Update 5/16/13:  I want to thank all of you who acted on this so quickly!  The Bike Barn has heard from several of you while I slept last night and it appears they are now thinking about me and my order again.  I’ll keep you all posted on what transpires.

I don’t know if any of you care, but this engine is just a few numbers off from a frame I have (CB72 13073) -which is how they tended to come from the factory -much like our Giuliettas.  Honda only made about 3000 of these 1961 CB72′s and they are among the most sought after early Hondas.

5/15/2013: All, I bought a rare early Honda motorcycle engine case CB72E 113024 from UK eBay seller ‘The Bike Barn LTD’ and have not received my part.  It’s been 5 months and I am not getting my emails returned anymore.  Unfortunately I bought directly rather than through eBay, and the time window which I can contest the charge through paypal has long since closed. I don’t really have any idea how to make a formal complaint to any UK authorities or anything, so I thought I’d make an appeal here.

Would any UK based reader be interested in giving them a call and seeing if they can get an idea what’s up?  Their phone number is: 01905 622122.  I’m not sure where in the UK they are…

Thanks.

I was taking my monthly cruise of the AlfaBB the other day and found a post by Uncle Rick praising the efforts of partscorrect.com to make gauge inserts for our Giuliettas.  I went to their website and found out that they were local to me and they were David, who I met a few years ago while out in my Sprint.  An email exchange ensued and now I sit with his complete gauge restoration kit on my work table.  It’s a pleasure to report that my high expectations have been greatly exceeded!  These gauge inserts are simply stunning!

On the product explanation/description sheet that came in the box with the parts is the message: “Parts made to be absolutely correct.  Not my interpretation of it… not different because it was easier… just plain not different!  Exact reproductions for enthusiasts!!!” 

The kit:  gauge inserts in a clear plastic that will not yellow in time, asymmetric o-rings that go between the chrome ring and glass, o-rings that go between the gauge body and recessed ring and/or dash (depending on whether it’s a Spider or Sprint), small o-rings that go under the drive mount screws and flat insulating rubber gaskets that go between the speedo or tach drive and gauge housing.

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Automobiles, as Henry Ford understood them, were conceived of as basic transportation, but as automakers emerged and brands began to compete for sales, lines were drawn, classes were formed and image, a mans image of himself, became linked to his* car.  Advertising began to focus on the aspirational longings of it’s target audience, with what has played out to be strange, and as such, interesting results.  (I must digress for a moment here and point out that the above paragraph is true for just about any product.  ’Jeans, as Levi Strauss understood them, were conceived of as basic clothing…’)

“Hey Ladies!  Either of you interested in going for ride in my new car?  The dealer couldn’t supply the ultimate passenger seat accessory.”

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Frequent readers will note that not much was posted to giuliettas.com from early September  through the present.  I have had a few gentle nudges in the form of emails basically asking: “Hey – are you still alive??” and a few donations which I take to be nudges of a different sort (big THANKYOU’s by the way – you know who you are).  Well, what’s going on then?  I turned 40 in mid-September, took a 2 week vacation in New Hampshire, Vermont and NYC, Rufus started daycare upon return ’cause mom went back to work, I moved my shop -which is currently about 50% done, and started a new venture with another start up.  Simply put – my mind and hands have been elsewhere, but now I am ready to get back to it.  What about my projects you ask?  Here’s the latest:

Giulietta Sprint -it’s wintering right now because it needs a full tune up, new tires and I drive it so much I wore out the Denso alternator.  I’m strongly leaning towards painting it in the spring…

A couple of Bay Area oldtimer scruffy Sprints…

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Update 8/28/12: Rufus has been growing, changing and leading me on a new adventure.  Here are some pictures I took this morning when he was in a really good mood.  Note the shirt!

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I missed out of the Monterey weekend festivities again -oh well.  I heard a few Giulietta results come back from the auctions, but am still waiting to hear a few.  Anyone care to comment on some?

I heard from the second to last bidder that the Market 436 lightweight Sprint Veloce sold for $275,000.  Is this accurate?  What was the sale price total with fees?

How did Market 434′s Sophia do at Bonham’s?

I heard Market 433 Spider went for $38,000.

Weren’t there a few SS’s too?

This will mean less to the rest of the world than it does to us here in California, but the state senate is voting March 27th on a bill that would move the exemption cut-off year from 1975 to 1981.  I read about it here. This is BIG news if you are a vintage car enthusiast in California.  If it passes, it will have some interesting ripple effects.  The obvious change is a greatly reduced stress level if you happen to drive a car from this time period.  Getting 75 – 81 cars to pass emissions is notoriously draconian and expensive.  More subtle effects include: registrations of cars that were previously PNO’d or just plain off the record should increase -adding revenue for the state;  the value of some cars from this period will increase (78 Ferrari 308, Lotus Esprit or Alfetta GTV anyone?); there will probably be an uptick in local repair businesses when these cars begin to filter back out onto the road.

A 1976 Lancia Beta coupe in the Italian countryside.  In California, it used to be that if you wanted one of these you searched, (usually in vain) for a 1974 or 1975 model – or deal with the heavily painful emissions tax and hoop jumping.  Now, if this bill passes, just about any Beta coupe you find will be a no-smog deal.  Don’t get me wrong -I grew up in California in the 70′s and remember driving in San Bernardino when the mountains a few miles north were not visible through the brown smog -emissions standards are great, and have done a wonderful job of cleaning things up.  

What would I buy from this era?  Lancia Beta coupe, Alfa Giulietta 1.3 (the one with the GTAJ style over-square engine), Lotus Esprit, Porsche 928, Alfetta GT or Sedan, Ferrari 308 GTS, Fiat 131 or X1/9, Jaguar X? many VW’s etc.

If you are in California and the idea of this bill passing excites you -get the word out and write to your senator or who ever it is that votes in these committees.

3/27/12:  Sold for $8675.  A decent deal if the car is not rusty.

3/10/12: Giulietta Spider 10103 1495*08855. This car is on eBay right now out of New Jersey.  Looks like the usual stalled project, getting only the requisite mediocre red paint job and some dis-assembly before the magnitude of the task set in on the over their head enthusiast or ‘hoping-to-make-a-quick-buck’ restorer and the project was abandoned.  Seller claims the car comes with a lot of parts -but I don’t see any in the pictures that are from a Giulietta.  Make sure you get clarification on what parts are included!

Body looks really good here -nice and straight.  Hood is just set in place.  I kind of like the off white wheels.

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I don’t know how many of you have blogs, or websites, or any idea of the information you get to see, but it’s pretty neat.  I come home from a day of whatever, open my laptop, check my email, the eBay auctions I post for a friend, etc then come here to my blog -but not the blog you see, rather, a control panel where I see how many visitors I’ve had on any given day (1219 page views so far today), total by increment -679,186 ever, 33,710 last month etc; and where the traffic came from and what it looked at.  Today I did this and noticed 19 referrals from an article at Hemmings.  Turns out an interview I did with David LeChance around the recent value gains by Giulietta and Giulia Spiders was posted to their site.  Check it out!

I know the story of this picture, but I can’t remember.  Uncle?