Market #6: Crushed Sprint Veloce 750*E Confortevole

SOLD! Ebay auction ended tonight, 5/8/08, for $9500! If all parts are present as the seller states this is not a bad deal, though I was thinking about $7000 was where this would end. I think proper representation with a thoroughly researched and presented parts inventory would have added at least $1000 to the final price. As with any eBay auction, we’ll have to see if the sale is final.

Sprint Veloce ‘Confortevole’ 1493E*06476, engine 1315*30853.

Wow is what the seller begins his ebay description with and I have to agree. The production total of the Confortevole (comfortable) variant of the Sprint Veloce (SVC) is 199, the first 50 having aluminum framed windows. An SVC seems to be an SV which falls between the SVAlleggerita (SVA) and the 101 body based SV which began production in early 1958 and upon which 101 mechanical components were gradually phased in until the 750 bits were all used up, sometime in 1960. Alfa factory documentation ends the run of SVC’s at car 06600, but recent pictures of 06611 indicate it is an SVC as well. There is a lot of speculation as to exactly what Confortevole means to the Giulietta Sprint line but I will go with Greig Smiths assertion from a discussion on the Alfa BB that a Bertone body starting with ’65’ and ending with an ‘*A’ is a Confortevole. Any other differences are circumstantial. One thing is certain, the frequently held misconception that a Confortevole is simply a Sprint with a back seat is false.

Seller has had the car 30 years and says it was in bad, non-running shape when they got it and despite being stored indoors all those years, which no doubt arrested the spread of the rust, a snow-laden barn did manage to collapse on it. It’s a shame they didn’t start on it sooner when the Veloce specific mechanical parts were cheaper.

Not the most encouraging start for your project. At least the collapsing barn spared the windshield trim. An original Bluette car?

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Market #5: Giulietta SS Low-nose 00014

Giulietta Sprint Speciale 10120-00014, Engine 00120-00024. Available from Heinbrand for 54,000 Euros, about $75,000 when written. This car has 750SS on its build plaque, I’m not sure yet what that means but looking carefully at the engine compartment picture a 750 series Veloce head can clearly be seen along with the separate water-pipe style intake manifold and the headers don’t appear to be the standard SS tubular style. In the picture showing the build plaque a Weber 40DCO3 is barely visible. I’m not sure if the bodywork is supposed to be aluminum but it is described as ‘der ursprünglichsten Version’ in the brief ad copy, which I think means it is a lightweight version, perhaps having aluminum hood, trunk, doors and maybe other parts. Alfa was never one to worry about standardization among its special cars such as the Veloce’s and Speciale’s, so it’s no surprise to me that despite reading claims that all SS’s are based on 101 components here sits essentially a 750 Sprint Veloce Speciale.

Note the driving lamp bar mounting holes in the nose and black stripe. There also seem to be holes in the roof above the windshield.

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