Category: 2012 markets

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Market 387: Sprint 10112 356053 – fixin’ time

Update 4/6/12: Sold for $8150. Not sure if that’s good, but I guess so. Tons of work to do. Anyone here buy it?

Giulia 1600 Sprint 10112*356053.  This last of the breed Sprint is on eBay now out of New England.  Looks like a decent car that was pulled from harms way just in the nick of time back in the late 60’s.  It has rust – the kind that finds little areas of unprotected metal and works outward – rather than the west coast sort that focuses on areas with standing water or where water is trapped between carpet and metal. It does require some welding, but I think if stripped, it would be a puzzling collection of rusty patches, and not nearly so bad as your typical 1600 Spider barn find of the same era.

You are tempted to say it looks like a reasonable car, and it is.  But someone has gone through the trouble of getting house paint matched to the existing orangey red and painted over the bare metal.  Maybe it’s special rust inhibiting stuff, but I doubt it.  Doesn’t look half bad in any case.

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Market 386: Giulia SS 381335 in Northern California

Giulia Sprint Speciale 10121*381335, 00121*01326.  My local purveyors of high-end collectible cars -Fantasy Junction -have just listed this late Giulia SS.  It’s as nice as expected from them.  I think I have pictures of this car somewhere from about 10 years ago when it was for sale for less than 10% of the current $149,000 asking (Andrew, is this the car you sent me pictures of?) -my how times change.  Is this the SS apocalypse where all the nice ones start at recent high-profile auction house prices?  Why not.

Red.  Looks good in all the ways it should.  This looks like the Berkeley/Emeryville waterfront.  Used to be all sandy beaches in the 1800’s where locals did the sort of stuff people do at sandy beaches like swim in wool and drink Bourbon, but the city (or was it the railroad robber barons?) sold all the sand for 50 cents per wagon load over a somewhat long period-probably thinking there was an infinite supply.  I wonder what they thought that day when the last load was loaded up.  Hmmm -we screwed up I think -kids crying on the now rocky shore etc, gentle water suddenly become treacherous.  There’s a little sand there now between Ashby and University, but nothing like pictures I’ve seen -of course we now get pretty plastic and oil slick type debris so no one hangs out there much anyway -especially if Marin accidentally discharges ‘lightly treated’ waste water.  Oh, wait, this is about a red SS.  Nice car.

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Market 385: Spider 10123 377929 some assembly required

Update 4/6/12: 2 runs through ebay have resulted in the death spiral of ever lower auction results as buyer fatigue sets in and new projects steal the lime light.  5 more auctions and this will struggle to reach $5000 at this rate.

Giulia Spider 1600 10123 377929.  This car is available now on eBay out of Florida.  It was painted about 5 years ago, comes with a bunch of parts, and needs a lot of work.  These are straight forward cars to work on -but it helps to either have worked on one before or have been the one who took it apart, so don’t rush headlong into this if neither of those applies to you, but I guess you have 6 days to think about it.

Nose looks pretty reasonable.  There’s always at least 1 broken off bolt in a front bumper mount on a car like this.  It’s hard to judge the quality of a white paint job via small pictures -especially after 5 years!

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Market 382: Spider 1600 10123 379587 -true barn find!

Update 2/24/12:  Sold for $8101.  Not bad money for this car.  Will be interesting to see if anyone is public about buying this car and shares their fixing it up story.

Update 2/16/12: This car was listed on BringaTrailer resulting in the Buy it Now price being removed from the auction, then, when most of the commenters gave it a thumbs down the auction stalled.  Remember gentle reader -there are at this moment a lot of guys (and some gals I’m sure) out there toiling away on worse cars than this of all nationality and desirability (car and owner alike I suppose…) -this car resurrection business we are all contemplating is a crazy pursuit -but what else are we to do with our time?  At least it’s a tangible object and requires learning, skill development and resourcefulness to see through.  A failed restoration is not wholly a failure -just the car never got done.

2/10/12: Giulia Spider 1600 10123*379587, 00112*45195.  This car is available now on eBay out of Connecticut, where it was just awakened from a 40 or so year sleep in a not so well insulated barn.  Car is rough -as should be expected, but it’s a Spider, it’s complete looking and it’s not much money.  I know some will say it’s a losing proposition if it’s free, but it takes a few owners to carry it along to the viable point sometimes, and this car is far enough away from that edge that it will happen.

Look at this pair -you could take my idea to just make some POS work and drive it around to a new level and have both these guys -the coupe and the convertible.  They look like they were just released from some ordeal they weathered together -would be a shame to break them up.  Dig the fog light in the grill -might start a new fad.

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Market 384: Sprint Veloce Zagato 1493*06184 at auction

Update 5/30/12: Sold for 414,400 Euro’s, about $546,000!

2/13/12: Giulietta Sprint Veloce ‘Zagato’ 750E 1493*06184, 1315*30851.  This very interesting SVZ is going to be auctioned by RM in Monaco soon.  While most cars I write about are straight forward subjects, and anything I say should be taken as insightful mainly due to heavy exposure to the subject if nothing else, and as being typically off the cuff.   A car like this demands careful consideration and wording.  Why?  The genuine article -a Zagato re-bodied Sprint Veloce, that was re-bodied ‘back in the day’ i.e. the late 1950’s, is a very valuable car.  See this thread on the AlfaBB for some lengthy but enjoyable reading on the subject.  Interestingly, this car is listed as MIA since 1960.  It’s important to note that there was no search party out looking for it -it just stayed under the radar since then.  So, with a spirit of caution, I start, and will reserve my comments to ‘ooh’s and ahh’s’ once more.

That is one desire-able object!  Note squared off wheel openings.  Hood is a low as they could practically make it and still fit the engine.  Color scheme is bold -red headlining is fantastic.  Any significance to that license plate number? Wheels look to be period cast wheels -magnesium?  This is pretty close to the top of the Giulietta food-chain.

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Market 381: SS 177325 Retired Scuderia Del Portello race car

Giulietta Sprint Speciale 10120*177325.  This car wears Milano plates and is available from Luzzago right now.  There are many pictures of it racing from 1987 – 1996, after which it was retired, set up for street use and apparently given somewhat of a restoration.  There is no asking price stated for this car.  Check out the link in the vin above -lots of pictures of this car racing1

There are a lot of pictures like this -blurry race shots that evoke days gone by and racing fun.  Fergats have a reputation for breaking under heavy use.  I wonder if this guy suffered any breaks?

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Market 380: restored Sprint Zagato in Italy

Giulietta Sprint Zagato.  Sharing warehouse space with yesterdays SZCT in Italy, and also on offer on Autoscout is this very clean Sprint Zagato.  Asking price is €300,000, a lot of money for a little car, but these have always been 2 to 3 times the cost of a Sprint Veloce Lightweight, so maybe comparatively speaking they have lost a little ground.  Not enough of these change hands to form a basis for a sound cost analysis, so the money has to be relative to your ability to buy it.  As with yesterdays SZCT, I’m far form expert so will reserve my commentary to appreciation for design -always a safe ground to stand on with Zagato products of the 50’s and 60’s.

A very potent race car in its day.  Short, low and light.  Zagato had a head start on the design since they had converted crashed cars into Sprint Veloce Zagato’s for customers, with the final iterations being VERY similar in appearance to the Alfa sanctioned SZ seen here.  Period alloy wheels?

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Market 379: Sprint Zagato Coda Tronca in Italy

Giulietta Sprint Zagato ‘Coda Tronca’.  Elmar sent me a link to this car on Autoscout, for sale out of Italy for €270,000.  They made about 200 SZ’s, the last handful of which were ‘Coda Tronca’ (CT is how I abbreviate it other places) with the Kamm tail.  I have no authority to say anything about these cars, so will keep the commentary to a lot of ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs’.  Anyone know the VIN of this car?

A handsome critter.  Note they figured out how to incorporate a wind deflector into the hood.  I wonder if it also provides pressure relief for the engine compartment like the louvers on an SS hood?  Helps keep the front end from getting light at speed.  That nose is like a big egg; white, bulbous and extremely fragile.  No parallel parking allowed in a car like this.

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Market 378: Spider 750D 00073

Update:  Seems this car got a bit of a thrashing on the AlfaBB (thanks Alejandro for pointing me to the thread).  There is a lot of (earned) mistrust around the workmanship done to old cars in Mexico, stating of the obvious in the incompleteness and non-originality arena, etc etc- I say, and try to practice, keep the criticism constructive, we’re talking about a cool car that WILL change hands at some point soon.  If you don’t like the asking price and ARE an interested party, give the seller a call.  If you aren’t an interested party and don’t like the asking price -laugh about it, shake your head or bring it up at your next car club meeting, but avoid public disparaging.  I’ve written about the sale of several.  Regarding cars out of Mexico -I think it bears looking at them each as individuals. Is it really any different than the variety of repairs you see on older driver cars coming on the market anywhere else?  I’ve seen lots of funky seats in Spiders right here in the US of A.  Scott, I think it’s time for more/better pictures, a very well considered and researched eBay listing -I’ll help if you want.  
Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*00073, 1315*46822 (not original).  Scott sent me some questions about this car yesterday and I ended up agreeing to list it for him here.  00073, an early 1956 built car, is one of the earlier chassis numbers I’ve listed (I think 00007 and 00033 are the only earlier ones) so if you’re into having an early chassis number, this might be for you.  Car came out of Mexico and has the typical for that area incorrect repairs done with an eye toward keeping it on the road over the dark ages of Giulietta parts availability.  It doesn’t appear to be rusty, but only thorough pictures, or inspection in person will say whether or not it is or has had any repairs.  Car has been stored for a few years, last driving in 2008 or 9.  Asking price is now $21,999.  If it really is as rust free as it appears, and can easily be made to run, this is a good deal, since the only work you need to do is swapping out incorrect parts, or refinishing stuff, as it suits you, while you drive it.

If you’re interested, email me at sprints @ giuliettas.com and I’ll put you in touch with the owner.  Car is in Laredo Texas.

The first impression of the body is good.  Door fits very well, the nose and trim all look to fit well too.  Those bumpers look weird to me; over riders are too tall and the bumpers extend farther around the car than I am used to.  Maybe an early car thing, may be something else.

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Market 377: SS 00158 in Portugal

Giulietta Sprint Speciale 10120*00158, 00120*00518.  Henrick sent me a note alerting me to this cars presence on Anamera.  It looks to be a pretty well maintained car, with an especially nice, mostly original looking interior.  Asking price is a reasonable €38,000 -well, reasonable if the underside of the car looks as good as the rest!  Always interesting to see a car surface that’s not on my register -I’m at 110 Giulietta Sprint Speciales on my register -that’s approaching 10% of production surviving.

I like cars in a blue so dark it looks black.  Paint looks good, trim and all is right for a nice driver.

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