English breakfast with an Italian icon
Recently I photographed and wrote a story on a 1971 Porsche 911T Coupe, almost immediately I was contacted by Mark Poluta saying his 1968 Alfa Romeo Spider 1300 Junior finished in Rosso Alfa is feeling a little left out.
If you have come across my portfolio of work, you will know that I am no stranger to Italian sports cars, I even acquired the nickname Ferrari Fourie back when I was still studying photography. Yet one Italian marque seems to have eluded me for quite a few years now and that brand is Alfa Romeo. This is why when Mark contacted me; I jumped at the opportunity to capture this little gem.
Alfa was founded back in 1910 and got involved with motorsport in the following year, throughout the decades Alfa has produced some of the most iconic cars within the production and racing realms, even Enzo Ferrari started his career in the motoring industry as a factory racing driver with Alfa Romeo in 1920. All of this has solidified the common belief amongst car enthusiast that you can’t be a real ‘petrol-head’ unless you have owned at least one Alfa Romeo throughout your life.
The current custodian of the 51-year-old Italian, Mark Poluta, has taken it even one step further. Not only did he acquire the little cigar-back Spider in 2012 to add to his collection, he embarked on a 14-month search to find the perfect body shop to assist him in the restoration and return the little car in almost every detail, back to what the car would have looked like leaving the factory in Milan in 1968. Although Mark is the third owner since new, the car has never had any type of restoration work applied to it before him and thus made his exploration underneath the bodywork all that more exciting.
While as you can see in the pictures, the car is damn near perfect in every way, although Mark is firm in his belief that the car will always be 95% complete. With detailed knowledge acquired through removing, cleaning and refitting every single bolt and nut on the little red convertible, he has a trained eye for detail when it comes to the Alfa marque, which quickly became apparent on my brief yet enjoyable time spent with both him and the car at the Velmoré Hotel & Spa in the West of Pretoria.
Although there is a stigma surrounding the reliability of classic or vintage Alfa Romeos, Mr Poluta does not believe so as he has only had a positive experience owning the 1300 Junior. He added that service parts are readily available and also cheap, which makes the classic Alfa an easy car to own and maintain.
Now although the 65 kW coming from the 1290 cc four-cylinder engine is nothing spectacular by today’s standards, this particular model’s appeal does not and never did come from its performance but rather the elegant and timeless design from Pininfarina. From the moment it came into sight to long after the photo shoot the little red Spider had me smiling and excited to get home and look at it again on my computer screen. While I usually find myself in awe, even somewhat intimidated when in the presence of Alfa’s cousins, Lamborghini and Ferrari, the 1300 Junior seemed a lot more approachable and humble in its character. And while this little Alfa has been restored to near perfection, Mark is not afraid to take it out on the roads and have some drop-top fun in the African sun.
