hamilton.mm – Page 55

March 1, 2010

Market 193: An abnormale Sprint in South Africa

Giulietta Sprint 10102*161329. This 1961 Sprint is available now out of South Africa. A familiar story, it has been in good-intentioned hands since the mid-1970’s, seeing one owner spend 20 years on disassembly and probably sporadic attempts at little tasks before selling in 1994 to the current owner who got it into the shape you see here. There is a lot of unclear language surrounding the price so I’m just going to go with the 11,820 Euro quote which is $16,000 at time of writing. A reasonable asking price which reflects the realities of transport. Is there no South African market for this now that Greig has filled his garage? Time to build a bigger garage.

This looks really good so far though a little dusty. This red is a lot like the shade found on earlier 6C and 8C’s, a bloodier, more serious red than the bright Alfa red of the mid fifties. Hood fits great as do grills and lights. I dig the driving lights. One wiper missing.

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February 26, 2010

Market 192: A South African RHD Giulietta TI in Germany

Giulietta TI GD CKD 10109. This right hand drive sedan, originally delivered to South Africa is available right now from Atlantic Auto GmbH for 8950 Euro’s or about $12,200 at time of writing. German roadworthiness standards are some of the highest in the world so you can bet this is a good car. Why so many RHD Giulietta sedans lately? Wierd.

I like this washed out yellow. A lot of the 50’s Fiats and such are this color when seen in street scenes in movies from the late 50’s early 60’s. These are my least favorite grills for the Giulietta Sedans but from where I sit, I’d deal with any Giulietta sedan that came my way for a reasonable price -would be fun to use as a daily driver for a while.

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February 25, 2010

Bodywork 14: Somewhere in the early part of the middle

I have to fess up. I started this blog post yesterday and then chickened out and stopped working on it because I felt a little embarassed by the quality of my work. I feel like the rust repair is going okay, the metal is responding, but the finished product looks pretty marginal. Good enough -yes, but I sort of imagined some unknown talent taking over and this coming out nicely. I am aware that this is sort of how these things go, and skill development takes time but it’s hard to not get discouraged. Oh well. Good enough indeed.

Picking up where I left off last time. Bumper mount recesses and tubes are removed and cutouts for back up lights are, well, cut out. It’s reassuring to know that people exist who can undo all my efforts and make it right if someone wanted it so and money was available.

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February 23, 2010

Market 191: Giulia SS in France

This RHD Giulia SS is available right now out of France for 29,500 Euro’s or $39,700 at time of writing. I’m not certain, but looking at the pictures I think this is the car that Alfa workshop in the UK has on their web site. How many Bluette right hand drive SS’s can there be? If anyone knows the VIN I’d be happy to add it to my register.

This is a great color for a Sprint Speciale -if I ever get a Giulia SS I’ll paint it this color. All you can really tell from pictures of this low resolution is that it’s an SS and it looks great from far away.

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February 22, 2010

SS 00121 rebuild 8: a few parts needed then the waiting begins

With all the focus lately on my questionable rust repair techniques, I haven’t said much about the engine. I have a modest list of parts to source and buy, but basically, the engine is all torqued together and is just waiting for me to get the body done and drop it in. I have it displayed proudly on a wooden pallet so I get inspired everytime I turn on the shop lights. This is how it looks. I wonder how long after assembly it’s okay to wait before firing an engine up? I expect to fire it up in June.

The valve cover is loosely assembled because most of the parts on my ‘still to source and buy’ list are under it. Cams, tappets and shims feature prominently. Another unresolved issue is the holes in the valve cover these valve cover bolts go through are not big enough -I need to drill them all.

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February 19, 2010

Bodywork 13: win-win rear end repair

It was nearly 2 years ago that I started work on this corner of the car -was the first body work I attempted. Back then I didn’t really know what to do about some of the problems I faced, but as with all things, I figured when it came time to make a decision, I would somehow know what to do. The bodywork was tweaked just enough in a crash, and rusted through in just enough places that getting it back to stock was going to be difficult. Now that I am welding and unafraid and have to deal with it, I have decided to repair it by emulating the early lownose rearend -a much simpler design and hopefully easier to fabricate. Check it out.

A reminder of where I started and what I started with. Now that I have experience I can tell you the dent to the left of the tail lights, in the gentle curve of the Kamm tail area is a harder thing to deal with than the edge chop.

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February 17, 2010

Alfa Sprint crash from ‘Les Choses de la Vie’ 1970

I enjoy movies set in Europe in the 1960’s where they have real street scenes. I watched ‘How to steal a million’ with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole the other night and the street scenes were amazing. I was reminded I haven’t been featuring video’s in a while and it brought to mind this video. I know, you’ve seen this before but paying close attention to the details will get you thinking. If you’ve never seen it watch it before you read the comments after it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeKtzX1pAXo]

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February 16, 2010

Market 189: Early Sprint project 750B 01996 in Italy

Giulietta Sprint 750B 01996 is available right now on Italian eBay out of Padua Italy. While incomplete, it looks like a good, albeit expensive start for someone looking for an early car. I’ll be in the market for one when the SS is done -but that may be a while.

Not exactly straight and ready for paint, the drivers side lower grill area looks to be pushed in a little. Dig the string holding the glass in place. Must have been shipped recently.

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February 13, 2010

Bodywork 12: good enough is good enough

The title of this one has become my mantra. Welding is getting easier incrementally, as is shaping the metal. As I cut little areas open, remove the dead metal and add new in I am always telling myself to just get it good enough so I can grind it down, smear the weld with all metal filler, sand that down and hide any imperfections under some polyester filler. Here is the latest. This picture was taken about 2 hours before I sat down to write this.

You can’t really see much of the improvement, but this is what it looked like when I left tonight. I’m only looking forward to the sanding and filler stage because it will mean the welding stage is done. Did I mention welding is dirty work?