Tag Archives: Italian cars

Market 20: Waterloo Sprint Veloce 750E 08721

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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 38: 1959 Giulietta Sprint Project 20107

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Update 2/2/13:  Bid to $18,100 with the reserve not met.  I’m torn here.  $18,100 is not a lot for a complete project car that is ready for a light skim, paint, trim/mechanical refresh and assembly -the body had to be done, but ball-parking it, you will be $10K into paint, $12K into the mechanicals and probably $20K refinishing and assembling trim/interior etc.  That’s $60K for a ’59 Normale.  I know a few guys who are deeper than that into theirs, but I don’t think I’ve seen one sell for that (have I?).

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Update 1/21/13:  Looking better without those widened wheel arches, this car is back on eBay after considerable work.  Good car for someone who wants to just paint and put together a car.

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Metal work looks great!  Buyer gets to choose the palette and level of finish.  It’s a lot of work.

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Market 446: Sprint 750B 09141 in Washington

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Update 12/12/12: A reader has commented that this car has sold for $42,000 and another reminded me that the Craigslist price was $18,000 obo.  Such a deal!

Giulietta Sprint 750B 1493*09141, 1315*07630.  Cosmopolitan Motors appears to have been the ones who picked up this car that was sold out of an estate sale a while back for $20,000 OBO.  A few guys who I correspond with on occasion were trying to buy it so I looked at pictures of it a few times back then – unfortunately I didn’t save any.  Looks like a really nice original-ish car.  I wonder what the current asking is??  Thanks for sending me this Zen.

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One could definitely do worse than this as Sprints go.  Has Autorouche (sp?) headlights same as Jeff has on his Giulia SS.  Hood fits very very well.

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Market 22: Mexico City Giulietta Sprint survivor

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Update 7/1/12: 1 bid, reserve not met.  No sale.

Update 6/25/12: This car has turned up on eBay after 4 years with the same pictures and from the same seller. Sprint values have come a long way in the last 4 years. I expect it will find a buyer this time.

Original post 6/20/08: Reserve not met! $12,099 was the ending price, $1 less than the black plate car out of Cottonwood. Seller added some new pictures of the car outdoors in daylight that show it is a pretty nice car. I think either of these cars was a pretty good deal and would be a great basis for putting together very nice original driver. I think both suffered from somewhat poor presentation and the fact that they both went through eBay at the same time. There can’t be that many guys (or gals) out there looking for Sprints, so any more than 2 or 3 a month in a given area is market saturation, and we’ve been seeing 5 or 6 a month since I started this blog. Last, I suspect both these sellers, encouraged by the strong sale prices mentioned earlier for project cars, put these on the market just to kind of see what they would do, without a real necessity to sell them.

Added pictures include this nose shot, always a pleasant sight. I wonder if a yellow curb has the same meaning in Mexico.

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Market #1: White Giulia SS project

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Update 5/31/12: Now on Craigslist.  Look at the pictures at the bottom of this write up. Looks like the same car to me. I wonder what you would receive if you sent them $25K?

Update 9/20/10: A Giulia SS was listed on Craigslist this morning for $30,000 with pictures of this car.  A scam?  Borrowed pictures?  I’m sure it will be answered before long…

5/20/09 Update: SOLD after 377 days! A guy I spoke to on the phone about this car last month, giving advise etc, has taken the plunge and bought this car.  I told him exactly what I have been saying about this car all along, it’s probably a good car that everyone interested in an SS is tired of seeing for sale (you only get one shot at a good eBay auction).  The selling price was around $45K and he seems very happy with the purchase.  Look for it to be present at shows and events in Southern California.  If anyone knows a good place to get keys made in Southern California post a comment as he needs to get door, trunk and glove box keys made.

I bet the seller of this SS would be happy if one of you kind readers would buy his 1965 Flavia Sport Zagato that is currently on Craigslist for $26,000 or trade.

3/31/09 Update: I think it will be a while before another car is featured here so many times. This car is on eBay again and this time it can be bought NOW for $47,500. Lets see if my ‘auction fatigue’ theory holds true. Now is your chance, you know you want it. I’ll offer the correct gauges to the new owner at 10% off.

3/18/09 Update: This car is now all repainted and spiffied up. Check it out on eBay now. $56,000 asking is big money but the car is pretty nice now.

low-frontVery nice work. The shut lines look good and the trim is all as it should be. Seller says he got it all ‘triple chromed’.

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Glas 1700 GT: What color?

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I got these color charts in an email from Sascha in Germany who has a 1700 GT. Now that I have the original palette to choose from, I am rethinking the color I should paint the car. It needs a lot of body work so a light color would be best. It looks to have originally been white and later repainted to red. I’m not interested in red, having had a number of red cars over the years. I like the idea of white, but my cousins GT is white. I go on about light blue and gray Alfa’s, maybe this is my chance to paint something one of those. I have alternately decided on light gold, metallic dark dray and metallic light blue, so maybe I should settle on one of those. Tough decision. What do you think?  Post a comment with the color from the charts below you would paint a Glas GT if you were about to paint one.

Perlgrau and Aquamarin are pretty sweet.

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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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Market 384: Sprint Veloce Zagato 1493*06184 at auction

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Update 5/30/12: Sold for 414,400 Euro’s, about $546,000!

2/13/12: Giulietta Sprint Veloce ‘Zagato’ 750E 1493*06184, 1315*30851.  This very interesting SVZ is going to be auctioned by RM in Monaco soon.  While most cars I write about are straight forward subjects, and anything I say should be taken as insightful mainly due to heavy exposure to the subject if nothing else, and as being typically off the cuff.   A car like this demands careful consideration and wording.  Why?  The genuine article -a Zagato re-bodied Sprint Veloce, that was re-bodied ‘back in the day’ i.e. the late 1950′s, is a very valuable car.  See this thread on the AlfaBB for some lengthy but enjoyable reading on the subject.  Interestingly, this car is listed as MIA since 1960.  It’s important to note that there was no search party out looking for it -it just stayed under the radar since then.  So, with a spirit of caution, I start, and will reserve my comments to ‘ooh’s and ahh’s’ once more.

That is one desire-able object!  Note squared off wheel openings.  Hood is a low as they could practically make it and still fit the engine.  Color scheme is bold -red headlining is fantastic.  Any significance to that license plate number? Wheels look to be period cast wheels -magnesium?  This is pretty close to the top of the Giulietta food-chain.

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Strange Giulia Super ‘Torpedo’ for sale

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I got a bunch of links from Maurizo that included one to this car for sale.  As you can see, it’s an open top/no doors stretched Giulia Super sedan in a style that most people in know would call ‘like a Fiat Jolly’, but sans wicker.  On Capri, in 2003, I saw a mid-60′s Fiat 1500 station wagon done up this way.  This sort of car was commissioned to give slow, fair weather (obviously) guided tours and serve as a hyper local taxi or errand running vehicle in resort areas.  I could easily imagine this being some manufacturing executives facilities touring car -in Arese perhaps…  oh, and it’s €75,000!

If you put your hand on the screen to obscure everything from the windshield back, it just looks like a very nice Super.  I like how the arm rests also keep the passing-out drunk from slipping out of the car.  

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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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ARA All Italian Car day 2011

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ARA All Italian Day car show.  I’ve been busy.  Moved 3 times this summer, kid on the way, trying to make a start-up start up etc.  I made time this weekend and went to the Alfa Romeo Associations All Italian Day in Alameda.  Turnout was probably the best I’ve ever seen and the weather was amazing.  Here are some pictures I took.  This show is the best of the year for me.

The Jeff Glenn (24 hours of Lemons fame among other things) SS. 

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Market 15: “Beautifully restored Giulietta Sprint”

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Update 9/15/11: A note from the seller: “Actually I did quite a lot to the car since I bought it from the man in Savannah GA who offered it on ebay.  That was about 30 months ago.  Paint was carefully hand cleaned, hand clayed, hand polished and waxed. Carpet was replaced with custom colored wool woven plush material, of very tight linear weave.  Engine bay was extensively cleaned and detailed. Original Lodge spark plugs and Cavis wires installed. Original air cleaner canister was refinished and re-installed with an adaptor to the dual barrel Weber. Engine was fine tuned and a complete new centerline exhaust system was installed by Mike Besic. Brake system was completely fine tuned.  Five new Pirelli Cinturatos installed. Interior was cleaned and extensively detailed. Trunk was extensively cleaned and detailed. Fog lights were replaced with Carrellos.  It all seemed like a good idea at the time, and then the 1958 Veloce Confortavole came along last Spring.  I actually took the 1960 Sprint and 1969 Duetto to the Concorso Italiano last August.  That’s where the buyer saw it for the first time. He drove it the following week at Fantasy Junction.  Car sold yesterday. Five days after Fantasy Junction offered it on their website.”

Maybe I didn’t ask enough.”

Update 9/14/11: First -I had to really dig to find this old post.  I’ve been at it a while now it seems.  Champagne all around!  Okay, wishful thinking aside -this car is now available from my frequently frequented, frequently well stocked with frequently above average -in this case way above average cars, Fantasy Junction.  Asking price is an inspiring $49,500.  Yep.  “Sale Pending” the website says.  Mines parked on the street in Oakland California with the windows open.  Heh!


My car looks almost this good from space on a rainy day before they fixed the Hubble lenses.  That’s a nice car!

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