Garth Stein, 56-year-old Seattle-based novelist, on his 1974 Alfa Romeo GTV 2000, as told to A.J. Baime.
I have always loved the Alfa Romeo GTV 2000. Even when I was a kid, I loved the body style. When I was writing my book “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” I mentioned this to a friend who was a caretaker of a well-known collection of classic cars. He pulled out a small diecast version of the Alfa and said, “Here! Take this!” So all the while I was writing that book, I had the toy car on my desk.
In 2011, I found a GTV 2000 on eBay. I had some friends in an Alfa Romeo club and they took a look at it for me. I bought it and quickly realized that when you buy a 1974 Italian car with 140,000 miles on it, you are going to need to do some work on the parts that make it go. My friends and family made fun of me when I bought it, like I was having another midlife crisis.