Market 447: Spider 170763 in Florida

12/24/12: Tough to say whether it’s just right or a bargain at $27,100 -but if they overpaid, it couldn’t have been by much.

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12/7/12: Giulietta Spider 10103*170763.  This car is available now on eBay. It is nice enough but unremarkable. The description, though verbose, doesn’t say much about the car and the pictures are way to small to do anything but tease. Both leave a lot to the imagination -a tactic no doubt, because most people fill in the missing information with imaginings that add up to an impression of what they want to see rather than what is there. Regardless, the price is still low and if it’s as rust free as described, it wouldn’t take much to turn it into a very nice car.
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All the pictures have this ‘a little too close’ air and saturated color.  Does look nice though -so desired effect achieved.  Infinitely better to start here than a rusty hulk.

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Market 413: Spider 10103 08586 in SoCal (or is it 08536?)

Update 12/12/12:  No sale at $15K.  I’m sure we haven’t heard the last.  Note that it is new information that it has engine 1315*32058 – a Veloce engine.  Would like to see a picture of the block stamping.

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Update 11/26/12:  This car has turned up on eBay again.  Still doesn’t look like a bad car, but it is wrong in some key areas that are keeping the price low.

Update 7/1/12: Seems like it should have been bid up higher…

Giulietta Spider 10103 1495*08586This car is available on eBay from Chequered Flag, frequent purveyors of classics.  Car is restored to mostly original with some ‘as fits the owner’ condition additions.  Mostly good, but with some deviations from stock that beg for a definition of ‘restored’.  At least the asking price is not overly inflated.

In the tradition of red.  Body looks pretty good, as does the trim.  It’s easy to nit pick a nice car, but easy to forget it’s hard to get one this far.  Put that top down already!

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Artcurial Automobiles sur les Champs 4 – Giuliettas at auction

I can take a hint guys!  A few of you pointed me in the direction of Arcurial’s ‘Automobiles sur les Champs 4′ auction taking place in a few days where four Giuliettas will be sold.  Check it out!

Giulietta Sprint 750B 1493*03793, 1315*03496.  Nice early Sprint Normale expected to make 24,000 – 30,000 Euro’s.  Probably the good deal of the four they are offering.

A lot of effort went into this car to make it look good.  Correct 155 series tires, great fit and finish all around.  Small headlamps are a big selling point for some collectors.

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Market 442: Survivor Spider 750D 06495

Update 12/12/12:  2x no sales with strong bidding.  I’d probably have sold it at $30,000, but then again, I’m not trying to make a calculated margin like most dealers are.

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Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*06495.  This car is on eBay right now from a seller in Santa Barbara who has been listing Alfa’s occasionally (buying low and immediately trying to sell high in the spirit of free market capitalism) over the last few years.  The car is solid -and besides that unremarkable and tired.  I suspect this is the car that was on Craigslist out of the Napa/Sonoma area wine country last month.  Amazing what some elbow grease and the right lighting for pictures will do for you.

We’ve seen this pier a few times.  There are no holes for ‘eyebrow’ trims -must’ve been filled the last time it was painted.  Hood needs a little fitting on the drivers side corner.

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F.I.S.P.A. Air cleaner for most single carb Sprints and Spiders + mystery

I got this FISPA (TIPO: FATS 5032, DISEGNO: 9815) air filter canister from a reader as sort of partial payment for helping sell a car.  I thought it would be right for my Sprint but it turns out it’s got a slightly different shape than another one I had on hand for a Sprint.

Applications: I decided to check the parts book and found there are three versions of this part.  If anyone has an original older Sprint or Spider I’d be interested in hearing which box you have.

  • 1315.53.820: For Spider up to engine 1315.43709; after that see 1315.53.832.
  • 1315.53.832: for Sprint from engine 1315.05874 to 1315.09002 – for Spider from engine 1315.43710 to 1315.45854; after those numbers see 101.02.08.010.00.
  • 101.02.08.010.00: for Sprint and Spider after numbers above.

Failure mode: rusts out, stabilizing mount to valve cover Splits, it gets lost.

Current state of parts: Classic Alfa UK sells a new repro.  eBay usually has a one listed in need of restoration for about $400.

Notes: Early versions seem to have a bolt instead of the loop (part 11 below) for tightening to the top of the carb.  I have seen several sorts of FISPA labels, from a stamped metal plate to a screened on decal.  Bill Gillham has repro’s of some of these.

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Market 434: Winning-est Giulietta racer Spider 750 03083 ‘Sophia’

Update 8/23/12: Sold for $72,450 including premium.

Update later the same morning:


I got this picture taken at Road Atlanta circa 1983 from Michael McClure, then owner of the brown Giulietta racer and wearing the gold race suit talking to Martin Krilanovich (in green sleeves). The red car is Sophia with Phil Mason in white racing suit leaning over it talking to his crew chief Jerry.  Time flies. 

Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*03083, 1315*41849.  The late Al Leake Jr. raced Sophia to much success on the west coast.  I can remember seeing them many times at Sear’s Point and Laguna Seca -always out front or nearly so -even against cars that on paper ought to have gotten around the track faster -even if driven by lesser drivers.  I don’t remember where I heard/read it, but I seem to recall that Sophia is one of the winning-est race cars in history.  Lineage includes prior ownership by Phil Mason and connection to H. B. Luginbuhl, who some say had a lot to do with development early on.  Anyway, Sophia is being auctioned by Bonhams this coming Monterey weekend.  Estimate is $65,000 – $85,000.  It’s too bad the seller chickened out and omitted the rubber chicken that used to be seen dangling from the trunk -oh well, maybe that rubber chicken is a stuffed trophy over someones mantle now next to a 12 point buck or buffalo head.

Tasteful for a dedicated race car.  Development started in the mid-70′s and by the late 80′s Sophia was a potent machine.  Fiberglass grill and trim?

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Heater part 2: Heater valve 1493.54.709 and control cable 1488.31.723

Last installment we looked at the heat exchanger box itself, this time I’ll focus on the bits that hook it up and control the incoming hot water: the heater valve and the push/pull cable that controls the valve.  The first generation of Sprint’s had a heater valve (1483.54.711) that looked not far removed from a garden tap and you actually had to pop the hood and get out to turn on the flow of hot water to the heater core (if you didn’t realize you were going to want heat before you started out).  At some point this was deemed a little old fashioned so a cable operated valve was put to use -cousins of which can be found on Alfa’s for many years to follow.

Valve failure mode(s): hardening of rubber diverter seal, oxidation leading to through pits or breakage, loss.

Control cable failure mode(s): still/difficult operation, cable breakage/cut leading to too short, loss.

The current state of the parts supply has:

1493.54.709 with new diaphragm seal installed.  Like all rubber things, it just got hard and cracked after 50+ years.  The inner plateau seals against the port in the valve body, keeping the water out of the core when not wanted, the outer ring seals to the body to keep it from leaking when it’s open.

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Market 425: Spider 00739 on eBay

Update 7/1/12: $9500. Not too bad for a fairly straight ’56 with the matching engine. You’ll see more from this car soon.

Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*00739, 1315*40574. This car is on eBay right now out of Denver. It looks fairly complete and in reasonable shape to restore. Will need a lot of work and $ to get it together, but as the seller states, these early cars do bring real money.

Looks like the usual ‘been apart for a while’ Spider project.  Door fits well. 

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Market 423: Fresh 1959 Spider 10103

Update 7/1/12: This car has been on eBay a few times. Despite it’s detail problems it looks like a decent car -I’m not sure why it’s not selling. Maybe the addition of the VIN/Engine numbers so people know exactly what they are bidding on and new/better pictures would help overcome the auction fatigue.

Giulietta Spider 10103. This car is on eBay right now out of Pennsylvania. It is described as having a fresh restoration, and there is evidence of that having occurring, but some details leave the prospective buyer wondering how much the restorer knew about these cars. Most are trivial, but restored is restored right? I have a HUGE piece I’ve been working on about restorations… getting about time I published it!

It is what it is, it looks good.  The door gaps on this side are excellent.  The hood corner on the drivers side sits up a bit.  I have to remind myself these are VERY complicated cars to put together if you don’t spend a lot of time doing research, and no one wants to pay you to do research.

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Market 338: Neglected Spider 1600

Update 5/6/12:  I don’t remember if it failed to get any bids, or was ended early, but this car is back on eBay after a brief hiatus.  Seller seems to have done some research and knows what they are selling this time around.  Car looks a lot better now and the opening bid has gone from $500 to $6499.  Such a deal.

Much better no?  Check out the difference in descriptions, both are posted below.

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Market 417: Nice 1600 Spider 374485

Update 7/1/12:  $29,200 is good money for one of these late cars.

Giulia Spider 1600 10123*374485. This car is on eBay right now out of Scottsdale Az.  Condition is very good, not quite fancy auction fodder, but headed in that direction.  Short comings include the black engine compartment and trunk floor as well as some non originality in the interior such as mirror and shift knob.  It’s a good car that gets such minor criticisms.

Sometimes I feel like I’ve seen this scene so much it’s like dejavu.  Trim and paint looks great, shut lines are excellent and he lawn is sinfully green for a desert yard.

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Market 416: Spider 10103 09100 project

Update 7/1/12: This car sold for $10,201 and is now sitting in my new shop mostly apart about to head out for media blasting and rust repair.  The saga continues!

Giulietta Spider 10103 1495*09100Projects are in fashion, and this rough around the edges interim car is riding the wave on eBay right now.  It’s not too bad, not too good, just your usual needs everything project.  If you jump now it could be yours -current bidding is a paltry $7350.  Summer is upon us!

Busted in the nose, but trim unharmed, with lots of weird corrosion.  Looks neither good nor bad -just a but rough.  There’s a bit of corrosion in the rocker visible here.

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