Tag Archives: Italian cars

Modified Sprint Speciales

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A rerun since I’m tropically indisposed.  Enjoy.

Originally posted July 5th, 2008: While not considered competitive on the race track in retrospect, the Sprint Speciale must none the less have been a somewhat attractive option for wealthy amateurs when it was first sold. The combination of an aerodynamic shape and powerful engine must surely have seemed like a winner if some weight could be shed and current engine tuning tricks being used by Conrero, Bosato and others could further improve the engine. This is supported by period race photographs and entry lists which document the occasional SS among the field of SV’s, SVZ’s and SZ’s.

An early SS (00045) running the 1960 Targa Florio, 00029 and 00040 also ran. 00045 went on to run in ’61 – ’64. Anyone know where 00045 is now?

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Market #2: Giulietta SS project 00237

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Update 2/1/10: This is a detail of writing market reports that I hadn’t really anticipated.  An update from the purchaser of a car with some progress pictures.  This car originally sold in May of 2008 and the owner has just gotten it back from the media blasters.  Makes me think I should get mine blasted.  Very cool!

I think I need a rotisserie.   The rockers look very good.

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Suspension #1: Front lower wishbone and ball joint

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Update 11/17/09: I’ll be moving the Fiat out tonight and moving the SS to front row center and starting to work on it again this weekend. All the suspension pieces could be assembled to the car by the end of the year if my plans to get floors in the car work out.

Original Post 5/22/08: I am going to use the parts book terms for these parts so there is no confusion as to what I am talking about.

The front suspension on my SS was lightly assembled without shocks to make the car a roller and it came apart without any problems. Most of the pieces just need cleaning and painting so I will deal with those as a group later, but there are some components that require great care in cleaning and restoring. The lower wishbone is one of these parts because there are several critical systems tied to it: the bushed suspension support pivots, lower ball joint, suspension limiting rebound strap, sway bar mount and lower spring seat. In this post I am going to look at the wishbone itself with regard to cleaning, and the disassembly of the ball joint. I was advised to leave the ball joints together but this one had enough play that I was worried about it having to come apart later anyway. The parts book has only one part number (101.00.21.030.00) for the wishbone that fits all 101 cars and 2 are required for each car so it must be symmetrical.

The suspension components on my SS were treated with some kind of rust inhibitor that is very hard to remove, requiring a combination of scraping and media blasting. Once I have the wishbone stripped bare I tape over the openings to the support pivot bushings, to prevent blast media from getting into the grease passage ways and I masked the ball joint opening to keep media out and grease from getting in the blast cabinet. For a first pass I spend about 10 minutes removing as much of the loose coating as possible and I focus on the snap ring on the ball joint threaded ring nut. This snap ring has to be removed to thread the ring nut out.

Wishbone masked off and ready to be blasted.

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Market #39: rough 60 Spider project non-roller

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Update 7/14/09: 7 bidders had it out and the new result was $2025.  Not bad really.

Update 7/1/09:  ”This car is being relisted due to difficulties in concluding the sale to an International buyer.  U.S. Bidders only!!!b”

Update 6/11/09: Wow, 15 bidders fought it out and the winner spent $2236 buying this car, 11x more than the last result.  Bravo, so now buy my car already, it’s twice as good as this and closer to home.

Update 6/4/09: This car has been listed on eBay again. Get in there. What are you waiting for? Bidding starts at $200. Such a deal. I’d drop half that to have the hood hinges.

Update 8/19/08. Reserve not met. Bidding reached $202.50 and would have been very well bought at that price. Car is relisted with $50 opening bid and $1500 buy it now. At least we now have an idea what the seller thinks it’s worth. Due to the complexity of moving this thing I am not sure even $1000 makes sense to anyone but a local to the car.

Giulietta Spider 10104 1495*11267. Listed here on eBay as a 1958 Spider parts car or body for restoration. Numbers indicate the car is a late 1960 interim car. As of writing this the auction has no bids and starts at $50.

It’s nice to see someone list a car like this without the usual hyperbole about how close it is to being a runner etc. The real shame here is this doesn’t look like it was such a bad car too long ago. I am going to guess someone pulled the wheels off to get some tires mounted and do the brakes, lost interest for a few years , lost the wheels and brake parts then sold it for parts. Eventually it ended up belly on the ground in Orrick MO (just outside of Kansas City), where we finally caught up with it.

Surprisingly straight and solid on the top side at least. I paid $1500 for a similar car earlier this year but it was on wheels. Trim parts seen here are all very valuable.

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Market #37: “Alpha Romeo Giulietta Sprint Voloce”

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Update: 6/3/09. 20 bids, $11,311 the high bid with reserve not met.  I am willing to bet this is less than the current owner paid for the car, pity since it sounds like it is in perfectly usable shape.  If it were me I’d go down to the local auto paint shop, get rid of the yellow and buy some grills for it.  I doubt there is one bidder who is not subtracting at least $1500 from their max based on doing these things.  Other than that maybe add all the badges and get some Sprint seats.

Update: 5/28/09. 21533 is back on eBay after having found an owner to attend to its needs making it roadworthy, as presentable as possible, and who could write an auction description that actually tells something about the car.

21533 noseI’m still at odds with the blacked out grills and yellow mask, but over-all this is an attractive car. Current owner has done a good job preparing it for a profit making resale.

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Market #12: Craigslist basket case 1963 Sprint

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Update 5/1/09: 12 bidders chimed in and the result was $1525, reserve not met.  A little lower than I would have thought, but getting all the bits together is going to cost.  I have a lot of what it needs, I wonder what it would take to buy it?

Update 4/21/09: Giulia Sprint 385940 is now on eBay after either having all it’s trim, lights and other bits stripped and sold, or applied to another car the seller may have. I told you a bunch of Sprints would follow that $18.7K car.

I shouldn’t assume the current seller is the previous seller, but for convenience I will.

giulia sprint frontWasn’t long ago this guy had his grills and lights and bumpers, hopefully someone is going to buy him and get him a fresh set… maybe.

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Best of France and Italy 2008

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The Best of France and Italy car show takes place annually in Woodley Park, a well shaded green strip of park in Van Nuys.  If pictures are to be believed, previous years turnouts were heavy among both spectators and exhibitors but a threat of rain seemed to keep many of each away this year.  Alfa Romeo participation was particularly strong at this show, probably making up half the field, but FIAT, Citroen, Renault, ISO and others were well represented.

Below are some photographs I took and many more can be found on my Events page.

Giulietta SS 589What can I say, I’m a sucker for an SS, especially when it’s a Giulietta and one of the nicest in existence.  That guy with the bushy blonde mustache from that TV show and his crew were all over this car when I showed up. 

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All Italian Day 2008

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As usual I had a good time at the All Italian day in Alameda at the Lincoln elementary school. Vehicles on display were diverse on many levels but united in their statement about Italian mastery of design, from the humble small bore Fiats to the majestic Alfa 8C, evidence of the hand of the master craftsman, the cleverness of the engineer and the eye of the artist can be seen. The exhibitors and spectators alike are a polite, if odd bunch and the discussions I overheard ranged from minutiae of restoration details to hairy-chested boasts about speed and agility ‘back then’.

This Fiat was one of my favorites. I’ve got a thing for stationwagons (especially goofy early 60′s ones), a thing for gray cars, a thing for original black plate cars and as I find myself checking out Fiats more and more while casually browsing eBay and Craigslist, I guess I’m developing a thing for fiats. And why not, you can get a lot of car for your money.

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Giulietta SS in the mountains

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Norm sent me a link to this footage of a Giulietta SS at speed going through the mountains.  The exhaust note is familiar to driver of most Alfa’s from this period as is the tire scrub.  Driver has 4 Alias names and ‘Born to be WIld’ makes yet another appearance as the seeming ubiquitous soundtrack to a driving film.  At least ‘Shaft’ gets a little air time near the end.  It is shaft isn’t it?  Sorry, it’s early.  Enjoy.

Market #46: Sprint project in CT with 00121 Veloce engine

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Update 9/17/08.  Reserve not met at $5101 with 35 bids.  I made a pretty good estimate of the closing price this time and would have won big if this was ‘The Price is Right’.  I think the seller should take this amount.  This car needs a lot of expensive work and even though it has the later Veloce engine it will only in the end ever be an ‘Abnormale’ and not worth as much as a genuine unmolested matching-number example, which for these Normale 101′s is probably going to be south of $20,000 for a long time except for really choice examples.  Look for the string of disappointing follow up auctions…

Giulietta Sprint Normale 10105 1493*21372, Engine AR 00121*01522 (not original).  This 1959 Sprint is available now on eBay with a low starting bid.  Engine is a 1600 101 Veloce unit out of either a Spider Veloce or Sprint Speciale.  Connecticut is in the part of the country you normally associate with rusty cars but this car looks to be as free of rot as described.  I guess 34 years in dry storage paid off.

From this angle it doesn’t so bad other than a few scrapes and bumps.  Most trim is present and jacking points look good.

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Market #38: 1959 Giulietta Sprint Project

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Update 9/16/08.  Reserve not met.  eBay auction ended at $4550 with 13 bids.  Seller started low to let the auction build up momentum but was still unable to get to reserve.  If I were selling this I would give it a rest until early next year and redesign the auction.  Assuming one could buy this car for about $5000, I would have thought someone would have bought it by now.

Update 9/9/08.  On eBay again starting low and presumably with a reserve in the $5000 range.  Now might be the time to snap this up if auction fatigue has set in and no one is bidding and the seller is keen on unloading.

Update 8/19/08.  Reserve not met.  Bidding ended at $5600.  Car has been relisted with a clearer description and pictures of included parts. Opening bid is now $5800 and there is no reserve.  Probably a good buy if it goes for not much more but I think the market for this car has been flooded as of late.

Giulietta Sprint 1493*20107 is on eBay right now.  Seller is a long time Alfa enthusiast and has a business reproducing wiring harnesses for Italian cars of the 50′s and 60′s.  Car is listed as a 750B but is probably a 101.05.

This is how Sprints looked when they turned up between about 1970 and 1985.  Not necessarily abused but not well treated either.  This car looks straight and complete enough.  slightly flared wheel wells is probably a plus for some in the market for a Sprint to take to the track.

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Market #45: Straight-forward Giulia Spider Normale project

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Update:  Sold!  Car closed with 28 bids, the high of which was $12,205.  A little higher than I thought it would go for, but given how original everything on the car is I am not really surprised. 

1962 Giulia Spider 101.03 AR370257, Engine 00102*30583.   On eBay now! Seller claims the car is a 1963 Giulietta 1300 Spider Normale, though according to the numbers Fusi indicates it’s a 1962 Giulia Spider.  Engine listed is a 1300 from a 1961 Sprint or Spider.  This car is firmly in the gray area known as interim cars.  It has the large Giulia type tail lights, earlier Giulietta gauges and no fake hood vent.  My knowledge of Spiders is limited so if any of you cares to chime in with a comment, please do.

The nose of this car is very nice, no real body work is required to make it straight.  Giulia’s usually have the fake vent on the hood, maybe this isn’t the original hood, or maybe the first year Giulias didn’t have the fake vent.

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