Wheeler Dealers host Mike Brewer has revealed he “couldn’t believe” his luck after finding a stunning classic Alfa Romeo on the side of the road.
The TV star quickly turned around and made an offer on the spot to secure the iconic Alfa Romeo GTV.
Only around 41,000 GTV models were ever produced and it is believed just over 1,000 remain in the UK.
The rare model became an even better find when Mie discovered it had only one previous owner.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Mike explained: “On my way to work a road was shut so I had to go down this long diversional route and I’m following the arrows to get to where I’ve got to be to film with the guys and I whip past an Alfa GTV on a driveway.
“It just had ‘for sale’ on it and I thought about it, turned around and went back. The guy came out of the house because I was standing on his driveway and it ended up being one owner from new, 1999 Alfa GTV three-litre V6, one owner from new.
“I couldn’t believe it. If that diversion route hadn’t taken me that route to go to work that day I would never have seen that car.
“That ends up being in the show and we do an amazing job and take it to a racetrack in Italy after.”
The Alfa Romeo GTV was produced by the Italian marque between 1996 and 2004. Capable of up to 240bph, the model could reach 0-60mph in just over six seconds.
Jeremy Clarkson was previously a fan of the stunning machine, reportedly describing the GTV as “one of the best sports cars of its time” back in 1998.
Mike added: “Picture what that looks like when I bowl into work that day and Elvis and all the rest of the team are focussing on finding a Ford Transit and I pull in and go ‘guys, stop everything I’ve seen an Alfa GT we are going to buy it’. We now have to change tact and go in a different direction, it’s quite funny.”
The Alfa Romeo GTV was fully retired by the team before being flown out to Italy for a test drive. Screenshots ahead of the episode airing show the duo with the car at the Autodromo di Varano near Parma.
Marc Priestley, nicknamed Elvis, admitted the crew had often decided to ditch vehicles they were planning to buy when noticing something better.
He commented: “Sometimes you just see a car by the side of the road with a big for sale sticker on it. There are some great examples of that where we’ve actually going to look at one car and ended up with something completely different. Like everybody out there it’s not all just pre-planned and thought about in advance, sometimes you think on the fly you just see something and it works.”
Wheeler Dealers airs Mondays at 9pm on Quest and is available on Discovery+.
