Update 8/28/12: Rufus has been growing, changing and leading me on a new adventure. Here are some pictures I took this morning when he was in a really good mood. Note the shirt!
Monterey auction results
I missed out of the Monterey weekend festivities again -oh well. I heard a few Giulietta results come back from the auctions, but am still waiting to hear a few. Anyone care to comment on some?
I heard from the second to last bidder that the Market 436 lightweight Sprint Veloce sold for $275,000. Is this accurate? What was the sale price total with fees?
How did Market 434’s Sophia do at Bonham’s?
I heard Market 433 Spider went for $38,000.
Weren’t there a few SS’s too?
Ercole Marelli -who knew!
I have this box of stuff to sell for a guy. It’s mostly Marelli bits, mostly NEW stuff and mostly got me scratching my head. Giulietta Veloce style round top regulators, but with arc shaped mounts to be bolted directly to the generator, or tall mounts or even very much like the ones I’m used to, but still slightly different. Big ignition switches with 1950’s German style ‘keys’. Toggles, pull switches etc. I google key word combo’s like ‘Marelli Aurelia’, ‘Marelli Ferrari 250’, ‘Marelli Fiat 1100’ -you get the idea, and nothing much helpful comes up. What did come up is this Flickr set: Archivio Ercole Marelli, which led to it’s creator Fondazione ISEC.
It’s other worldly really. Size, complexity, that sense of distant future past. No wonder the good cars got Marelli! I wasted a lot of time on this photo collection and am doubly impressed by the Italians.Â
California S.B. 1224 -move emissions exemption from 1975 cut-off year to 1981
This will mean less to the rest of the world than it does to us here in California, but the state senate is voting March 27th on a bill that would move the exemption cut-off year from 1975 to 1981. I read about it here. This is BIG news if you are a vintage car enthusiast in California. If it passes, it will have some interesting ripple effects. The obvious change is a greatly reduced stress level if you happen to drive a car from this time period. Getting 75 – 81 cars to pass emissions is notoriously draconian and expensive. More subtle effects include: registrations of cars that were previously PNO’d or just plain off the record should increase -adding revenue for the state; the value of some cars from this period will increase (78 Ferrari 308, Lotus Esprit or Alfetta GTV anyone?); there will probably be an uptick in local repair businesses when these cars begin to filter back out onto the road.
A 1976 Lancia Beta coupe in the Italian countryside. In California, it used to be that if you wanted one of these you searched, (usually in vain) for a 1974 or 1975 model – or deal with the heavily painful emissions tax and hoop jumping. Now, if this bill passes, just about any Beta coupe you find will be a no-smog deal. Don’t get me wrong -I grew up in California in the 70’s and remember driving in San Bernardino when the mountains a few miles north were not visible through the brown smog -emissions standards are great, and have done a wonderful job of cleaning things up. Â
What would I buy from this era? Lancia Beta coupe, Alfa Giulietta 1.3 (the one with the GTAJ style over-square engine), Lotus Esprit, Porsche 928, Alfetta GT or Sedan, Ferrari 308 GTS, Fiat 131 or X1/9, Jaguar X? many VW’s etc.
If you are in California and the idea of this bill passing excites you -get the word out and write to your senator or who ever it is that votes in these committees.
Market 402: Spider 08855 project car
3/27/12: Sold for $8675. A decent deal if the car is not rusty.
3/10/12: Giulietta Spider 10103 1495*08855. This car is on eBay right now out of New Jersey. Looks like the usual stalled project, getting only the requisite mediocre red paint job and some dis-assembly before the magnitude of the task set in on the over their head enthusiast or ‘hoping-to-make-a-quick-buck’ restorer and the project was abandoned. Seller claims the car comes with a lot of parts -but I don’t see any in the pictures that are from a Giulietta. Make sure you get clarification on what parts are included!
Body looks really good here -nice and straight. Hood is just set in place. I kind of like the off white wheels.
Giuliettas.com gets a friendly nod
I don’t know how many of you have blogs, or websites, or any idea of the information you get to see, but it’s pretty neat. I come home from a day of whatever, open my laptop, check my email, the eBay auctions I post for a friend, etc then come here to my blog -but not the blog you see, rather, a control panel where I see how many visitors I’ve had on any given day (1219 page views so far today), total by increment -679,186 ever, 33,710 last month etc; and where the traffic came from and what it looked at. Today I did this and noticed 19 referrals from an article at Hemmings. Turns out an interview I did with David LeChance around the recent value gains by Giulietta and Giulia Spiders was posted to their site. Check it out!
I know the story of this picture, but I can’t remember. Uncle?
De-evolution
Not sure I’ve shown this picture before. I stopped in my local Giant Burger for a quick meal and couldn’t resist the photo op. This is why it’s scary to drive a Sprint as your daily car. I am happy to see sense returning to the roadways with the proliferation of Fiat 500’s, the new Honda CRX update CRZ, the Scion IQ and others -maybe a day approaches where the Sprint will be the big car int he picture…
Either one of those cars could door ding me on my roof line! Melee sticker has been removed but a bunch of paint came with it (insert frown).
The sincerest form of flattery
I wasn’t expecting this when Alex in Virginia sent me a link. I look at kit cars occasionally on eBay to check out the latest in Porsche Laser 917’s and the like, but not often enough to catch all the weirdness that passes through -including this: an Alfa Giulietta Spider treatment kit on a Miata! I’ve seen lots of Porsche 356 kits, Austin Healey 3000 kits and others, but never Giulietta kit -not that this looks a whole lot like a Giulietta, but you get my meaning.
The quality of the finish isn’t too bad for this sort of thing, and being a Miata, it probably performs admirably. Knock-offs look like something from the SpyHunter video game. Center grill looks like a genuine Alfa part.
Pushing product 6 -new highs and lows
It’s been a while. PP5 was posted on 10/31/09! I’ve been saving pictures -mostly forwarded by readers, and just came a across a bunch, so why not. The usual disclaimers apply -not my stuff, not my girl, just captured moments of young women’s lives. I apologize if this sullies your view of the operation here, but I do need a break from pictures of just cars once in a while.
This is actually how the dream where you buy an 80’s Spider Graduate with too modern wheels plays out. The lighting is dim even though it’s day time, a hot CG chick with two necklaces on is holding her skirt and if you removed her glasses she wouldn’t have any eyes. Nicely taken.
Happy Holidays from giuliettas.com
It’s Christmas morning and I’m sitting in my easy chair with my slippers on, sipping tea and listening to PFM -some early 70’s Italian Prog rock. Winter solstice, what I tend to think of as the start of the new year, was 3 days ago, so days should start getting noticeably longer in a few weeks and warm evenings working on projects and Spring motoring are just around the corner. I am reminded that this time next year will be a lot less relaxing but very likely more fun since there will be a 10 month old boy hanging around. I look forward to it.
I always buy my cars presents and this year the Sprint got a new set of Centerline 8mm green spark plug wires. They sell 5mm wires, but I wore a set out in 3 years, so maybe the 8mm’s will last longer. The Glas 1700 GT and I are still getting to know each other, but I took a chance and ordered a set of Deves piston rings in standard size (yep, they have them) and Flexible hydraulic lines out of Argentina.
I hope you all get a chance to sit in your easy chair, sip an appropriate to the time of day beverage and reflect on how good life is. Happy Holidays (or whatever you call it)!
Christine’s rendition of our Fiat 124 hanging on our foil tree says ‘Happy Holidays’ with a personal touch.Â