hamilton.mm – Page 66

October 3, 2009

69 GTV go over: Getting it roadworthy

Finally I am somewhat done with the TI, it being for sale and all, and can get on to the next thing, getting the GTV roadworthy so I can find out if it’s capable of being my winter car this year. It fires right up and runs okay, has strong brakes and clutch, most of the lights etc work and the interior is not embarrassing so I am confident it will be able to fill that role admirably. It lost all it’s coolant through the water pump last month so I at least know I have to tackle that, and the flexible mounts for the carbs were so badly cracked that if I pushed down on the carbs while it was running it would lean out so much it would die. Both easy enough to remedy with a phone call and a few days later the receiving of a box from Centerline via UPS with brand new replacement parts.

To get the water pump out it’s easiest to just pull the coolant overflow bottle, radiator, alternator and anything else in the way. I spotted this silver thing in the greasy bowels of the engine compartment.

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September 30, 2009

TI Tidy XXVI: Clutch Master time

The saga continues, like a Halloween horror movie sequel or a Star Wars excuse for merchandising spin-off/splinter story. I’ve been relying on this car for my daily get-a-body-where-it-needs-to-go duties which seem to never be less than 100 miles and I am impressed by how good it is. Starts right up, flies down the freeway and stops pretty good. Given how much I had to do to bring it this far, a little thing like the clutch master acting up is no more than an irritation.

Like it supposedly is with people, what’s on the inside matters most. Here we have a rusty grungy exterior and a virginal interior. Baby drank some bad DOT3. When I opened it up the assembly was sticking in some old black gooey fluid that brake cleaner took care of.

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September 29, 2009

Market 118: Nice Giulietta TI in Mexico

Update 3/18/10: Story continues only the sale venue has changed… now available at MaercadoLibre for $95,000, pesos that is. About $7300. A good deal methinks if you are cool with the idea of buying a car out of Mexico…

A little Q&A from the ad:

Q: “buddy for the linkage is that if you put it like this for the velocities to the column has not been since ?—- and second type of box I adapt it ?…. I have on hand 80 one after another? if you are not interested ‘… and if you can send more pictures of the board xxxxxxxx@hotmail.com trunk etc. .. saludos”

A: “he adapted the case of an Alfa Romeo, the original box tiene.junta not more money (notice it’s clear I’m not topping.)”

Update 10/12/09: 2 bidders, $6100, reserve met. I wonder if it sold? Would be a great bargain at that price if it was around here!

Update 9/29/09: Back on eBay after a brief respite. This TI seems like a pretty good deal for someone in the western hemisphere looking for one.

Update 5/28/09: Sold! $7000, reserve met with 13 bids. Andrew says: “Seems like a steal if you’re in Mexico or have an assured way of getting it out of the country.” I agree. Let’s see if it sticks.

1959 Giulietta TI 1468*22622. This car is available right now on eBay out of Guadalajara Mexico. Seller states it is a 1960 model, but from the time of manufacture to crating it up to be finish assembled in Mexico by Willy’s, a period import requirement to provide jobs, to the time spent on a show room floor, I could see a year or more easily passing.

I really like this series of Giulietta Sedan. The grill work up front has a more jovial expression than the Sprint and Spider. Overall the car looks good. I like the color and everything seems to fit together well.

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September 28, 2009

Market 138: 750D Spider project

Update 10/12/09: $4250, 25 bids, reserve met. Doesn’t happen very often that a car does better the second time around. This means my Spider is under-priced!

Update 9/28/09: It’s back. I guess the high bidder last time got cold feet.

Update 8/10/09: Sold for $3102 with 15 bidders. I guess this means my $4000 asking for my Spider is about right.

Giulietta Spider 1495*05384. This project car is available right now on eBay out of British Columbia Canada. $400 opening bid is a sensible starting place and with the amount of information given about the car it may not be far from the end price. To it’s credit it is basically complete.

Average Spider checks in for some work and never checks out. The body looks to have been in pretty good shape. Rust, rust and rust seem to have exerted themselves. No quarter (wing) windows. Sigh.

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September 28, 2009

Market 149: One owner 1600 Spider Veloce kit

Update 9/28/09: 39 bidders managed to get it up to $10,100 but the reserve was not met. That price would have represented a good buy, heck, anything under about $15,000 would be a good buy to someone who can put it together from all those parts in the pictures. It costs the same amount and takes the same amount of time to restore a Normale versus a Veloce and the Veloce ends up worth nearly twice what the Normale is so there is no reason this car shouldn’t go for good money.

Giulia Spider Veloce 1600 10118*39018X. This 1964 one owner Spider is on eBay out of Milwakee Wisconsin right now. Seller has withheld the last number in the vin “for privacy”. This is sort of funny since for new vehicles the VIN is a requirement and 85%+ of old vehicles (Alfa’s at least) list their vin. Sounds like typical ingenuous internet paranoia to me.

Body looks okay. Door shut lines aren’t great, hood fit isn’t either. Wheels need finishing. I think the new owner will have a lot to do.

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September 27, 2009

A new page and suggestions please

This story, that each of these cars is a part of the unfolding of, has a perfect format for the telling and I am struggling to find it. I have been writing a “Giulietta models” page on and off for months and every time I work on it I think it might be time to build a real website with links to pages and all but this too would lead to limitations.

The story is all at once a history with a genesis, a genealogy, accounts of the heroic deeds of remarkable family members and the humans that operated them on race tracks and winding mountain roads, a tale of economic forces, a tale of product life-cycle and today a tale of restoration, preservation and history. I have been telling this tale ad hoc, as the material comes available and time allows, but the time is coming when the whole singular tale could be told from the pieces.

So what am I getting at here? I guess this is another call for help. You all know how you would like the story to look, how the pieces would fit together and tell the larger tale. I want some recommendations. Is there a book I should get that is exemplary in its presentation of this sort of history? I have a lot of Alfa history type books but they all focus on a piece of the story, and even the best are budget limited and thereby content limited by the publisher.

Have a look at the beginnings of the new page and send me an email or post a comment.

By the way, woo hoo, this is my 300th post!

September 25, 2009

1495*00004 Bertone Spider Prototype 2

In the last Spider prototype post I looked at was 1495*00002. Alfa liked that car but found it a bit alienating for their more traditional customers so Bertone was sent back to the drawing board and this car, 1495*00004 emerged. There are definitely cues from 00002 that carried over, but there are also new elements. This design is attributed to Franco Scaglione.

This picture from google images. I have a picture of this car form Pebble Beach a few years back somewhere. It does share the look of the BAT cars but to me also seems to predict the Zagato treatments that Giulietta’s would see. Note lack of a top cross bar on the windshield assembly and the cut down angled side windows.

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September 18, 2009

Twofer… TI Tidy 25 + A garage full, what to do…

First a news flash: I added a subscription service to the blog so now you can make it so you get an email when ever I add a new post instead of checking back every hour and pushing the refresh button! The link is on the top right side. Click on the more button to see TI Tidy 25 and some musings on what I am going to do with all my needy cars…

Sprint as photographed by Ben on the Melee. Amazing how good a quality camera makes it look!

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September 16, 2009

California Melee 13 event report

I am at work enjoying coffee right now thinking about how much fun I had this weekend on the California Melee. Team Giuliettas.com signed up to drive the TI whose rebuild has recently been so frequently expounded upon in these pages, but a lack of time last week meant I failed to get the last few items on my list dealt with so the trusty Sprint had to do its thing. Good thing Jaan had been sorting out the Weber DCD over the last few weeks.

hamiltons Taking a break at the intersection of HWY’s 36 and 3(?) traveling between Red Bluff and Fortuna. Sprint was running fab and spirits were high.

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September 15, 2009

Market 144: Naked 750 Sprint project

Update 9/15/09: 24 bids resulted in a selling price of $15,100. This seems like a lot of money but is not surprising since this car has very little rust, is Mille Miglia elligible (1957 production or before) and runs as it is. Well sold and if Sprints finally follow a heirarchy similar to 356’s in their valuation breakdown based on age and speciffication, I suspect it will have been well bought.

Giulietta Sprint 750B 1493*04813, 1315*04310. This car is on eBay right now out of Newport Beach from the same seller who has brought us a lot of decent Sprint projects and frankly, has set the standard for great presentation. I don’t know where the paint went, but its absence definitely allows for a warts and all view of the car and it looks very good.

There is some lead in the nose, but it looks pretty straight. Headlight rings, grill and bumper fit well enough. One marker light is broken and the eyebrows are missing.

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