Market 548: SZ 00113 – exceptional

Giulietta Sprint Zagato (SZ) 10126*00113, 00120*00633 completed January 26, 1961.  $775,000 delivered to the fine folks at Fantasy Junction will buy you this fully restored, ready for the morning commute SZ.  It has more than the usual SZ provenance, coming from the collection of the late Martin Swig who used it as it was intended to be used, and took very good care of it, while originally shipping to Libero Liberati, one of Italy’s most famous drivers (and a national hero) in the late 1950’s – early 1960’s.

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Nice seaside overcast shot of a lovely car.  Zagato rewrote a masterpiece almost entirely and yet managed to pay perfect homage to the original while producing a masterpiece of it’s own.  Imagine if they had made 200,000 of these instead of about 160.

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Suspension 5: Sprint Speciale Differential housing clean up

Having this blog to look back on is pretty neat – I get to revisit my younger self, see what I thought about stuff, and reflect on what’s changed.  Most people can probably relate to how it feels when they discover an old essay they wrote for school, or a set of pictures from some big event in their life – a very human mix of nostalgia, slightly embarrassed introspection and my-god-where-has-the-time-gone reflection on changing priorities.  Anyway, I was doing some house keeping and found this post.  I think it is as useful now as it was then.

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Me in a younger mans clothes – a few days before I wrote this post.  How’s the Sprint Veloce doing Corey?

From July 30, 2008:  Cleaning up the differential housing was one of those jobs I resisted doing for a while.  Every time I looked at it the 2 hours of scraping, solvent bathing and degreaser scrubbing I would have to do flashed before my eyes and I found something else to do.  Last week I rearranged a lot of my stuff to fit the Berlina in my space and found myself once again faced with this greasy lump in a tray sitting on my bench top waiting for me to clean it.  It was time to face the subject of so much procrastination.

The housing was covered in a thick coating of dirt that had bonded with oil and built up over the years.  To save time and solvent I used a small scraper to remove the big stuff.  By the time I was done I had removed probably three pounds of the caked oily dirt.

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Greasy oily goo scraped off easily, but there was so much of it that it took about an hour to get it ready for a solvent bath.

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Market 546: Spider Veloce 06959 Dust and all

Giulietta Spider Veloce 750F 1495*06959, 1315*32673.  The fine folks over at Significant Cars have this fresh from neglect 1959 Spider Veloce listed on eBay.  It is described as all original and having about 65,000 miles.  The neglect took its toll in the form of rusty rockers and spoiled finishes, but with care I think a lot of the originality could be preserved, and I am sure some of you are thinking the same ting as you contemplate whether to transfer some money around and make a play for it.

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How would you feel if it was you unearthing this thing?  Me too!  I would detail this thing for 40 straight hours before turning a screw.  Make it absolutely as good as possible with what’s here and then make a plan.  Really is a fine looking specimen. Continue reading “Market 546: Spider Veloce 06959 Dust and all”

Market 545: Spider 750D 01109

Update November 1, 2016: Seller sent me these pictures of the engine and transmission.

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Engine is pretty clean.  It is difficult to make the original castings look really great without bringing a lot of nasty chemicals to bear.  Note the cam cover does not have the cross piece at the back the later 750 engines have.  Lucas?

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And with a tunnel case no less.  Wrenches not included.  I’ve got a big box of engine mounts somewhere…

October 28, 2016: Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*01109, 1315*41017.  This well displayed project Spider is available now on eBay out of the Chicago area from a seller  whose ebay sale cars I have written about a few times.  All the major components are either pictured or described.  I didn’t see it, but there must be a gallon bucket of fasteners somewhere.  Take note of the presentation – if you are selling a project, this is a good way to do it.

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Gives the impression of being drive-able when it’s assembled like this – might clean the windshield though.  Every piece will need work and refinishing – every one, especially the big bracket in the middle.

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Ramble: The part that is hardest

Update October 31, 2016: I was listening to the radio the other day and someone said “You can’t buy anticipation” and it reminded me of this post.

April 26, 2013: A popular song would have you think that anticipation is the most difficult aspect of any soon to be fulfilled desire.  It is to some, but to me it’s usually the best part, because the thing anticipated, lets say a recently purchased Alfa 1900C that’s currently in a trailer headed across the country, the thing anticipated once physically in the hand will never be as good as it is imagined in the hand.  Why?  That asymptotic creep toward ennui begins the moment the item occupies my precious garage space.

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How’d you like to have this car headed your way in the back of a transporter? Similar color to Market 477’s Alfa Spider.

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Market 544: Sprint Zagato 10126 00207: other-worldly transport

Sprint Zagato 10126*00207, 00120*00634 (probably original), Body 634.  This amazing piece of functional art is available now from the good folks at Fantasy Junction for a mere $585,000.  With a generally accepted production run of 44 examples, the second series Giulietta Sprint Zagato, colloquially known as the Coda Tronca for practical reasons, is the third of what I imagine being four time-lapse frames. Frame one is the original run of Sprint Veloce Zagato one-offs that inspired frame two: the first series Sprint Zagato Coda Tonda.  Frame three is the series represented by this car, and frame four is the Straight out of science-fiction Tubolare Zagato or TZ if you’re the sort to worry about pronouncing foreign words correctly.  I suppose frame five would be the Tipo 33, but that fellow is its own can of beautiful worms with quite a few interesting permutations to explore.

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Behold: the rarest production Giulietta by production number – and also my personal favorite.  I doubt I will ever own one, or even drive one for that matter, but aspirations being necessary for a healthy human brain and work ethic, I’ll  set my sights here.  A regular Giulietta Sprint looks BIG next to one of these.

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Ramble: You are a Target Audience

Giuliettas classic: Automobiles, as Henry Ford understood them, were conceived of as basic transportation, but as automakers emerged and brands began to compete for sales, lines were drawn, classes were formed and image, a mans image of himself, became linked to his* car.  Advertising began to focus on the aspirational longings of it’s target audience, with what has played out to be strange, and as such, interesting results.  (I must digress for a moment here and point out that the above paragraph is true for just about any product.  ‘Jeans, as Levi Strauss understood them, were conceived of as basic clothing…’)

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Hey Ladies!  Either of you interested in going for ride in my new car?  The dealer couldn’t supply the ultimate passenger seat accessory.”

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Market 543: Sprint Speciale 00681 – amazing condition

Giulietta Sprint Speciale 10120*00681, 00120*01310.  RM Sotheby’s is auctioning this car at the Duemila Ruote sale next month.  It’s not very often that I am faced with a car where I honestly can’t decide if it’s totally original, or was very well restored at some point in it’s life.  Maybe it’s the lack of wax and polish one usually expects a car about to be auctioned to have, maybe it’s the very even patina.  My gut tells me this is an original car that has maybe seen some restoration work over the years, but mostly wears an understated glow of careful care.

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Major props to the restorer if this is a restored car.  I love the tiny little marker lights the cars around this VIN had.  Stance and door shut lines look great – and even the drivers side windshield wiper arm is in a totally reasonable position.

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Market 542: Spider 750D 00861 – ready to roll

Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*00861, 1315*40850.  This numbers matching Spider 750D, available now on eBay is from the end of the second year of production.  In elegant white with red interior, it looks like a no nonsense well cared for example that is ready to be enjoyed.  Buy it Now price of $77,500 is probably a tad more than most Alfa enthusiasts will want to pay for it, and I’d really like to see the engine compartment in body color at this price. Make an offer a few thousand less and get the engine compartment painted if it concerns you.

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Whoever at Alfa in the early 50’s was making the decisions about design and styling did an exceptional job.  All the Giulietta models walk a line between universal appeal and no compromises beauty in a way that no other model line from any maker I can think of has.

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Market 427: Fresh off the boat SS 10120 177276

Update October 21, 2016: I feel like a bit of a secret agent when I go through posts on my site and find an old post about a car currently on the market.  This Sprint Speciale is doing time at Fantasy Junction my local emporium of rarified cars whose prices remind me I should have studied Finance rather than Engineering.  FJ has it priced at $139,500 – the going rate for SS’s on dealer showroom floors these days.  Interior and engine compartment have been extensively improved.  I’ll try and stop by in the next few days to experience the rare non-virtual impression.

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Everyone loves a good horizon shot!  Look the reflection of the horizon along the body – a neat effect.  The left grill bar on this car looks a tiny bit droopy in every picture – not sure if it’s an illusion or what.  Looks great!

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