cars – Page 27 – Giuliettas

June 25, 2009

Market 125: Giulia Spider project 10123*379887.

Update 6/28: 29 bidders duked it out and the high bidder got this car for $6433. Not bad, not bad at all. Seller is probably back in the green on the sale and high bidder got if nothing else a fabulous parts car or tough but do-able project.

Giulia Spider 10123*379887 is available on eBay now out of Lafayette California, just over the hill from me. It wears Texas plates and has some significant but not terminal underside rust so don’t let the California auction mislead you. It is however an unmolested example (unmolested is another way of saying ignored), ready for restoration so the new owner will be the first one to take anything apart and begin the process.

Appears to have been molested a little to the left of the grill. Center badge is missing (cheap repro is available) and so is the grill eyebrow above the license plate. All in all pretty good up here.

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June 24, 2009

Motherlode 400 event report

The Motherlode 400, organized by expert and enthusiastic haver of good-times Josh Prentis ran on June 20 – 21^st, but began for me on Friday the 19^th when I spent an hour rigging up an air cleaner for the Sprint from some borrowed components from shop mate Duff. Sprint’s oil and water levels were fine so I chucked one of my better looking spares in the trunk, filled a pillow case with tools I might need, stowing it under the back parcel shelf panel and declared myself prepared for the worst. Having commuted 70 miles a day in the Sprint for two weeks solid, I was confident my tools would stay stowed unless needed by a fellow motorist.

Joined by first timers Hoon and Coutney in their charming Datsun Fairlady 1600, we rolled off from Peet’s coffee in Oakland at 7am on Saturday. Meet up was at the Jackson Lodge in Jackson.

Pedal Pusher Citation bait getting used to the new and potentially improved Sprint that she is half owner of. The tach cable started squeeling like crazy soon after this and I had to cut it at the firewall.

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June 17, 2009

Market 123: Barn Find late Spider Veloce

Update 6/17/09: “The seller ended this listing early to sell to the high bidder(s) at current bid price.” 50 bids, $25,300 and the seller ended early to sell to the current high bidder. I guess eBay has figured out that there was no way they could keep this from happening so they have embraced the off auction sale. $25k for this car is about right in my opinion.

Giulia Spider Veloce 10118*390214, engine 00121*01727. This car is available out of Southern California on eBay and includes the rare Pininfarina factory steel hardtop. Auction description is lengthy and included at the end. Seller states the car is a 1965 and no doubt that is what the title says, but d&T and Fusi both indicate it was manufactured in 1964.

This is how you find them and when you are very lucky you are the first one to find them and get a very good deal. I don’t think I would do much to this car at this point, just make it safe and clean. By the shape of the ovals in the wheels these are Borrani’s. There late Veloce’s seem to always have these wheels.

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June 12, 2009

Market 124: Selling my SS and Spider

Giulietta Spider 10103*370645. Giulietta Sprint Speciale 10120*00413. I am streamlining my operation, or, I suppose you could say simplifying my life while simultaneously lowering my overhead. My goal at the end of the year is to have, gasp, one Alfa (no Fiats or vintage Toyotas) and no Second Mortgage. Which Alfa is it going to be? Probably the Sprint, but even that is not totally decided. I am starting with the Spider and SS because they are frankly the easiest to let go. Check out my For Sale page for more details. I’ll post inventories of what comes with each next week.

The nose and it’s nice original paint coming out.

June 10, 2009

Market 116: 58 Spider Veloce project shell

Update 6/16/09: The auction ended at $4000 with 11 bidders. I think it has been established that this is a $4000 car!

Update 6/10/09: This car is back on eBay from the same seller as the subject of Market 95, and the same seller who listed it in May. It still looks like a good start for a Spider Veloce restoration. I wonder how much money is spent moving cars from small time dealer to small time dealer? I imagine when this car finally finds a home intesested in it as a project rather than a money maker, there will have been a $1500 ‘transport’ tax applied.

Update 5/14/09: 23 bids resulted in a sale price of $4010. Probably about right if the floors and sills are as rotten as stated.

Update: Well, more of a please note, the absence of a Veloce engine complete with about $4000 worth of intake components etc is is a high hurdle to overcome where this car is concerned and as Veloces get more expensive, so will these components.

Giulietta Spider Veloce 1495*05164. This car is available now on eBay out of Stanton California, one of the little town between Long Beach and Orange in Southern California. It looks decent in the pictures but the description says it’s rusty in the sills but no pictures are presented of the rust so assume the worst.

Looks like a pretty good nose compared to the usual mess these cars end up in. Bumpers aren’t bad as cores and it’s even a good color under all the layers.

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June 5, 2009

Sprint 750B ‘Easy Restoration’?

While on my usual morning stroll through the information super highway (I only ever go a few exits myself) I came across a reference to Bart Holland in the Netherlands on the Alfa BB. The reference mentioned ‘a lot of pictures of a Sprint 750B restoration’. I would soon learn this is an understatement. From their home page you can link to the restoration of this car.

The pictures below are of the car before restoration. I am going to assume that this is a case of the car looking better in pictures than it is, and that the owner wanted a perfect Sprint, or maybe this car was restored with such careful documentation to demonstrate their skills. Either way it is amazing. Go to the website only if you have some time to kill. Their skill at dealing with imperfect parts and making them better than new in a lot of cases is evident and well documented.

This picture is a copyright Bart holland. I don’t think they’ll mind my using it since I’m giving them free advertising. Looks like the ususal ‘restored’ Sprint found on eBay. Wait until you see what this car goes through!

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June 3, 2009

Market #37: “Alpha Romeo Giulietta Sprint Voloce”

Update: 6/3/09. 20 bids, $11,311 the high bid with reserve not met. I am willing to bet this is less than the current owner paid for the car, pity since it sounds like it is in perfectly usable shape. If it were me I’d go down to the local auto paint shop, get rid of the yellow and buy some grills for it. I doubt there is one bidder who is not subtracting at least $1500 from their max based on doing these things. Other than that maybe add all the badges and get some Sprint seats.

Update: 5/28/09. 21533 is back on eBay after having found an owner to attend to its needs making it roadworthy, as presentable as possible, and who could write an auction description that actually tells something about the car.

I’m still at odds with the blacked out grills and yellow mask, but over-all this is an attractive car. Current owner has done a good job preparing it for a profit making resale.

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May 29, 2009

Market 121: A tale of 3 red 1600 Spiders

Update 6/2/09: Canada Spider is no longer available for sale. I guess they got cold feet about a last minute bid surge. Okay folks, here it is, the secret to a solid auction: start very low, $1 is good, provide ample information on the car you are selling and high quality pictures, have no reserve and let the auction play out. If you need a shill bidder to establish a fake reserve, so be it, but if you are unrealistic, your car won’t sell. If you look carefully at these three auctions my advice is substantiated. Look for another mediocre auction featuring then now passe Canada Spider. Sigh.

Update 6/1/09: Colorado Spider sold for $17057,95 with an amazing 48 bids. Staten Island ‘Spyder’ sold Buy it Now for $13,500. Apparently the seller got excited and lowered the buy it now price. Canada Spider still has some time left. It looks like it will out-do its last sold price of $17,600, having 1 bid at $18,999 right now.

It’s not often there are 3 red Spiders on eBay at the same time in similar condition. With the market thus flooded it might not be a bad time to make a play for that Spider you’ve always wanted.

Giulia Spider 1600 10123*xxxxxx is in Canada with a starting bid of $18,999, no bids as of now. This is its second pass on the eBay carousel. There are a lot of poor quality pictures and not much information about the actual car at auction (simply described as ‘restored’) among the published model specifications. Stated to have 46,292 miles.

Giulia Spider 1600 10123*372601 is in Co lorado and currently at $11,100 with 24 bidders. This auction features 4 poor quality pictures and no relevant information about condition other than a statement that is a ‘daily driver’. Stated to have 91,000 miles.

Giulia Spider 1600 10123*374706 is in Staten Island New York. The price is $6101.07 with 3 bids at time of writing and the car has a buy it now price of $14,500. Vague description is shouted out in all caps and provides a decent baseline for questions. This car has a lot of above average quality pictures.

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May 27, 2009

Market 120: 101 Giulietta Spider ‘not’ to restore

Update 6/1/09: It seems that I, or the multitude of red Spiders, scared the bidders off and this car ended at $18,100 with 35 bids, reserve not met. I think better pictures and a ‘just the facts’ description would help it out.

Giulietta Spider 10103*171685, 1315*010467. This 1961 101 Spider was on eBay and ended last night at $18,100 reserve not met with 35 bids. The car has had lots of care recently but retains the charming if somewhat rustic patina I usually aspire to have my cars show.

Nose is a little chipped up but over-all the condition is good. Silver always looks good with chrome and clear lenses. Why are photobucket pictures always so bad?

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May 19, 2009

TI tidy up 8: the Bosch distributor

Some days it’s all I can do to find 20 minutes to tackle some small job on whatever project I’m working on, much less take the time to write about it. Yesterday afternoon I degreased, inspected and noted any parts needing replacement on the mechanical advance Bosch distributor that the TI is going to use. I get asked a lot how I manage to get these projects done seemingly fairly quickly and I always say it’s not the few long days that gets it done but the countless 20 minute sessions where I tackle one small job.

A quick test fit with the clamp in place of the newly spiffed up distributor. Red Cavis wires are like new. I’ll check the resistance through each wire to see if their all the same.

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