Hi everyone. My name is Bob Amos and I live in Southern California, USA. I own a Series V and have had the vehicle since 1979. It was resored in 1981 and did the show circuit. Unfortunately, I took it off the circuit in 1988 and she has been sitting in the garage since. I know, am I some kind of fool, you must be asking? Well, g otta agree, I ask myself that very question all the time. I have a number of other vintage cars so my time has been spent driving these and not the Alpine. But, there really is a reason. The brake booster has an internal leak and I always told myself that as soon as I repair the thing it'll be on the road again. But, since they are not an "over the counter" purchase any more it was just easier to forget it. The worst part is... I have been a professional auto mechanic for over 40 years and own a shop that specializes in auto electric and air conditioning. We also do general service. This makes my neglect to my beloved Alpine inexcusable. So I am going to try and mend my ways and actuall start looking for a good hyraulic cylinder that goes on the booster housing. Anyway, Hi again to all of you and I hope to converse with many of the members here.

Hi Bob and welcome to this forum. So next year will be the 20th anniversary when your Alpine became an ex? Well I guess you are lucky to have other vintage cars to drive, but they must be really good cars to forgo the 'pine? Maybe a nice Mustang convertible or an AC Cobra?

I drive my car most days, and when I park up, people, of all ages always come over to chat and admire the car. Its a great ice breaker.

The booster is really a poor excuse as there are plenty of options for sorting these out. If you want to keep the original one you could get a repair kit (as I did), but non-original replacements are also plentiful. You could even bypass it if you needed to (if SoCal laws allow?).

Do let us know when your Alpine returns to the road, and tell us what you think of her after all this time!

Thanks for the warm welcome.. When the Alpine is on the road I will be sure to let the group here know. She's actually drivable as she sits but not to my liking though. The other cars really are not near as exciting as the Alpine. A 63 Chevy Belair, 53 Plymouth Cranbrook, 79 Chevy Monte Carlo (22,000 mile original. My late grandfather's car) A 56 Pontiac Catalina, 54 Plymouth Plaza wagon. Just sold a 78 Midget. Didn't care for the MG as I had to actually fall out of the car to exit it. But I do enjoy driving the lesser excitable cars too. But I recall driving the Sunbeam and loved it. Hope to be doing it real soon.

The booster. I am going to try and keep it original as I have most of the rest of the car. My biggest problem is the hydraulic cylinder on the booster. I installed a kit a number of years ago but the cylinder bores are bad enough to allow it to leak into the booster housing. They just will not clean up. I will either have the cylinder sleeved or gut it and plug the end. Once it is instlalled it will look as if it is operating but will just be a fake unit. Power brakes are really not needed on my car. It has always stopped fine. I just know it is leaking internally and just cannot live with the thought.

Welcome aboard Bob, I'd say you have some pretty interesting cars there, but then I am biased, I'm a Mopar Muscle car fan, in fact, I've only just recently sold my Plymouth Road Runner in order to concentrate on restoring my Series V Alpine.

I am building another quick Mopar on the quiet though!

A Mopar man? I worked for Chrysler for 20 years. Did warranty work on those 68 and later Road Runners. Had a 69 myself many years ago. I remember when you couldn't give them away. No one liked or wanted them. Sure does make one feel old when the cars he worked on when new are now vintage collector cars. Thanks for the welcome.