Category Archives: History

Market 464: Abarth – Alfa – Colani 1000

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Update 2/14/13: As they must, things seem to always come around.  Henrik pointed out that this car is now on offer for (gulp) €380,000!  Quite a bit more than the auction estimate of a few years ago.  Is this crazy?  I don’t really think so.  A unique (refreshing to be able to use that word without hyperbole) rebody of an already very special car with an Abarth Tubular chassis, Alfa race intended engine rework to 1000cc etc.  It’s a styling that works for some and doesn’t for others -like an Yves St Laurent masterpiece (for seldom do masterpieces satisfy all lookers or readers or…).  It’s kind of a shame that both cars can’t exist.  Do any of the other original Abarth examples survive?

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Eddy sent me this image among some others from Retromobile.  I guess the mismatched wheels are period and thus the way it has to be.

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Where are they now: Sprint 20377

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The recent listing for Sprint 20753 prompted Greg to send me the email I attached below.  45 years have passed since he sold 20377 and he wonders what it has been up to.  Anyone have 20377 in their garage or know who does?  I have 20379 in my garage, but they haven’t kept in touch…

I can be reached at sprints @ giuliettas.com if you do.

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There’s something magical about an old picture of the cars we love.  This one is from the late -1960′s.  I went through my family albums and there are NO pictures of my dads old truck at all from 40 years of ownership.  I like the fog lights on this car.

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Anyone remember me? Sprint Veloce out of Alabama

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I get a lot of email from guys who just bought cars asking me if I’ve seen them before.  Usually the answer is no, not because I haven’t seen the car, but because I’ve seen so many over the last few years that I’m just not sure.  This is a Sprint Veloce, used as a race car in the past then moving to Europe in about 1990.  Anyone recognize it?  Owner would love to hear from you.  Send me an email to get in contact with them.

From the archives:

According to our documentation files, the chassis number AR 1493 E 06923 originally corresponds to an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce, manufactured on the 8th August 1958 and sold on the 16th September 1958 to Hoffman Motor Car Co., New York, U.S.A.
The body colour is “azzurro Riviera” (AR 322).

Got a car that you’d like to try and find info on?  I can post it for you just like this.

Without those numbers this could be my car!  Hood looks to be flat black.  Late 60′s 105 wheels.  Another car headed for restored glory I hope!

Market 148: Cobra-ized early 750 Spider

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Update 5/29/12: This car has reappeared in well-detailed glory on the Alfa BB. There are good photo’s, there are video’s and yet it still is what it is. Is it time yet for a car like this to lose it’s flares, get some chrome chromed and become the car it was made to be in ’58 and not be drastically underwater?  Maybe not yet, but the clock is ticking.  It’s interesting that these cars from early market reports are starting to come around -this one has been hiding for nearly 3 years!.

I say chrome the trim, lose the flares and get some Classicalfa UK Giulietta mags and this car will be something a lot of Alfa guys would love to buy -no guilt for doing the unoriginal, but all the fun of having the unoriginal.

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La V Coppa Sant Ambroeus

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Maurizo sends me a note: “I put this interesting video on YouTube.”  That’s an understatement -this is like the first time I saw the Shell Coup Des Alps video -except a little more lingering on the cars here.  Wow.  How many stills from this film or photographs have I seen from this day 54-ish years ago!

Post a comment with your favorite moment below.

Giulietta Sprint Accessories part 3: the rear seat

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Update 3/27/12: I received a note from Brian today that included these pictures of his Sprint back seat.  He’s getting it redone, but thought we would like to see the originals before they disappear.

This rear seat is in great shape for being original -but still has the usual discoloration from water or whatever.  Here again is the raised headliner bit -as if someone tall enough to need clearance would fit back here.

Looks like the stuffing has died.  Underdash Norelco razor?  I don’t think the bottom cushion is original.  Child seat mount straps or seatbelts seen between the bottom and back on the driver side?

Door panels look really good.  Nice to see a good set of these.

Originally posted 8/16/2008:  A rear seat in a Sprint. This is one of those ‘what were they thinking’ accessories, like a phonograph or an in-dash DVD player. I earlier reported that on one desperate occasion I had 5 people in my Sprint and it was a squeeze of clown car proportions. I am not overly tall or long legged but when I am driving my Sprint there is maybe 3 inches between the back of my seat and the ledge the rear seat would sit on. It can’t be more than six inches with the seat all the way forward. I could see this working for a small child, maybe. It’s possible there was a tax or vehicle registration benefit to having the Sprint be a 4 seater that outweighed the cost of the seat but I’m not sure. I do know that Italian tax and registration laws of this era had all sorts of weird impacts on vehicles, most notably the sub 1300cc and sub 600cc breaks. I’ll explore this at a later date.

Below are two examples of rear seats I’ve come across recently. I’ve probably seen three more in the last year in my scouring the net for cars to write up. I have a feeling that when orders for the rear seat didn’t materialize, Bertone started shipping them with cars to get rid of them. I think all the rear seat cars I’ve seen were 1959 or 60 cars.

Vaguely reminiscent of the rear seats found in GTV’s but with a center fold down arm rest. This one seems to have been redone at some point as the original upholstery would look more like that in the next picture.

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The sincerest form of flattery

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I wasn’t expecting this when Alex in Virginia sent me a link.  I look at kit cars occasionally on eBay to check out the latest in Porsche Laser 917′s and the like, but not often enough to catch all the weirdness that passes through -including this: an Alfa Giulietta Spider treatment kit on a Miata!  I’ve seen lots of Porsche 356 kits, Austin Healey 3000 kits and others, but never Giulietta kit -not that this looks a whole lot like a Giulietta, but you get my meaning.

The quality of the finish isn’t too bad for this sort of thing, and being a Miata, it probably performs admirably.  Knock-offs look like something from the SpyHunter video game.  Center grill looks like a genuine Alfa part.

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Market 358: Early Spider 00647, slightly modified

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Update 1/4/12:  Wow, $6,412!!

Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*00647.  This odd-ball home-brew special is on eBay right now out of Sacramento.  I am going to assume this is all reversible, and only the front end changes will present any challenge not part of routine rust repair.  Title of the auction says ‘Veloce’ but 00647 is not listed as such in d’Amico & Tabucchi.  If the engine is matching numbers to the body -and I believe it is based on the fuel line configuration- this is actually  a pretty good first step toward early Spider ownership in project form.  Me?  I’d vacuum out the leaves and roll as-is to Pebble Beach -you’d turn more heads in this than an 8C 2900.  If you had this car and the Market 216 car, you’d corner a dubious market.

Roof gutter definitely recalls the VW bug.  Too bad they didn’t have access to a Sprint roof to work with -might have been more successful.  Firewall is early Spider 750D leading me to believe more strongly that the vin is correct.  Headlight openings are likely 70′s Alfa Spider sections.  Engine looks remarkably complete and original.

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Modified Sprint Speciale’s 3: another Zat car??

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Elmar sent me this picture yesterday, describing it as ‘pimped’.  It reminded me that I’ve been owing the ‘Modified SS’s’ post series an update for a while.  This one is dedicated to the modern era super sports type  mod’s that probably started with the Zat SS (381238 was the basis) that eventually sold through RM in 2008 for just under $50K.  I can’t verify the auction description below -but it states that 4 Zat SS’s were made and two survive.

This car has been to the ‘Shelby Cobra 427′ school of design: very wide wheels, chunky bulbous corners and a big ol’ hood scoop.  Would be funny if it was stock Alfa powered.  I suspect it is an SS body on a tube frame. Continue reading →

Identification numbers Part 1: Sprint Autotelaio number

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Update 10/25/11: Time marches on.  I read these old posts and find myself in the interesting position of not remembering what I have written so it’s fresh -like seeing yourself from an others perspective.  Not many times in life when you can look at yourself this way.  I’m glad I started this madness.  Enjoy, and as Giulietta owners like to say -keep the rev’s up!

Update 11/10/09: Below was first posted on 6/26/08. I carry on with the projects and other pursuits. A new post is almost done. There are some Spiders (as usual) on eBay that deserve a quick mention but again, time has been precious.

Thanks for stopping by and today 5 boxes with T-shirts went out to Tom who paid first, Chris in UK, Dirk in Germany, Peter in Portland and Marco in Illinois. Send me a paypal or check and I’ll get yours in the mail too,

Update 2: Looking over all the cars I have numbers for it looks more likely that 101.02 cars have the new 001.02 engines while 101.05 cars have the 1315* series engines that are modified to accept the 101 engine series head.

Update 1: 101.02 versus 101.05 is a market difference. I read in a reputable source that 101.05 was the model number for US Market Sprints.

If you start looking carefully at the parts on your Giulietta Sprint, Sprint Veloce or Sprint Speciale you will notice there are a lot of numbers stamped, cast, engraved or written with grease pencil in Italian long-hand. These numbers tell you the year, model, and on early cars can match engine number to VIN number. The more subtle markings can shed a little light on how these cars were assembled and can be of great assistance when trying to identify what is correct for your car. I am going to focus on the vehicle identification numbers of Sprint and Sprint Veloce’s in this post and will look at the Engine numbers, Bertone numbers and Sprint Speciale specific numbers separately later.

Tipo or type and series are the fundamental identifiers. Tipo is essentially the model name and series is the model number, which changed over time and for different markets. The first picture is the build plate for one of my cars. It is a Tipo: Giulietta Sprint, Series 101.05. It doesn’t actually say Sprint on the build plate, it’s sort of implied by the car itself that it is a Sprint.

Several identifying numbers can be seen in this picture. On the build plate are the Series, Autotelaio (VIN) and Motore (Engine) numbers. Above the plate, stamped in the body is the number Bertone used to identify the car during fabrication and assembly. The Autotelaio is also stamped on the firewall just below the bundle of wires that can be seen in this picture.

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Market 195: Sprint in Portugal

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Update 9/22/11:In Portugal, with Vent window -this Sprint is back on eBay.

I think I would take fresh pictures rather than reuse these close to 2 year olds…

Update 7/1/10: No sale last time I suppose. Now on eBay again… better $20K?  Doubtful.

Update 6/24/10: Auction ended at $22,850, reserve met.  Not such a bad deal when you consider it wouldn’t wouldn’t be too hard to turn it into a nice car with a nearly unique feature in the vent window.

Update 6/10/10: This car has made its way to ebay and the seller has listed the vin number -1493*08477, so I now have another to add to the register.  Condition is described as ‘restored to like new’ but it’s not… incorrect driver restoration is more like it.  The kind of car that gets bid up to just under $20K.  Vent window is still a neat thing though.

Original post March 3, 2010: Giulietta Sprint. I found this car on a Japanese classic car site and it’s available out of Portugal for just under $33,000.  A Portugese car on a Japanese website makes perfect sense really -the Japanese are highly refined in their car collecting and own a disproportionate number of interesting Italian cars, many Giuliettas among them.  Why not market directly to the money?

Looking back over the last few weeks I’ve been trending toward more international market entries (among the posts about welding on the SS).  What’s up you ask?  Well, there aren’t many Giuliettas for sale in the US right now.  Must be the weather!

The body and paint on this car is really pretty nice, panels fit well, trim embellishes as intended, not much to complain about to be seen.  A careful viewer of the above picture will note a rare feature.

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