Alfa Romeo Arna

dollydishmop

Any of these about in Ireland?

Owned one in the UK 12 or 13 years ago.....really regretted selling it (and still do).

Absolutely loved it...loved watching the faces of Nissan Cherry owners as you blatted past them on the motorway, and caught unsuspecting boy racers off traffic lights.

For those not in the know the Arna was the unfortunate lovechild of Alfa Romeo and Nissan Autos (hence A R N A), with the looks and styling of the Nissan Cherry (...erm?)....and Alfa running gear and flat four engine (nice!).

Would love to get my hands on one again :cool:

BrianD3

I have never seen one of these on an Irish road. Several years ago I read that there are very few Arnas surviving in the UK. The stats came from the DVLA and appeared in a magazine in one of those "endangered species" type articles. If there were few of themn then there are probably only a handful left now - at a guess maybe 20 or so?

alfarocks

You'd really be better off getting a well sorted 'Sud or a Sprint tbh.

hi5

There used to be a wine coloured one parked in the Blanchardstown hospital car park back in the late 80's,so at least one existed here:)

--amadeus--

You may not want to look at this

(2:20ish in for teh not so faint of heart!)

Max_Damage

They didn't have much going for it, they used the body of a Nissan (which at the time were known to rust significantly), and the flat-four engine from an Alfa (which lets face it, they aren't exactly reliable). No wonder they were a failure.



All the same, I'd say they are fairly collectable now.

Alfasudcrazy

There's a guy on the www.alfaowner.com website 'Arnaman' - he might know where to find one.

Here is one of his posts - perhaps you can pm him.

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/introduce-yourself/66272-a-quick-re-introduction.html

macplaxton

I used to see about one in the UK last summer around Staines. Seemed in good nick for it's age.

dollydishmop

alfarocks wrote:

You'd really be better off getting a well sorted 'Sud or a Sprint tbh.

No thanks, not interested in one of them.


With regard to reliability, can only speak as i find. Not a big alfa woman so didn't know the flat-4 reputation. Had my Arna 3 years, never ever let me down once...in fact sticks in my mind as one of the most reliable motors I ever owned, and happily sat well above the legal speed limit on motorways for hours on end back and forth to college.. I paid £50 quid for it, after viewing it in the dark, in a pub car park at 10pm on Sunday evening...spent virtually nothing maintaining it, and it flew through every MOT.
Predictably I named him 'Arnie'
I only (stupidly) sold him when I had an insurance payout after a car accident (as a passenger) and as a student who always drove bangers (of which the Arna was one) I thought I'd treat myself to a more modern car. Stupid, stupid woman, really regret letting him go now

Alfasudcrazy, you're a total star! Mwah!

Do-more

Might be worth enquiring with one of the Alfa specialists such as Ti Autos to see if they know of any Arna's knocking around...

I certainly remember seeing some on the road here, but it's a long time ago now!

mike65

Arna is right up there with the never realised Lada/BMC project

Mike.