Author: hamilton.mm

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Market #30: Orange 750B project in Europe

Update 7/14/08: Price is now 15,999 Euros.

Update: Overnight the price went from 12,499 to 16,999 Euro’s.  I wonder what they are thinking.  See the comment below for a European perspective.  Perhaps they saw this car.

1957 Sprint 750B 1493*04327, Engine 1315*03847. This car, with an asking price of 12,499 Euro’s, verifies my claim that 750B’s are regarded as being worth a premium compared to 101 style cars. This makes sense considering the hand made nature and relative rarity of this model, with roughly 6500 being made, Veloce’s included, compared to probably more than 25,000 of the later style.

Classified text reads: “CH Fahrzeug aus 3.Hand – 1968 zerlegt & total Restauriert – Seit 30 Jahren Stillgelegt – Zylinderkopf demontiert, mit Doppel Weber Vergaser (Sprint Veloce). Die Orig. Farbe des Gulietta war weiss ! – Fahrzeug ist complet, wenig Rost, zum Restaurieren!”

Or via Google language tools if you prefer English: “CH vehicle 3.Hand – 1968 decomposed & total Restored – For 30 years Decommissioned – cylinder head dismantled, with double Weber carburetor (Sprint Veloce). The color of Orig Gulietta was white! — Vehicle is complet, little rust, to restore!”

Not too bad really. The nose looks straight as does all the trim. Drivers side headlight ring is missing. I like the fog lights. Apparently this car was in the sun long enough to fade the paint.

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Alfa Romeo Archivio Storico information request

If you send an email to: ArchivioStorico@alfaromeo.com with a request for information regarding your Alfa they will get back to you with an email telling you what is in their records. I did this for my Sprint Speciale and this was their reply.

Dear Mister Hamilton,

 with reference to your request we are informing you as follows.

 According to our documentation files, the chassis number AR 101.20.00413 originally corresponds to an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale, manufactured on the 9th March 1961 and sold on the 13th March 1961 to Società per il Commercio dei Prodotti Alfa Romeo. Lugano, Switzerland.

The body colour is Alfa red.

 Yours, Sincerely,

 Marco Fazio 

 

I have seen a photograph of the pages from one of their records that was published in the ‘Giuliettaletta’ autumn 2007 issue and they are very neat to see. The particular record in the photo runs from October 2nd 1957 to November 22, 1957 and has details for cars 05433 to 05451, 19 cars, all written out in beautiful Italian long-hand. I recommend you join the Giulietta Register and request this issue if you want to see this spread.
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Market #28: Rough Giulia 1600 Sprint project

Reserve not Met.  Auction ended at $3300 on 7/6/08.  This ending price is probably the parts value of the car.  I would guess the reserve was $3500 or $4000.  Car has been relisted and I’m not sure but I think there are additional photos.

Giulia Sprint 1600 10112*356469. Yet another project Sprint from the eBay seller out of Newport Beach. Whoever bought the subject of Market #11 might consider this car as a co-project to make two into one from with that car. With values where they are today a Sprint like this is in a much better position for survival than it has ever been. That said, I think this car is a better value as a source of parts than as a restoration project, though the optimist in me would love to see it restored.

The body is for the most part straight, with the usual decent panel gaps and trim fit. It has rust issues, probably not terminal but challenging. Replaced rear drivers corner could hide major headaches, but with cut out and weld in rust repairs to do anyway it would probably fade to background noise by the time you got to it.

Even in near death the Sprint is beautiful. Drivers side headlight is neat period Marchal unit. Headlight rings mismatch. Front bumber in picture is not original.

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Identification numbers Part 2: Sprint engine numbers

As values increase, things that were once overlooked as not important suddenly gain importance. This will become increasingly true of engine numbers in Alfa’s 750 and 101 series cars as they grow in popularity and value in the collector car world. Engines, much like VIN numbers have a 4 or 5 digit Tipo number, followed by a serial number, which in some cases starts with a number indicating the model it was fitted to. The engine number ranges I will quote below come from Fusi’s book, which is known to have errors and omissions, if you have a number that doesn’t fit with what is presented, let me know at sprints@giuliettas.com!

A Sprint 10105 build plate indicating Tipo, Autotelaio and Motore numbers. The font of the stamp is correct. Note that this plate is held on by screws. Also note that Autotelaio and Motore numbers don’t match. The serial number of the motor 010669 is included.

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Roadside repairs: Motherlode 400 fuel pump failure

I purchased my Sprint Veloce March of this year (2008) .  The car had been gone through mechanically by a local vintage Alfa Ferrari Lancia mechanic who specializes in long involved rebuilds to a high standard.  While great care was taken in the set up of the SV, it had been about 4 years since its mechanical setting-up was completed and it didn’t receive more than a few hundred miles of break-in.  What it did receive is a lot of dis-assembly, rust repair, then reassembly.  No real teething drives were taken after this.  I put the car on the road after a thorough cleaning and reinstalling the interior pieces and spending about 20 hours stabilizing the wiring in the car to fix some little problems like 4 volts at the headlights, brake lights only when the headlights were on and no turn signals or horn or gauge lights… you get the idea. 

Woe is me to be laying in rough gravel under the car roadside in 80+ degree heat sleepy from a belly full of lunch getting grease and gasoline all over my arms.  Why is the fuel pump not in the trunk or under the hood?

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Motherlode 400 June 2008

This last weekend the Mrs. and I drove the Giulietta Sprint Veloce on Josh Prestis’ second annual Motherlode 400. The event officially starts at 9am in the parking lot of the Jackson Lodge, but for me and others in our caravan it was a 6:30 roll-off from Oakland.
Cars in attendance included a 1971 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Super, an Aston Martin DB4 convertible, some Triumph TR’s, various BMW’s and others; all pre-1975 Sportscars. On day one the event explores the Sierra Nevada Gold country backroads that few other than locals, and probably few even among locals are aware of. A full slideshow of the event can be seen here.

Approaching 395 from 108 after the Sonora Summit. Spectacular scenery traversed by sweeping high speed roads.

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Giulietta Sprint Veloce Allegerita at 1958 Coupe Des Alps video

It’s easy to forget what the Giulietta Sprint Veloce Lightweight was made for when caught up in pondering values, looking for restoration parts or simply pursuing an abstract historical interest in something like manufacturing techniques of 50’s Italian coach builders. A quote from d’Amico and Tabucchis ‘Le Vetture Di Produzione Dal 1910’ says it better than I could hope to.

“The Giulietta Sprint’s humiliating defeat at the hands of the Porsche 356 Super, itself a 1300cc car, in the Gran Turismo category of the 1955 edition of the Mille Miglia that Alfa had intended to dominate shook the powers that be at the Portello. The company needed to produce a car for the 1956 edition capable of beating the German coupe.”

Thus was born the Sprint Veloce and the seeds planted that would eventually yield the SVZ, SZ and SS.  Below are two video clips that would probably cause most Giulietta Sprint Veloce Lightweight owners to faint if it were their car being driven this hard in this environment.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bbAsjyjm6U&feature=related]

The Youtube video above is a segment from the 1958 Coupe Des Alpes featuring a Sprint Veloce. 

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Market #27: Austrian Giulia SS project

Looking to out do me and have an even worse SS starting point? Look no further. 10,000 Euros ‘Buy it now’ and this could be yours. Based on the pictures it is a 10121*38XXXX, Giulia SS. Seemingly clean SS’s tend to hide rust very well, not so this car, it is clearly out of the closet.
When I and the internet were young I used to play a game where I used translation software to translate phrases back and forth from English to other languages. The results were often startlingly funny. Obviously translation software hasn’t improved much. The translated eBay text reads: “For sale is a rare Alfa Romeo Giulia SS, 1.6 petrol, with original Italian papers, restaurations object, partially disassembled and prepared to restore! Rollfähig vehicle engines and gearboxes are expanded, Interior Rooms with almost complete. Foreign facilities without Stosstangen and without barbecue. Inquiries under 0043 676 6500 954 Enjoy bidding 3, 2, 1, deins …… NO and NO GUARANTEE WARRANTY” Phew, I was worried about the barbecue…
Car doesn’t actually look too bad in this picture. Headlight openings, grill opening, hood alignment and all look right, bumper mounts are sticking out into space. I like the blue lower lip paint scheme, like a 4 year old after a blue popsicle.

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2008 Palo Alto Concours d’Elegance

I’m not much of a car show guy, preferring to tear up the back roads on a Sunday afternoon but with Alfa Romeo this years featured mark and a potential meet-up with some friends I couldn’t help but attend the 2008 Palo Alto Concours d’Elegance this last Sunday the 22nd of June at Stanford University.

I spent a few hours in the hot sun taking pictures of interesting cars, talking to old friends and making new ones.  There were some neat Alfas in attendance including an 8C2900, a TZ1, an immaculately restored Giulietta Sprint Veloce and others. 

This 1958 Giulietta Sprint Veloce is the nicest I’ve ever seen in person.  This car was made 38 cars before mine so there may not be any Veloces between this Sprint and mine.

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Market #26: 1 seller & 2 Bertone Sprints: a 750B and 2600

These two cars have been available for at least two years and attempts to sell them via eBay, Craigslist, Fantasy Junction and elsewhere have been made. They are owned by a long time Alfa collector in southern California and when they were first put up for sale they were part of a seeming collection thinning which included an amazing Giulia Promiscua, a Romeo Ambulance, a custom Giulia Super 2 door coupe and a Giulia Super pick-up truck with an early 70’s Toyota Hi-lux bed. I seem to remember a website that had all these cars on it a few years back, but haven’t been able to find it.

The Giulietta Sprint is a 1955 model which makes it one of a very few survivors from that year. Bring a Trailer has tracked this Giulietta 750B Sprint here for a while and their thoughts on the car are much the same as my own -they also have better pictures from the eBay auction. It seems like it should be a reasonably good deal, it should have been sold by now but it hasn’t. A friend of mine checked it out a few months ago and reported that it was nice, but he couldn’t get excited about it.

Ad on Craigslist reads: “Restored, dual Webers, 2000 Alfa engine and running gear, new paint, interior, chrome etc., small headlight 750B normale car, no rust, straight and solid body.”

My usual complaints about Craigslist photo quality apply here. Car looks straight enough. Small headlights and simple early grills look very nice. Imagine that… it’s red.

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