Chris Obert
autocrosser, X driver
Hey Chris, what's the story on the partial Fiat Moretti next to it? Such a neat looking car!
I wondered if anyone would spot it...
The Yellow one was Pat Braden's car. He bought it new from the Moretti Brothers in Torino in 1967, drove it a lot in Italy, then brought it with him when he moved to the states. After Pat moved to Southern California he wanted to restore it, and had bought quite a few parts for that purpose.
When Pat went onto that great Alfa writer spot in the sky, his widow called me up. I arranged to buy the car, and to pick it up when I went to LA at the first of November for the Best of France and Italy show, and sent her my deposit. When I showed up with my transporter and trailer, she told me that a real nice man from Australia had dropped by and needed a few parts. So, since the car was so rusty she knew I would not mind.
That real nice man had brought along a sawzall, and he took the entire right rear corner of the car, the special distributor, the new windscreen glass, and the new floors. And a lot of other small bits...
Needless to say... We negotiated a new deal, and I brought the car home.
Did you catch "The yellow one"?
Originally there were 28 Moretti Sportiva first series cars imported into North America by the importer, and Pat's car was not one of them. From those 28, I have a white(red) one, a blue one, and a red one. The white and blue ones need to be restored, and will need a lot of the parts the yellow car has. So all is not lost. Someday I will either take on those projects, or sell the entire package. With the amount of work that keeps being brought to me, someday may be a while off!
The red one I will keep for my own collection, and I have big plans for it. I hope to get it done before I go onto that great racetrack in the sky!