Market 481: Spider 750D 03235 project

Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*03235, 1315*43081. This car has been on eBay a few times recently , trying both the recently defunct ‘start low’ old school auction approach, the ‘this is what I want’ buy-it-now approach, and now the ‘call me if you want it’ BIN approach.  Car looks decent enough -needs everything except a lower 4″ metal transplant.  Great car for the aspiring 750D owner -I’ve seen, worked on, and written about much worse!

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On the bright side, it’s not 1988 and you can actually get parts now.  They’re not as good as the ‘left-overs’ of 1988 you might have gotten from Alfa Ricambi, but they are available.  Door fits well, wheels need paint -you know the rest. Continue reading

Market 480: 1900M ‘Matta’ AR5101384 in Florida

1900M AR51 01384, AR 1307 00610.  This interesting piece of Alfa history is available now out of Florida.  The Matta is very rare in the US -I think I may have seen one or two over the years in pictures, but never in person.  It is a fairly standard 1950′s ‘serious’ 4×4 offering – a sort of next step from the 4×4′s designed for WW2.  It occurs to me as I type this that the long lived lines of serious 4×4 players grew out of this period: Unimog, Jeep, Land Rover 88, Austin Gipsy, Toyota Land Cruiser, Fiat Campagnola, NIssan Patrol, yougettheidea.  Had Alfa based the Matta on the Giulietta engine, maybe there would be tens of thousands of them around -I know I would dig an open Fiat Campagnola type Alfa from the 1950′s!  I suppose there probably is one that I am not aware of…

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Great grill on these -has a modest character.  In the cramped garage with poor lighting for my auction pictures?  Why not!  No one else will be listing a Matta at the same time. Continue reading

Market 20: Waterloo Sprint Veloce 750E 08721

5/8/2013:  This feller has popped up for sale at Bonhams at their up coming Spa Auction.  Estimate is $53,000 – $66,000.  Probably a bit on the low side.

“‘The Alfa, in a few words then, is a small car with a rev-happy dohc engine that can carry two people from point A to point B over all types of roads quicker than most cars twice its size. It does this not with blinding speed but with a wonderful combination of roadholding, compact size and sheer willingness.’ – Car & Driver on the Giulietta Sprint.”

Five years later and no new pictures.  Thanks Jerry for pointing this sale out to me.

6/10/2008: Giulietta Sprint Veloce 750 AR1493E08721, Engine 1315*32399. Listed for sale on Classic Driverfor 31,200 GBP, or about $61,000. The ad text says it is a 1958 Confortevole but Fusi lists the chassis number range for 1958 ending with 07921 though there is a typo where the page breaks for the 1959 year information and beside the 1959 750 designation Sprint Veloce’s it says 1958. Conforevole’s end with car 06611 so its a stretch of the accepted definitions to call it one. In this condition and at this price I don’t think they added any premium for calling it a Confortevole and I doubt there is any dishonesty at work, likely just a lack of solid information combined with the usual regurgitation of hear-say.

“Perfect in all respects.” This is a car that the seller means for potential buyers to come see in person, and who in their right mind would buy a car at the absolute top of the market without viewing it in person and taking it for a spirited drive. I want to go see it just to get a better look at the sellers facilities.

This presentation is great. More museum than Classic car dealership with period pictures and statistics built into the display. You probably have to qualify to even step into the ring for a closer look.

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Market 477: Green on green 1965 1600 Spider 392552

Giulia Spider 1600 10123*392552.  This green-on-green late Spider 1600 is on eBay right now out of New York.  The condition is good over-all, if a bit unoriginal in the details.  Metallic paint on Market 69‘s late Spider took quite a beating in the comments section on BringaTrailer (always a pleasure!), I wonder what they would think of this one.  Carpet looks a bit like astro-turf!

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A good looking car in this color -whether you like it or not.  Kind of a big Healey or Aston type color.  I’m hoping by now you all know which kind of wheels these are.  Is the nose trim missing?

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Market 476: Spider Veloce 750F 07012 project

Giulietta Spider 750F 1495*07012. This car is available now out of Bethel CT from a seller who seems to have a never ending supply of Alfa projects to offer up.  This car is a late SWB 750 Veloce, a desire-able thing these days, and it looks to have most of the hard to get stuff under the hood.  Asking price is $26,500.  Not bad if the rust isn’t too crippling.  Might be a good deal if you’ve been considering adding one of these to the fleet.  Screen Shot 2013-04-23 at 12.16.42 AM

Flat black has the potential to hide a multitude of sins.  Looks straight at least.  I wonder if the trim is included.  Note the engine in the back ground.

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Market 475: Spider 10104*09014 owned twice, sold twice

Giulietta Spider 10104*09014, 1315*013829.  This fellow is for sale now out of Omaha for $69,500.  Body has had extensive reconstruction done to a high standard, with everything rebuilt or refreshed.  Interior colors are not original, which some potential buyers may grumble about, but it looks pretty good.  Prospective buyers should go check it out, as there are lots of tiny details that need to be inspected at this price point.

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So far so good.  Door fit is excellent.  Trim all has a very nice shine.  George expects me to comment on the Fergats but I wont. Continue reading

Market 474: Spider 10123*372432 in Sacramento

Giulia Spider 10123*372432.  This car is available now from Luxury Motorcars in Sacramento Ca.  I found it via CL.  Car is shiny red, seems to have blacked out rockers as well as poorly applied black to engine compartment and underhood.  All in all, maybe a decent buy at the $27,995 asking if there’s no or very little rust.  Sacramento is dry…

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Not too bad at all.  Could be an excellent place to start.    Paint looks great as does the trim, but these are not very good pictures. Continue reading

Market 473: Another project Spider: 10123 392585

Giulia Spider 10123*392585, 00112*16232.  This very late (last one is 392852) Spider is on eBay right now.  With so many expensive siblings having been listed here over the last few days, this one, at the current bid of $8100 seems positively cheap.  Parts are pretty well supported for these now and the engines are straight forward to put together so this shouldn’t be too difficult a proposition.  I am wondering if guys have been saving Spiders for Spring -there are a lot of them available right now.

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I’d run this cosmetically as-is except for the bare metal rocker  and rusty wheels.  Door and hood fit is good, front trim looks great. Continue reading

Market 472: Spider 10123 375062 – all the money

Giulia Spider 10123*375062, 00112*06976.  This 1600 Spider is available now for $55,000 from Classic Investments.  A trend the last few days: original cars for big money?  Guess so.  This car looks like it could be polished out a bit more and made to shine.  A $55,000 car?  Some sympathetic hands could probably get it to the level of Market 467 – and possibly the magic $80,000 range.  This was good Veloce money moments ago!

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Definitely a candidate for some OCD attention to detail.  Yes, still my favorite color!  Three shoe brake model.

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Market 471: Clean and bright Spider 10123 379673

Later that day: Asking price is $64,500.  Big dough for a 10123?

Giulia Spider 1600 10123*379673, 00112*15263.  Following in the footsteps of Market 467 is this extremely clean Spider.  Presentation is fantastic -almost a little too much production on the pictures some might say, but refreshing compared to the dark low-res pictures I so frequently have to work with.  No pictures of the underside are available and the engine compartment could use some detailing, but these may turn out to be trivialities based on what you find when you go look at it.

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Hey Aaron, which region is LA?  See what I mean about the production value of the pictures?  This isn’t photoshopped into a sea of milk, it’s in a nice photo booth of sorts.  Oh, and the general fit and finish of the car looks fabulous.  Anyone know this car? Continue reading

Market 469: Spider Veloce 10125*10115 in PA

Update 4/23/2013: Seller contacted me to tell me the original block is included.  I guess this mitigates some of the ‘original engine’ perceptions.  Can perceptions be mitigated?  Hmmm.

Giulietta Spider 10125*10115.  This clean Spider is available through Hemmings right now. They seem to let their listings ride for months -probably to keep the overall site listing count from dipping below some minimum, so there’s no guarantee it’s still available, but a quick call to the seller should tell.  The car is very clean and shiny, with compelling, although way too dark to reveal much of the details images.  If you are in the market for an early LWB Spider Veloce and $99,500 doesn’t scare you off, you should book a trip to PA and go take it for a drive.

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Nearly invisible door shut lines?  Check.  Borrani wheels?  Check.  20 footer?  Check.  Car looks really good, but these images are too dark and too low resolution to be more than marginally useful.  Enough to base a trip to PA on I guess.

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Market 468: 1900 Touring coupe project

Update 4/25/2013: I would not have guessed that this would reach $29,100.  Seventeen people wanted it, so that had to help.

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4/17/2013: 1900 Touring Coupe AR1900C*10476.  I had lunch today with some fairly well equipped Italian car enthusiasts and the subject of ‘what do you buy now-a-days’ came up.  I complained (not sure that’s the perfect word) that the days of Fiat 8V’s, Siata 208S’s, Lancia Aurelia’s and other interesting coach-built stuff available as projects seemed to have passed, that my generation had to make do with the sort of ‘hold-overs or left-overs’ from the golden age unless smiled upon by fortune.  A fairly quick response from a Giulietta Sprint Veloce Confortevole owner was “what about 1900 Alfa’s?”.  ”Beautiful but complicated for the performance” was my response -but I kept asking myself on my way home.  ”What about 1900 Alfa’s?”  The Touring Coupe’s are lovely cars.  Projects aren’t rare and nice cars are fairly affordable in the grand Alfa scheme.  What about 1900 Alfa’s indeed.  This jumping-off point in my exploration is available on eBay now.

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The Giulietta Spider enthusiasts are noting that at first glance it looks quite familiar -besides the roof anyway.  In person you’d never make this connection -the 1900′s are a good 110% the size of a Giulietta.  Metal here all looks great.

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