Category: fun stuff

Giulia Sprint Speciale 10121*38XXXX.  This car is on eBay right now.  It is among the worst maybe sort of still viable cars I’ve had the pleasure of writing about.  I saw this car in person maybe 8 years ago in southern California.  I have some pictures somewhere from then, but can’t seem to find them.  It is very rusty, and very crunched.  Come to think of it I sourced the hood for this car that you see on it and I a few other parts.  Netflix or Amazon should sponsor a show rebuilding a car in this condition. Anyhow.

Incomplete, rusty and crunched.  Any one of those three is a challenge.  Any two should give one pause, and three should cause one to run a four minute mile in the opposite direction forthwith.  At least it has its drivers side marker light.
Continue reading “Market 557: “Guila” SS for the brave”

Giulietta Sprint 10102 1493*22352.  This car is available now on eBay from longtime classic car dealer Gullwing Motor Cars out of Astoria New York.  It is a fine looking driver condition Sprint, with room for improvement – mainly little detailing jobs, especially in the engine compartment.  The description says it has a Sprint Veloce engine installed but the picture of the engine compartment shows a single down draft carburetor,  cast iron exhaust manifold and other normale spec items, so either the block is Veloce and the rest is not, the pictures are out of date, or they are confused.  Asking price is $56,500.  If it does have a Veloce engine installed, and includes the original as stated, this is probably a decent deal.

Good looking car.  It looks like a recent European import to me based on the front marker lights and the overall appearance.  Rims are Borrani – considered more desirable than Fergat rims.

Continue reading “Market 556: Sprint Normale 22352”

The Borgo Di Carpiano is an Agriturismo inhabiting a restored castle/church/village in the hills between Gubbio, and Perugia.  There was only one room open for one night while we would be in the area, and it was a bit of a drive from Gubbio, but we decided the drive was worth the experience – especially considering you typically have to book a year or more in advance to stay.

The buildings were impeccably restored over seven years from a ruin, and every detail is perfect.  The owner Riccardo is a great car guy with a collection of Fiats.  We talked cars as best we could, and I learned that the Borgo is a destination for lot of car enthusiasts from the US and UK.  I am probably ruining my chances of being able to get another room, but then, you are probably going to go to Milan or Rome if you go to Italy, so we shall see.

Umbrian destinations all seem to be this evocative rough stone construction.  You really feel like you’re somewhere else when you’re here. I love the ancient Italian door.  I’ll be posting a big set of Italian door pictures when I get back.

Continue reading “Borgo Di Carpiano”

We drove from San Sebastiano Curone to Gubbio yesterday – lot of driving, but worth the effort. Gubbio is a very old city in Umbria, it evokes a heavy sense of life and history I am not used to. A feeling of the small cycles, days, moons, seasons, lives, centuries, civilizations contained in many many many years, and what can be achieved by generations of hands altering the land. That clock still runs, sons and daughters take the places of mothers and fathers, over and over until whatever end if any there will ever be.

Not a lot of old cars on the streets of Italy, perhaps the message got around that they ought to be preserved indoors, out of the elements. What I have seen are well cared for drivers.  I’ll post some here and… I am now, after years of probably stupid reluctance on Instagram.  There is probably a link I can embed, but I haven’t figured it out.  Search giuliettasdotcom and ask to follow!

Rufus thought this Citroen H van espresso bar was neat.  Only really good coffee I got in Annecy.  Not that the other cups were bad just nothing exceptional.

Continue reading “Giuliettas In Gubbio Italy”

I am touched to see so many nice comments on recent posts! Life has gotten interesting (and very busy) for me – whether it’s gaining the perspective that comes from being a father, blowing through 45 and rapidly approaching 46, or wrestling with the whole “what do I want to do with my life” question, which seems like it ought to have been settled by now, and maybe is, but I don’t recognize it. In any case, the weird thing is, I can go to giuliettas dot com, and see that I did something once, something creative, something funny and meaningful to a few people, and then I realize, it is not over, I am just in the midst of a rather lengthy pause to catch my breath and think of something else to say.

My family in a tree in Costanoa Ca. Sometimes you get lucky and take a decent picture.
Continue reading “10 years of Giuliettas dot com”

Hey all!  It’s been a while since I posted anything here, and looking at the traffic, it appears that some of you occasionally stop by anyway.  I did a little work on my Sprint two weeks ago, replacing a lower radiator hose that was cut by a poorly positioned steering joint cotter pin leg, and installed a new plug wire set after a rodent made a nest in my engine compartment and ate two of the wires.  Fortunately, I caught the nest a few days into construction, so no real harm was done, but I did lose a little sleep thinking about how it would have gone had I not popped the hood on a whim.  Would have been two months worth of nest which would have been ugly!

This is in the barn at the house I bought with a partner in Calaveras County near Murphys California.  One of you lives up there – I saw a white Giulietta Spider on the road a couple of months ago while in town.

I’m going to Italy next month – maybe I’ll see a few of you on the road!

A reader has this engine for sale.  00204 00249 out of an iron block 2 liter Touring Spider.  Could be used in place of a 1900 engine with a little effort I think, or go in a 2 liter iron block Bertone Sprint – the 2600 body style cars – yeah, they did in fact make them in 2 liter form based on the 1900 engine for a few minutes on a late January day in 1959.  Comes as pictured.  $8500.  Comment below if you want me to connect you with the seller.  My email address for this site is locked for some reason.

Seems like a heck of a deal – I’ve seen just short blocks of these for over $6000.

I think these used a split case transmission like a Giulietta with a different bell housing.  Pretty darn complete!

Looks to have never been apart.

Convenient distributor location!

Giulietta Spider 1961.  This Spider is available out of Belgium from Marreyt Classics – thanks Eddy for bringing it to my attention.  The story goes it was placed in a barn in Tuscany with about 22,000 kilometer on the odometer.  Based on the condition I would guess it was a climate controlled barn protected from rodents by a line of fierce vigilant house cats. I have seen some low miles original Giuliettas in my travels, but there is usually a caveat to originality, such as a repaint in original color, some engine tuning or the like – not so with this car.  It is claimed to be not just all 100% original with (I hope) the exception of standard consumables like tires and fluids, but in as-new original condition.

 

It looks every bit like a restored Spider except that the doors and all fit a little better than usual.  

Continue reading “Market 554: Timewarp 1961 Spider”

Update December 30, 2016: This car is on the move again, listed out of Los Angeles on eBay.  It even references the previous log post here!  Good looking car.

Great color on a great car.  Is that tire a little low?

Update September 22, 2015: Sold for full Buy it Now asking.

Giulia Sprint 1600 10112*352835.  This Sprint is available on eBay right now in what appears to be Crayola Midnight / Bosphoro Blue.  Buy it now for a hair under $50K.  Not bad if you like the finish.  The seller says it was originally a California Black Plate car that came from Martin Swig in the early 2000’s.  Martin didn’t mess around with crappy cars -at least not that I observed in the years I knew him; and tended to use the big name mechanics in my area, so you can bet this is a good solid car.  Also of note, reader Aaron has the sister car to this: Sprint 1600 352834, a California Black Plate car that, although now in Texas, was a long time San Francisco Bay Area resident.

So blue it looks black.  I like it when a seller bothers to frame a good picture.  If my Sprint looked this nice I’d be ecstatic.

Continue reading “Market 506: Ex- Swig Sprint 1600 10112 352835”

Update November 30, 2016:  This car exceeded estimates by a bit, selling for 151,200 Euros or $160,046.  Parity approaches!  I’m going to say this was a good deal for both parties to the sale.  The seller got more than they were expecting (if the estimates were no artificially low) and the buyer bought a car that will one day be a million euro’s if trends continue.

Thank you Marco Pestana for sending the link, and for keeping the vintage Alfa revs up in general!

October 19, 2016: Giulietta Sprint Veloce 750E 1495*01861, 1315*30052, 77052.  This early Sprint Veloce is being auctioned at the same time as Spider 00016 at Duemila Ruote November 27 – 29 2016, in Italy.  I bet some of you were expecting this write up today.

I have only had opportunity a few times to write about a project Alleggerita Sprint Veloce over the years – mostly because these have been expensive cars for a long time.  These were $100,000 cars when you could get a good original Sprint Speciale for less than $20,000, and buy a decent house in Oakland for $350,000.  Project in terms of a Sprint Veloce Alleggerita usually means raced half to death, rebuilt, raced half to death again, rebuilt again, over and over in what could be many cycles over many years.  It’s not uncommon for original engines to have gone missing, replaced hopefully by a Veloce block with a “near neighbor” VIN.  Also typically gone are the special lightweight seats and other bits that prove a challenge (satisfying challenge I imagine) to source.

When was the last time you saw a Sprint Veloce Alleggerita in this condition? Not you two guys – you have them in your garage – that’s not fair! The last and only one I recall is the burned out project in Southern California of a few years ago. Never heard whether it was a real one verified by numbers, or what happened to it. Anyone? This car looks pretty good! Once benefit of frequent racing is the heat cycles, care and track inspection requirements keep rust at bay. This thing will probably be in bare metal by Christmas.

Continue reading “Market 540: Sprint Veloce 750E 01861 – numbers matching – assembly required”