Update 6/26/08: Yet a second comment, this one from someone who knows Mr. Coune and asked him if he made this car. Mr. Coune says this is not his work. I am not surprised because I don’t think the work on this car is up to the standard that can be seen on his MGB based coupe or Volvo Amazon convertibles.  Does anyone have any information on this car? Please leave a comment or email me at sprints@giuliettas.com so the mystery can be solved.Â
Update 6/23/08: Received a comment from someone familiar with Coune who says this car is not his work. Whether the Coune connection was a pure fabrication on the part of the seller or a reiteration of a claim by someone else is somewhat immaterial in my opinion. Regardless of who made it and under what circumstances it is more odd than beautiful and will have difficulty finding a new home at a restored Giulia Spider price. If anyone knows more about this car please comment or send me an email at sprints@giuliettas.com.Â
Original post: Another foray into international eBay, this time French,  turned up this odd one-off coupe based on Pininfarinas 101 Giulietta Spider. Asking price is 17,500 Euro’s, about $27,000. Sellers description is “ALFA ROMEO Giulietta Spider 1960 Coachbuilder Jacques Coune or factory ????? I have been told 3 are existing. Car is running and is all original .Body generally sound . Needs restoration . Engine is original but gearbox is not (5 speed) French documents.”
Not a bad looking car combining a late-60’s Italian budget coupe sort of Kamm tail rear with the always pleasing Giulietta Spider. I’m not really a convertible guy, having suffered sunburned nose after sunburned nose over the two years when an Austin Healey Frog/Bug-eye Sprite was my daily hack, but have often thought about how nice it would be to have a coupe version of some of the attractive convertibles I’ve tried to convince myself I could live with. Harrington did it successfully (from a styling standpoint) for some of the British main-stays like the TR4 and Alpine so I guess it’s no surprise someone made a coupe out of a Pininfarina Giulietta Spider, despite the existence of the Bertone Sprint coupe. I guess this is the point where I admit to having fantasized about welding a GTV roof on a Duetto, good thing either of those cars is too expensive to consider doing something like that to.Â
Pretty much looks like your standard 101 1600 Spider wearing an after-market hard top from this angle. Might be an earlier 1300 Spider with the 1600 ‘scoop’ hood.
Continue reading “Market #24: One-off? Pininfarina/Coune? Spider Coupe”