hamilton.mm – Page 74

April 19, 2009

ARA and Dick Gale’s One Lap of Marin

I got up early and changed the fan belt in the Sprint for the 4th time, this time with the right belt, a 17281, and headed over to Sausalito to meet up for the annual ‘One Lap of Marin’ presented by The Alfa Romeo Association, an SF Bay Area Alfa club and Dick Gale. I am going to poach part of the Snowball Rally next weekend (have to go to the company premier party for Pixar’s ‘Up’ next Saturday night with the Mrs.) and thought this would be a great chance to see some old faces and put another 100+ shakedown miles on the Sprint.
The meet up spot is on the Sausalito waterfront just off the Marin City exit of 101. The majority of the cars are imports, mostly Italian, ranging from humble Fiats to stately Lancia’s to once-in-a-lifetime Ferrari’s, though the field was primarily Alfa Romeo’s.

6C1750 Super Sport perhaps? Fantastic light covers! I admit my knowledge of earlier Alfa’s is limited. Mike’s SS and Karl’s 90’s Spider in foreground.

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April 18, 2009

Market 109: 1600 Sprint presentable driver

Update 4/25: This car sold for $16,350 with 24 bidders. Not a bad result for a later Sprint that had no effort made to show any potentially rusty areas. I think a trip to the detail shop like the subject of Market 106 would have resulted in better pictures which in turn would have resulted in a higher sale price. If the new owner is interested in lower body trims, I think a set is on eBay right now. Well bought I suspect.
Giulia Sprint 1600 10112*358476, 00112*11980, body 6531121. This car is available right now on eBay out of Washington. As I mentioned after the last Sprint sold on eBay for $18,700, they are probably going to be coming out of the woodwork with sellers trying to capitalize on that cars success. The beauty of this particular example is it can be driven immediately by the new owner and comes with the valuable original engine as well as an installed Giulia Sprint GT Veloce unit.

sprint-marchal I like this view of Sprints. Nice Marchal headlamp. Headlight ring looks a little distorted. Auction description says this area was repaired after an accident prior to the sellers ownership. My Sprint has been hit twice in this area. Oh well.

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April 17, 2009

Market 108: Well traveled Giulietta Sprint Speciale

Update 4/21/09: This car sold for $38,300 with 10 bids. I am very surprised at this result. This is a nice car than can be driven immediately! The two tone silver car needed a lot and sold for $3000 less than this. The white Giulia SS is probably in similar condition to this but hasn’t been used much and the seller of that car wants $47K FIRM (his caps). Bad timing maybe? Who knows. Well bought I say if the seller lets it go.

Giulietta Sprint Speciale 10120*177380, Engine 00120*01735. On eBay now is this very nice example from right here in California. I seem to remember this car selling via the AlfaBB a few years back (before I started this blog) for about $22K with engine teething problems and 69 GTV seats, I looked in emails past and found an inquiry about it by me on 9/14/05. To look at it now and by the description, it sounds like the seller took it on and improved everything that needed improving.

I kind of like it without the grill wiskers. Car is so blue here it almost looks black. Nice. Seller states grill whiskers are included and in good shape.

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April 16, 2009

Fiat 124 Sedan gets a freshen-up down low, part 1.

Did I mention I have to fix a rod knock in the Fiat? I’ve only just now allowed myself to begin thinking through the project, with the Sprint rebuild coming to a close. Last night I drained the oil, coolant and took a bunch of stuff apart, but I guess I’m getting ahead of myself. You probably want to hear more about the knock. It goes like this…

One of the nicest 1972 Fiat Sedan Specials around keeping the ex-giuliettas.com Veloce company.

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April 15, 2009

Market 107: UK based Giulia 1600 Sprint project

Giulia 1600 Sprint 10112*356956. This car is available right now on eBay.UK. According to the Production and Register it was made in 1963, making it one of the last Sprints. Lots of work has been done and it sounds like it is ready for paint and assembly.

Bodywork looks to have been done well. Wipers work in the opposite direction to mine.

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April 14, 2009

101 1300 21: sumday

First off, to address some comments: I do have the original air filter assembly, the problem is, the Solex I am using is the later type that doesn’t clear the airbox. I suppose the correct Solex could fix the lack of an air cleaner problem too.

So, Sumday (thanks Grandaddy for coming up with that one) is the day I add it all up. It may be premature since I haven’t fixed the possibly low oil pressure or settled on a carb, but I think I am close. Below is a tally of work done and how much it cost. I am presenting this as educational material for those who, like me at the outset, think they can cut corners and save some cash. I honestly thought this would cost “about $3000”. Pictures have little to do with this post.

I had lunch with Laurence on Friday and he thought a side-by-side of our semi-significant others would be fun and informative. His is a Sprint Veloce made 3/58, mines a Sprint made 10/59. Both are long term Bay Area cars with similar patina, though his is nicer in most ways.

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April 13, 2009

101 1300 20: the home stretch

I drove the Sprint to work this morning, 29 miles one way in moderate 6:30am traffic. It still has some wrinkles to iron out but all in all it is pretty good. A 101 1300 has to be driven to be believed. I have been spoiled by 1750 power over the last 6 months in the Berlina and with the 1300 powered Sprint I was expecting a noticably slower car, but honestly, other than having to adjust from the ‘power anywhere’ torque curve of the 1750 to a tendancy to stumble below about 3000 rpm in the 1300, the 1300 holds its own and is turbine smooth.

Since my last report on this car I have done a lot of work but I didn’t have the camera so it didn’t get documented.

Here it is in the parking lot at work. There is a hint of coolant under the nose so I’ll have to tighten the hose clamps when it cools down, but other than that, no problem.

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April 10, 2009

Market 106: Interim US market Sprint, a perfect project?

Update 4/16/09: Wow! $18,701 with 47 bidders. That is a very very strong result. I think this result comes from the market trend over the last few years to add extra value to really good original, as found, un-molested, etc honest cars that a collector or skilled restorer salivates over as basis for concours restoration starting points. Look for a flood of auctions to ride this auctions coat-tails.

Update 4/11/09: Link fixed! Sorry about that.

Giulietta Sprint 10105 1493*21140. Available now on eBay is this rather handsome devil, fresh out of long term storage in a collection and looking for action, or at least a new owner with the pocket book or skills to put it back on the road. Seller sold the the two tone SS that was on eBay last week and by the sound of things will have more Alfa’s for sale in the coming days.

Looks like an orangish respray has been polished through on the nose. Grills, bumper etc look great. No hood spear?

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April 9, 2009

Market 105: Sprint Special 00339, best project yet!

Giulietta Sprint Speciale 10120*00339, engine 00120*00611. This car is available right now from The Car Nut in Georgia. The seller says the price depends on where he is in the restoration ($45,000 as of 4/8/09, 5:42 pm) when a buyer appears which is practical. It looks to me like all that is really left to do is the clean assembly that can seem to take forever but is generally regarded as fun. The body looks to have been finished to a very high standard and silver is a good color for SS’s, as evidenced also in Market 18.

Work in Progress. Those wheels are odd, but the seller indicates originals with new caps are included. If this car is as nice in person as the pictures, this is a great deal.

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April 7, 2009

Market 103: 10123*379585 Spider project

Update 4/14/09: Car sold for $9211 with 21 bidders not a bad result for the seller and depending on what the buyer wants, probably a good deal for them too.

Giulia Spider 10123*379585. This car is available right now on eBay out of San Luis Obispo with a low starting big and hopefully a reasonable reserve. These late 1600 Spiders were a last-ditch effort by Alfa and Pininfarina who was tooling up for the 105 Spider launch. While they lack some of the detail charm of their earlier siblings, they are probably the most easy going on the road due to the 1600 single carb engine, disk brakes and 5 speed.

Chrome and all looks smart. The hood gap is even all the way around and the paint has good shine.

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