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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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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Market 21: California Black plate ‘Interim’ Giulietta Sprint

Update June 17, 2008.  Sold! The auction for this car ended today at $12,100. I don’t really understand this result unless here were major undisclosed problems and the primary bidders found out about them. This car seemed like a great deal compared to either the project that was the subject of this post or the incorrect and possibly sketchy subject of this post. Of course my theory that the market is somewhat flooded with Sprints may have been proven to have merit by this auction. If the sale sticks I have a feeling this car was very well bought. If only I had the cash I would gladly have welcomed this car into my shop.

Giulietta Sprint 10102 1493*20747, engine # 1315*011118. According to Fusi a 1959 year model based on the engine number. In classic car circles the world over, whether you’re talking about Alfa’s or Mopar’s in German or Japanese , the description ‘California Black plate car’ evokes a certain quality of preservation. This car is the very definition of what is meant by ‘California Black plate car’. Wearing it’s original issue black and yellow plates, no rust, low miles (79,884) and drivable with some deferred maintenance to tackle. This car is the twin of my 1959 Sprint and several other local cars I know about.

If you want to get into a true black plate Sprint, this is a good one to buy. I don’t know how many more Sprints like this will come out of California garages but it has to be few indeed.

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Like a casual family picture, all that is missing is a Golden Retriever laying in the shade at the front of the car. Car looks good… straight with shiny chrome bumper and grills, good panel gaps and reasonably shiny paint. “Appears to be rust free.”

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Market #23: Giulietta Sprint 750 B project

Giulietta Sprint 750 B 1493-03822, Engine 1315-03887.  Available here on Italian eBay is this early project Sprint.  Seller also has a Lancia Appia Zagato  project which, if you’ve never seen one, is worth taking a look at. 

I love a good project.  The enjoyment of seeing a car like this and imagining it eventually being transported to a garage where it is pains-takingly brought back to life is hard to explain to someone who doesn’t care much for old cars or working on them.  This looks like a better starting point than the crushed Confortevole I wrote about earlier, but that car had three times the upside this car has.  One would have to buy carefully to have this car make sense as a full restoration candidate, a thoughtful approach to this car may be a slow rolling restoration.  That said if this was in my neighborhood I’d be borrowing a trailer right now rather than writing about it.

Small headlights and simple grill surrounds are the most obvious differences between 750 and 101 bodied cars.  I bet that round sticker on the windshield is from some garage that doesn’t exist anymore.    Note ambiguous rusty patch behind the front wheel.

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Market #16: Veloce-ized clean Sprint

Giulietta Sprint ‘Normale’ Tipo 10102 1493*23260. This presentable Giulietta Sprint has been on Fantasy Junction’s ‘off-site’ cars page for at least a year. The $24,500 asking price seemed high for this car the first time I looked at the ad but I think the market may have come around and this is probably a decent deal now if it is still available at this price. According to Fusi the serial number for this car falls in the 1960 10102 Giulietta Sprint range (1493*21488 – 26200). As usual stated year of 1963 is probably what is on the title.

First impression is good with this car. I like the color, the paint work is, as described in the ad text ‘very good from a few feet away… but not Pebble Beach quality’ and the bright-work is said to all have been re-chromed. There are 28 high quality pictures on their web site documenting every corner of the car, so I can’t gripe about a lack of good presentation. The details of the car are just enough to make you call for more if you were interested. I don’t know that ‘adorable’ is an adjective I’d use to describe these cars, but maybe someones grandmother helped write their description.

Looking good. I like the little mirrors and Italian plate ‘TO’ is for Torino if I’m not mistaken. I don’t usually like the orange turn signal lenses but they compliment the blue on this car. Continue reading “Market #16: Veloce-ized clean Sprint”

Market #11 1965 Sprint 1300 project

Sold! This car ended on 5/20/08 for $5300. A decent buy for parts if nothing else. I imagine the buyer and seller will both be pleased. I am wondering if the success of this sellers last 2 Sprint projects is bringing more cars out of hiding, and if the market has the capacity to digest any more Sprints at these strong prices. I guess we will see since there has been a seeming steady stream of them the last two months.

Giulietta Sprint 101 10102*385744, engines 00102*33631 and 00536*17120. A third project Sprint from the eBay seller out of Newport Beach, though not nearly as nice as the prior two. Body has some very serious though not terminal rust and everything needs rebuilding, which detracts significantly, but the car appears to be complete and unhit which is good. According to Fusi, the two engines that come with the car are a 1600 from a 67 Giulia Sprint GT that is installed, and an 00102 1300 from a 1962 Giulietta Sprint or Spider. Since the 1300 is not the original engine for the car I would stick with the 1600. If it can’t be original, it might as well be fun.

Car doesn’t look too bad in this picture. Grills, bumper and light rings all appear to be fine. There is probably $1500 – $2000 worth of value in those parts alone. I am not sure if the sill plates are original.

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Market #10: Shiny red 10102 Sprint ‘Driver’

Sold! This car ended on eBay at $12,301.57 on 5/17/08. I said it wouldn’t be a bad deal for less than $12K, hopefully I am right. Another curious aspect is there were no questions answered and added during the auction. If I were bidding I would have asked a lot of questions. Compare this car to Special Sprints #3 and you get a sense of what Giulietta buyers want. As always, we’ll see if the auction sale is final.

Giulietta Sprint ‘Normale’ 10105 1493*20428. Seller lists the car as a 1961, but Fusi says it falls in the 1959 101 Sprint number range. There is actually no real information in the sellers description other than paint and interior were ‘done to driver standard’ and most chrome work was recently done. These are items whose quality can vary wildly, so I would want someone to look at the car in person for me. The information in the eBay ad is so scant I would have to send an email with a tiresome list of questions if I was interested in buying.

The condition of this car is very interesting. It looks great at first flush, and someone who is new to these cars would be wowed by all the shiny stuff, but if you know how these cars are supposed to be that wowing slowly gives way to uncertainty. I am going to critique this car, comparing it with originality, but one has to remember that there were about 35 years in this cars life when any sort of non-mechanical parts were simply unobtainable for most people and this car looks to have been put together from what was on hand during this period. If it wasn’t for this approach, this car probably would have been scrapped a long time ago

Nice looking car for the right price. Wheels are later 105 Giulia Sedan or GT items. I wonder if the hub caps had to be modified to fit? I think the marker lights are Fiat 500 items.

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Market 9: Original 1958 750 B barn find

Sprint ‘Normale’ 750B 1493*06329, engine 1315*05724.Sold on eBay 3/31/08 for $26,600. A nicer start for a total restoration couldn’t be found, but I don’t know if I could bring myself to erase the original patina of this machine, and it may not make any financial sense. Engine is loosely assembled to add to the pictures appeal. Mileage is a claimed 108K at which point it blew its head-gasket, in 1971. I would estimate $10,000 or more to bring this car up to a safe, reliable operating standard, and maybe another $2000 to get the interior in shape. Seller, operating out of Newport Beach California, is known for bringing well presented barn-find Alfa’s to eBay and this is in my opinion his finest offering to date.

The 750 Sprints were all hand made, with body panels hammered out on wood bucks and welded together. When you scrutinize these cars you see some very fine detail work beside some very rough welding, totally normal given the manufacturing circumstances. Any repairs to the body are hammer and dolly, or cut, shape and weld. The car is a true uni-body so there are no removable panels and this adds to the expense of restoration. Fortunately this car needs none of that.

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Clean, straight, original. This car sits like a car that was driven to this spot. Grills look great as do side spears and window surround trim. The nickname ‘eyebrow’ car comes from the two simple trims surrounding he openings on either side of the grill.

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Market #8: 1959 Interim 750 Sprint barn find

Sold! This car ended on 5/14/08 at $15,100. This is more than I expected, but not much, and I was not thinking of the current dollar weakness when I said $12,000. I expect this will be a sale that finalizes and the new owner will be very happy with their purchase. A couple of good showings for Sprints the last couple of months has me thinking I finally bought a car (or three) at the right time. I wonder what additional money would have been spent on this car if the original engine were included? Another win-win auction.

Sprint ‘Normale’ 750B 1493*08260, engine AR00112*01160. Another fantastic barn-find from the eBay seller out of Newport Beach area. This car is one of the Interim Sprints which were made from 1958 through 1960 and in a few cases beyond. The 750B and Tipo 10102 Sprints were made side by side with essentially whatever parts were on hand the day of the build. I suspect Bertone was told by Alfa to use up stock of old parts where they could. My 1959 Sprint is very similar to this car in most respects though it is a 10102 with a 1493 body number. The Fusi book of production Alfa’s lists the 59 750B’s starting with 07922 and ending with 10301. The 10102’s start with 20001 and end with 21487. I think that adds up to about 3500 examples made that year including Sprint Veloces, which were pulled at random from among the two series and labeled with an E between the Tipo prefix and number.

Stance looks right, body is straight as is the front brightwork. Too bad every mechanical part on a car like this will need attention before it can see the road.

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