Posted on by hamilton.mm

Market 489: Spider project 10123 372516 “”Barn Find””

Update hours later: At $13,500 it suddenly seems a deal!  Anyone here buy this?
Screen Shot 2014-02-05 at 8.54.33 PM
I admit, I missed a good write up.
Giulia Spider 10123*372516.  This car is on eBay out of Carlsbad -near San Diego- from Cavallo, seller of used exotics and mixed bag Craigslist find type cars.  Seller describes it as a “Barn Find”.  I’m not sure what the fascination is with putting phrases in quotes is… I would have thought putting barn find in quotes would make someone think it’s sort of like a barn find but not really a barn find.  That’s why the double quotes… I’m quoting their unnecessary quotes.  If they were to write a rebuttal, would they use something like is “””Barn Find””” when quoting me?  Sorry – it’s early, the sun has yet to even slightly light my vertical stripe of the planet.
$_4 (1)
Hello sporty!  Trim is all present and straight looking if a little bit dull.  They state car was originally red, but the engine compartment is sending me white signals – I suppose it could be red under that white – but that’s a lot of work!
$_4 (7)
The cross brace here seems to have lost a gravity battle with the weight of the car.  Expect corrosion.  Floor has a lapped metal repair that may or may not have involved a lot or even a little bit of welding.  Assume this will need at least 10 minutes and $20 worth of repair.  More evidence of white rather than red, and in an area that even the most fastidious color change is not likely to address.$_4 (6)
Rufus has learned an important term in the Alfa lexicon: “bubbles”.  He only says it in the bath though.$_4 (5)
$_4 (4)This car has had some serious sun exposure to get the gauge inserts that yellow.  I would not be tempted to retain the faux wood on the dash face.  Seats look nice, but assume the cushion foam is crouton crisp – that’s not right, this is an Italian car.  Seats look nice, but assume the cushion foam is biscotti crisp.$_4 (3)
Unfortunate antenna replacement.  Electrical doodad on opposite fender is probably a power kill switch.  This car doesn’t scream ex-racer, so we have to assume an owner along the way thought drilling holes in their Pininfarina bodywork to avoid having to open the trunk was a good idea.  Heck – maybe this is one of those difficult to open Alfa Spider trunks.   Appears to be the remains of a Spica era underhood decal clinging to the trunk.$_4 (2)
I’ll let cooler heads prevail here.  It might actually be 3X the work creating this mess than just using the correct parts and making it how it’s supposed to be.$_4
I should go spend 14 hours at Jalopnik to see if there is a particular single word for ‘car with a bunch of extraneous badges’.  I’ll send a T shirt to whoever comments with the best word for a collection of incorrect badges on a car.  
All what-all aside, this is probably a decent start for the guy who knows he wants to put a 1750 or two liter in it anyway.  If she likes a whole bunch of badges on the trunk lid, a homage to some of the cars later model brethren if you will, then even more so much the better.
I know – I didn’t mention the goony after market hard top.

19 Replies to “Market 489: Spider project 10123 372516 “”Barn Find”””

  2. Matt–I’m surprised the seller didn’t add this to the car’s description (along with “Barn Find”):
    It’s badgilicious!
    Ciao,
    Dave

  4. “Scriptcessive”, the excessive Redneck adorning of some poor vehicle with all the scripts you can lay your hands on……

    Aye
    Greig

  8. Badgegeddon. First trunk I’ve seen that wasn’t rotted completely away including my own. How is it possible?
    This type of icongraphy is ubiquitous in Japan. I once saw a generic Toyota with ” A Very Special Limited Edition ” in vehicular badge script on a trunk, at least it read properly in English, most don’t….”Lets’s Special Edition”?

    1. I’m guilty of the occasional stray semicolon possession error… need to spend more time proof reading.

      I saw a Toyota Corolla with every doodad you could buy at Kragen glued to it, and it had a bunch of extra SS XS SXS T R-Type letters after the stock DX

      Matt

  10. Hooked on badges it would seem ..
    There is a term for a vintage chassis that was maltreated, had a newer 2 liter stuffed into it and been festooned with inappropriate scripts and badges. The term is: “crappy” .. as in “that’s a crappy ALFA”.

  11. Matt: When all else fails, there is generally a Yiddish word to explain the otherwise unexplainable. I will accept the T-shirt with honor, even though I did not invent this word. The word is ungapatchka (there are several alternative spellings, but this is probably the most common). Rather than spoil your fun (and that of your other readers), I’ll let you discover the definition for yourself.

    Jerry

  13. I know this car. It used to belong to Michael O’Brien, a factory trained Alfa mechanic in San Diego, who died in 2007. I even drove it a couple of times. It was definitely a dual purpose car – street and race – and he actively raced it (with a bolt-in roll bar setup that is obviously missing now. It’s not a car to be trifled with; it had a built 2 liter, a 2 liter limited slip, and so on. Very, very fast. Cosmetically it was nothing to get excited about, but it was a mechanical gem. The weird intake setup was a forced air intake of sorts with the hose running to the intake in front of the left front wheel. It has clearly decayed from sitting, but it’s a good project for the right person. I bet someone in San Diego who knows the car grabbed it.

Comments are closed.