Aug. of '98, I had just bought a 73 Berlina (The General) with recent paint but needing chassis and mechanical work. It will make a great sleeper........for somebody else. For low and behold a month later, possibly the coolest Berlina I'd ever heard of, comes up for sale, .

Mortimer
"Run Fast Or Be Eaten!"

MORTIMER-II a 1971 Alfa Romeo Berlina

Well, after all, it is a legend, isn't it??.......

When the day arrived for it to be picked up by the trucking co........

The steering box broke, moving it out to the carrier. Here's what it looked like. These photos from Phil.
It seems the car had been parked against a wall and that turning the steering wheel while one of the wheels is "curbed" is A BAD THING.

After market Reproductions
142 Nevada St.
El Segundo  CA  90245
1-310-322-2688

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In for a penny, in for a pound......
Mortimer was delivered on July 6th 2002.

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7-6-02

Joe Cantrell applies special care to Mortimer's finish

    The battery was dead. there appears to be a short in the system.

     It required several jump-starts to to start the beast (blown headgasket)
            (thanks to Joe Cantrell and Joe Kollman for their dedicated efforts.
    Joe K had the honors of shuttling it home  I drove it around the block before parking it.

    The brakes are scary. Supposedly they work but require a lot of effort and or warm-up.
        The booster's been disabled.....the bias bar flops around loose........gotta be a better way.

     Bias bar/Pedal box project

Engine/Driveline......Swap

    The hot 2 Lt. assembled 20 years ago, will power yet another car, it's forth. As this incarnation will see limited street use, it gets a hotter intake cam for higher RPM operation, the bigger intake manifold, and makes good use of the already bored out throttle bodies.
    Output through the new aluminum flywheel, the tiny "late" starter, standard pressure plate, and a ( drum roll)
GTA gearbox

The working end.....GTA headers, Tilton flywheel

45 mm DCOE curved air horns fit nicely over the outside of the Spica throttle bodies

 

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10/4/02
Tank filter

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11/26/02
Marelliplex

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1/23/03
The need has arisen for a daily driver and Mortimer is to fill the role. A quiet, stock looking car is needed, but I have mortimer instead.
In goes the already prepared motor, flywheel and CR transmission.
Brakes should work, if unknown. Suspension off the spider, with it's adjustable arms, springs and shocks and new bushes (relatively) should bring the suspension up to snuff.

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3-12-03
    Going through everything is good because you find lots of stuff that needs fixing. I general, i replaced filters and hoses everywhere i could think of including some 30 year old fuel line. Made the headlights, horn, brake lights, signals work
.    Among the cool things i found were solid bushes for the front of the trailing arms (although I put in good arms with stock bushes) Very cool also are the aluminum hats for the front brakes and aluminum lug nuts for the wheels. Amusing to find the steering arm miss aligned on the new steering box. PITA to fix but was happy to do so.
 I selected the tallest (after market) spring from my collection and actually seem the stiffest.  the shankle springs raise the car a couple inches after adding the appropriate rubber spacers. if walker evans can win an autocross with a 4x4 truck, how low does it need to be?  Raising the car will help avoid road hazards and increase the stealth factor. With the stiff springs, it's not going to hurt the handling too much. Adjustable upper A-arms and the correct left side spring bucket was sourced from my collection. The koni reds that came with the car, completed the revision. I should have waited until the motor was installed and running to mess with the distributor. That said, the NEW RACING CAM  is usable in a daily driver/street application -it seems that to avoid detonation with this configuration of cam on the intake and euro ex...... retarded intake of at least 108. WOW.

3-12-03

    Going through everything is good because you find lots of stuff that needs fixing. I general, i replaced filters and hoses everywhere i could think of including some 30 year old fuel line. Made the headlights, horn, brake lights, signals work
    Among the cool things i found were solid bushes for the front of the trailing arms (although I put in good arms with stock bushes) Very cool also are the aluminum hats for the front brakes and aluminum lug nuts for the wheels.
Amusing to find the steering arm miss aligned on the new steering box. PITA to fix but was happy to do so.
I selected the tallest (after market) spring from my collection and actually seem the stiffest.  The shankle springs raise the car a couple inches after adding the appropriate rubber spacers. if walker evans can win an autocross with a 4x4 truck, how low does it need to be?  Raising the car will help avoid road hazards and increase the
stealth factor. With the stiff springs, it's not going to hurt the handling too much. Adjustable upper A-arms and the correct left side spring bucket was sourced from my collection. The koni reds that came with the car, completed the revision.
                I should have waited until the motor was installed and running to mess with the distributor. That said, the NEW RACING CAM  is usable in a daily driver/street application -it seems that to avoid detonation with this configuration of cam on the intake and euro ex...... retarded intake of at least 108. WOW.

    With 11:1 compression, the engine produces enough torque that the lightness of the aluminum flywheel is not an issue. I should have installed the 911S pressure plate at the same time.
    The old style push down for reverse gearshift is quaint but more annoying than I imagined. I may pull the tranny just to change the tail housing to a (more) modern shift mach, and do the p/plate at the same time.

11-2-07

    Not been good at documenting my work since then. I recently completed the Cordell swaybar mod to the front. add stock shocks back onto the front. (already took the konis off the back) replaced the front discs (were very worn) installed the bumpers, relocated the battery to stock (trunk) location, Installed the megacycle ex cam. put a stock temp guage and clock in it years ago, along w/ removing all the blacked out crome parts and mirrors and swapped out the gear lever for a late one which doesn't rattle.

"To Do"
 
 

        New mounting box for MC's and bias bar.
        Modified pedal box (clutch pedal moved 1/2" to left for my big feet)
        electrical short
            Eh, I dunno. I yanked out a bunch of wires. we'll see.
                Going to add a relay for the starter/cold start solenoid.
                Simple on/off switch for the electric fan
                Fusible link  for power source at starter.
            remaining non-standard electrical items are
                the headlights - which is already is wired to a relay system, directly from the alternator.
                the trunk mounted battery
        install radiator and electric fan.
        New speedo cable and hook up tach cable
        Install 911S pressure plate
        Replace headlight relay
        Adjustable upper A arms with lower bush in inside upper position
 

Update 2-28-08

    Runs great made a BUNCH of changes.

    ignition advance. Turns out it was WAY retarded. back to 36 degrees as a starting point. Lay in a stock of octane boost.
    install mega cycle exhaust cam in place of "pittatore 11 mm".
    replace front rotors.
    Install second sway bar on existing front.
    Remove koni reds and install stock front shocks.

    the aluminum flywheel isn't as big a problem as the power curve is. I could have used the 911s P Plate and it wouldn't have been too much.
     An hydraulic hand brake  for the rear calipers would be a worthwhile mod.
 
 

From Phil, with his permission