Project cars – Page 2

October 29, 2015

Market 49: Splotchy 101 Sprint project in Florida

October 29 2015: This car has come back on the market after a bit of a hibernation and a healthy coat of rattle can primer. Interesting to read my comments from 2008 and think about how the market has moved since. It probably changed hands for just under $10,000 back then, and now it’s already at $14,200 with 31 bids and just under 3 days to go. Amazing how things change.

Looks like a nicer starting point today than it did 7 years ago. Also noteworthy is that this is a 10102, not a 10105, so it, has metric gauges and was originally probably meant for Italy -though it may have been a Mexico or Venezuela bound car. Anyone know if Mexico or Venezuela cars have Italian language gauge inserts?

October 10 2008: I’m sure at least one of you out there were wondering what the seller wants for this car. Well wonder no longer, this car is available now on Hemmings website. Asking price is $11,900. Are we in a financial crisis or not? More pictures can be seen on Picasa (unless like me your employer blocks Picasa access for some reason). What do I think? For $11,900 this car should run, drive, stop and not make you worry about when you last had a Tetanus shot. Subtract the cost to make it so and you are back to a $5500 car. It is a free country though so be prepared to see this car on the market for a while.

September 22 2008: Reserve not met! Bidding ended at $5950 with 15 bids placed. I bet the seller wanted $6000 and is trying to make a deal with the high bidder. Relists always fall flat and this is pretty good money for this car.

Giulietta Sprint 10102 1493*20205, engine 1315*010311. Here is a reportedly rust free 101 Sprint Project that is currently on eBay out of Florida. I would want to verify the rust free claim with pictures as Florida has a climate that promotes rust. Car wears new tires which is a plus at least as far as rolling it around while working on it is concerned and if they are of good quality your $300 ahead of the game. Everything on the outside is still bolted in place though it’s tough to tell for sure from the pictures it all looks reasonably straight.

You can assume the ‘blush’ on the front of this car hides surface rust of the sort seen on the drivers door. I like the fender-forward mounted mirrors (maybe a Japanese market car?) and the trim looks good. If you are bidding, assume it will all need rechroming.

Continue reading “Market 49: Splotchy 101 Sprint project in Florida”

October 2, 2015

Market 514: Sprint 750B 00356 in Indonesia

Giulietta Sprint 750B 1493*00356. Listed on Anamera out of Indonesia. I thought I saw this car out of US east coast on eBay at one point. Maybe the eBay seller was really in Indonesia? It’s early and it’s rough, but it is not hopeless…

If it was local I’d go have a look for sure. Looks to have been well used, but left too long in the rain. Should have the short windshield?

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November 11, 2014

Market 500: Late Sprint Veloce project E159104

Giulietta Sprint 10106 ARE159104, 1315*42314 (not matching, from a 750D Spider). This car is on eBay right now from the same seller as the two Spider projects concurrently listed out of Connecticut. Matching number 00106 engine is missing, and it needs a lot of help, but these late Sprint Veloces seldom show up in any form for sale. I know they guy who bought this on Craigslist about 10 years ago out of the Mojave desert area – assuming this is the only Sprint Veloce in this paint scheme of course. As usual, it’s a Sprint project and I find myself tempted. Not the best group of pictures I’ve had to work with.

Not the only metallic purple Sprint I’ve seen, but yes, the only one with white Vikings style swooshes. Looks like a steering column switch gear sticking out on the right, and a control arm part on the left. You could live with these grills. I’d be kind of tempted to get it going and drive it with this livery for a while. Continue reading “Market 500: Late Sprint Veloce project E159104”

November 7, 2014

Market 499: Spider 750D 1146: complete and 80% there

Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*01146, 1315*41158. Just ended today on eBay with 14 bids, the highest of which was $4051. It’s always sad to behold a car that is just plain beyond reasonable help. Judging by the level of completeness, it was probably parked with a leaky valve stem in 1969, and the battery drained before it could be fixed, then winter set in and you know the rest. A 1956 model year Giulietta seems to carry slightly more ‘early model’ cache than a 1957, so perhaps someone with a donor body, or connection to inexpensive foreign skilled labor will decide this is worth having a go at. After all, this car restored to the standards a couple guys around the country can achieve is probably an $80,000 + car. Sorry for the order of the pictures, I’m still working out how the bulk media uploader works on my CMS.

Rust may never sleep, but it does move at different paces in different places. If this was on the north coast of Kauai all you would find are the headlight glasses, tires and anything else plastic, rubber or glass surrounding an oxide welded barely recognizable lump of used-to-be engine. Continue reading “Market 499: Spider 750D 1146: complete and 80% there”

November 6, 2014

Market 498: Late 1300 Spider project 171160

Giulietta Spider 10103 171160. This car is available from the same seller as the car featured in Market 497, on eBay out of Connecticut. They made about 500 1300 Spiders after this one in 1961, putting it near the end of 1300 production – not much of a distinction I suppose. Engine block is blank, indicating a factory short block replacement – probably under warranty if the stories the oldtimers tell are true.

You can kind of picture the downhill slide – minor fender-bender (or nose in this case) becomes multi-decades long neglect, complete with parts car status at some point. Interesting light configuration. One is fog, the other spot if the PO had any sense. Continue reading “Market 498: Late 1300 Spider project 171160”

November 5, 2014

Market 497: Spider 750D 02553 incomplete basketcase

Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*02553, 1315*04353 (non-matching). This car is available now on eBay out of Connecticut with a $17,500 Buy it Now. It’s a long way from any semblance of nice or usable, but it’s a 1957 model and 56-57 Spiders seem to be more sought after than the later siblings, probably due to the idea of ‘event eligibility’. Anyone have a 1957 that got them into an event that a 1958 would not have? Like everything else, I suspect it’s about who you know, and the magnitude of check you can write.

It’s amazing how the 7000 or so 750D Spiders ever made seem to have transformed into an endless supply of projects like this. Step one? A big can of Kroil. Step two? Get good with Excel.

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May 18, 2014

Market 495: Sprint Veloce Basket case 10124*23895

Giulietta Sprint 10124 1493E*23895, 00106*01059 & 00102*29231. This Sprint Veloce is on eBay being offered by Classic Invest out of Denver Colorado. It is incomplete, but tempting for a guy like me who has boxes of parts and a scruffy Sprint Normal to potentially move a bunch of parts off of. This series of Sprint seems to have come with an 00106 Veloce engine, the US version of the early 10106 Sprint Veloce. I have 10124 23899 in my picture files, and it has an 00106 engine with 40DCOE’s instead of 40DCO3’s.

I worked on a car like this, that had been painted at some point in the last 10 years and then was stored a lot like this. There will be scuffs and scratches to the extent that you may just want to go for it and repaint it now while the painting is easy. Grills look alright. Continue reading “Market 495: Sprint Veloce Basket case 10124*23895”

May 16, 2014

Market 494: Basketcase Sprint 750B 06248

Giulietta Sprint 750B 1493*06248, 1315*05668. This jigsaw puzzle of a Sprint is on eBay out of Dallas. Bumpers excepted it looks somewhat complete at first glance (Lionel is going to ask me to define complete again) but you have to wonder how useable all the parts are. Some metal repair has been done, the quality of which is near impossible to determine without seeing it in person, but if you go into this assuming a lot of it will be redone to meet your very high standards, you can just pretend it still has gaping rust holes. Pete’s has this car listed with a, $11,500 sticker price. Not a bad deal for someone who already has one of these under restoration.

One wonders at the 56 year road that now sees this car stripped of parts and in primer in a gravel parking lot in Dallas. Doesn’t look too bad from this angle if you are not afraid of fasteners. Continue reading “Market 494: Basketcase Sprint 750B 06248”

April 28, 2014

Market 169: ’58 Spider Veloce survivor

Update 4/28/14: The owner of 04351 contacted me and reports that a restoration was completed about 18 months ago and It is currently being enjoyed in the South West. He intended to keep the car as original as possible, but after digging in it became apparent there was more to do than anticipated and it slid down the usual slippery slope towards a full, though sympathetic towards its original state restoration.

Update 4/24/14: I am currently going through close to 1000 Alfa Romeo sale records, verifying them for publication on The Fuelist, and I came across this charming specimen among the raw data. I remember watching it reach $50,000 after some last minute aggressive bidding, and thinking – “Wow, these have hit the big time!” Looking back from this moment, five years later, this car appears to have been very well bought. Anyone here a proud owner? Where is 04351 now??

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February 3, 2014

Market 488: Sprint 10102 remains

Giulietta Sprint 10102. Brian, who occasionally sells very very nice Alfa’s pointed out that this car is available now from Beverly Hills Car Club. BHCC seems to have a knack for turning up rough project European Sports cars. I wonder if it has anything to do with their pervasive Google ad campaign I see whenever I use Gmail. The numbers stated for the chassis and engine don’t make any sense except that I suspect the chassis number reported “652701” is actually part of the Bertone body number, and shorter by 1 digit than any other 101 Sprint Bertone number I have tracked. It’s rough, but get it together with the shell on eBay out of the SF Bay Area, and you might have something. Asking price of $8950 is a bit high, but as parts I suspect it could realize 70% of this.

This is one of the worst Still together Sprints I’ve ever sen. Must have found a good place to hide when the hide and seek game started.

Continue reading “Market 488: Sprint 10102 remains”