First item: News flash! My first of two payments has been made on SS 10121*380211 after 3 months of exchanging emails and pictures and basically waiting for Spring to come. The car is apart (has been apart for about 5 years -was a runner before that) and requires some rust repair and all, but is complete, matching numbers and comes with a lot of new parts. It was basically one of those deals where I couldn’t not buy it knowing what I do now about these cars.Â
Where does that leave me with 10120*00413? We’ll see. A local Alfa guy has been looking for an SS shell as the basis for a race car and now that a lot of the rust is repaired it’s probably a much more doable looking project. No promises either way. I did just spend a miniscule fortune on a radiator out of the UK for it… Any interest??
This is how you find them or rather they find you. Truth is this was the other car I was considering when I bought 00413 all those months ago. The detail oriented in the crowed are right now trying to figure out what’s going on in the front behind the grill opening. It’s just a repair panel laying in there.
Rocker rust is about the same as 00413 but it comes with a pair of NOS Alfa produced rocker panels . Body was sand blasted and has been reduced to its elemental parts since this picture was taken.
I can have another go at gauge restoration. Lucky me! Gauges are metric but I can live with it.
Now this is cool. If you’ve followed me this far then you know what you are looking at. A 91,000 km original, never opened, as factory built early 1600 Veloce 00121 engine complete with the right carbs, manifold, distributor, small port head, Veloce sump etc.  I am excited about this. Will probably just do the head gasket and upper timing chain then use it!Â
In other news… After weeks of peaceful progress on my welding and fabrication efforts on 00413 I have been stalled by a) a trip to Hawaii, b) a sore neck and shoulder from either the trip or a minor accident I was in on the way to work recently, c) old friends staying at my house, d) old friends in town but not staying at my house, e) a lot of fuss from my red Sprint (more later),  f) a little fuss from my modern BMW in the way of a dead starter and g) helping a friend start his business. The stalled state will continue as I deal with a lot of other similar stuff in the weeks to come. I think this is what is meant byu the term ‘and life got in the way’.
I’ll give a comprehensive Sprint update this weekend as I get it ready for the Snowball rally which happens in a few weeks.