer and odometer of Frank’s Canadian-market GTV read in miles.

Since Frank is in the process of completing the mechanical restoration of his 1750 GTV, he invited AONE members to a tech session in his workplace garage (much more spacious than his home garage) on stripping down, cleaning, and re-assembling the car’s twin Dellorto carburetors. AONE president Greg Stidsen, who like Frank also lives in the Andover-North Andover area, and who has been helping Frank with his 1750 project, promised to bring along a Weber carburetor with which he could supplement Frank’s demonstration.

As a result, Frank’s tech sessions came full circle: from a SPICA injection demonstration fifteen years ago to a carburetor demonstration last month.

Frank’s new, large garage space is roomy enough for a lift, at least two cars, a work bench against the wall, a large work table away from the wall, and a special tank where Frank can plate small parts. There was room as well for another table, nearer the entrance, where Frank had laid out coffee and pastries from Dunkin’ Donuts.

The turnout for the event, on Sunday, March 24, was impressive; in addition to Frank and Greg (and their respective spouses, Michele and Andrea), there were: Santina Caruso, Mike Hollinger, Mark O’Connor, Doug Sondak, Steve Perry, Stefan Gavell, and Peter Walker. (Less impressive was that—if I am not mistaken—only one of us, Greg, came in an Alfa.)

At the large work table, Frank had already laid out the pieces of one of the 1750’s Dellortos. He then demonstrated taking apart the other one. He also showed us how he uses his plating tank and his ultrasound parts cleaner.

Greg favored us with a demonstration on the Weber he had brought, especially of where the richness and idle speed adjustments are and how to do some of the initial settings on the Weber, prior to re-installation.

Frank also explained that his 1750 had not always looked so pretty. He talked us through its body restoration and showed us photos of the extensive process of chasing down all the Canada-sourced rust. Most impressive of all was a photo of the car’s right rear, with the entire outer fender removed so as to reveal and make possible work on the metal underneath.

After the session, for the remaining stragglers, Frank gave a tour of his workplace, a lab that specializes in high-tech coatings, including for military and space uses. Clearly, the complexities of Weber and Dellorto carburetors pale next to the ultra-precise engineering that occurs in the lab!

Frank and Greg organized a very instructive event. I am looking forward to Frank gracing us soon (this is a not-so-subtle hint) with another session, this one on the installation and initial tuning of his 1750’s carbs. Then, once the 1750 is road-tested and all broken in, we have hopes (a second hint) of a comparison article on the restored two-litre injected GTV versus the 1750 carbureted GTV. Those should be highly instructive too.