Tag: cars

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Fiat centoventiquattro ongoing fix it again

Ahhhh yes. You think things are going your way but really the elements are conspiring against you. Within an hour of making the Berlina run I get a call from the better half. “Uh… I smell gas strong in the Fiat.”

“Where are you?”

“Right in front of work.”

“Where is it coming from? trunk? Engine compartment?” I am already pulling the gas tank out in my mind

If you’re reading this blog you’ve experienced this sort of thing. That night I spot a puddle forming under the passenger side rear corner below where the gas tank lives. Great.

There is dirt, there is gunk and a spaghetti of fuel lines and wires but no reason for the bottom of the gas tank to have rusted out.

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72 Berlina revival part 2

I don’t know if I should start this by saying I’m ahead or behind. I thought it would take me a few weeks to get the 1750 out of the Sprint and into the Berlina, but I guess I thought wrong. I will admit that taking a full time job, hosting my dad for a week, going out of town for most of the weekends between buying this car and my birthday a few weeks ago and other everyday life interruptions have played a part in retarding my progress, but I’ll also say hey, it is coming along. I’m in no danger of selling this thing on eBay in 20 years after cowering in the corner of procrastination.

To the point. Once I got the engine out of the Sprint it required a bunch of parts change over to prepare it for its new life in the Berlina. The biggest job was swapping the oil pan and pump. The second biggest job was cleaning it up after leaking around the rear main seal and valve cover gasket heavily over the last 20,000 miles in the Sprint.

I had never replaced an Alfa oil pump before this. The bull-nose or whatever you want to call it oil pan requires a specific oil pump. That’s the 1300 in the background that is going in the Sprint when all this Berlina hootenany is done.

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All Italian Day 2008

As usual I had a good time at the All Italian day in Alameda at the Lincoln elementary school. Vehicles on display were diverse on many levels but united in their statement about Italian mastery of design, from the humble small bore Fiats to the majestic Alfa 8C, evidence of the hand of the master craftsman, the cleverness of the engineer and the eye of the artist can be seen. The exhibitors and spectators alike are a polite, if odd bunch and the discussions I overheard ranged from minutiae of restoration details to hairy-chested boasts about speed and agility ‘back then’.

This Fiat was one of my favorites. I’ve got a thing for stationwagons (especially goofy early 60’s ones), a thing for gray cars, a thing for original black plate cars and as I find myself checking out Fiats more and more while casually browsing eBay and Craigslist, I guess I’m developing a thing for fiats. And why not, you can get a lot of car for your money.

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ARA Alameda all Italian car day 2008 this Sunday

ARA is hosting the Alameda All Italian Day car show this Sunday the 12th of October. If you like neat Italian cars and motorcycles (and even occasionally scooters and Italian designed French cars), a good spaghetti feed and an excuse to be out in the waning days of California sunshine before winter sets in, this show is for you. Admission has historically been $5 of which some charitable portion goes to the Special Olympics. If you bring an Italian vehicle whether a Ferrari 250 Lusso or an Alfa Romeo built Renault R4 to exhibit entry is free.

Elvis Costello shows Jack White his 1929 Maserati 24C5400. Sweet!! Actually none of that is correct except perhaps the Maserati part. Look for me and the Wife in the Fiat 124 Sedan Special with a 18″ crack in the windshield.

I added a modest photo set from the 2005 AAICD to the events page if you want to get an idea of what the event is like. I can tell you first hand that it is on a grassy ball field at a school in a quiet neighborhood. The setting is very casual and friendly. I can say without reservation that it is my favorite show of the year, not only for the interesting machinery on display , but for the crowd of local familiar faces inevitably encountered. See you there.

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Giulietta SS in the mountains

Norm sent me a link to this footage of a Giulietta SS at speed going through the mountains.  The exhaust note is familiar to driver of most Alfa’s from this period as is the tire scrub.  Driver has 4 Alias names and ‘Born to be WIld’ makes yet another appearance as the seeming ubiquitous soundtrack to a driving film.  At least ‘Shaft’ gets a little air time near the end.  It is shaft isn’t it?  Sorry, it’s early.  Enjoy.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN6pvAYtWpg]

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Market #51: 1964 Sprint rally/race car

Our friends over at bring a trailer have this car on offer from a collection in Southern California.  If it’s a 1964 it’s probably a Giulia 1600 Sprint.  The car is reported to have been a French market car which means it probably had a few oddities like a glass brake fluid bottle when it was new.  Alfa and Renault had a deal worked out that reduced the import tax on Alfa’s and allowed Alfa to make Dauphines and R4’s in Italy.  I’ll explore this relationship in a later post. 

This car looks like a pretty straight, lightly modified, used but not abused car that would clean up nicely and make a great driver.  Asking price is $30,000 which seems optimistic, but a trip to Orange County may find this car to be better than it appears and it probably has excellent provenance from its time on the track.

The absence of the egg-crate grills on this car makes it look tough.  I’d put some Cibie Oscars on either side of the grill heart.  All the visible trim and shut lines look good.  I like the orangy-red and would look forward to cleaning and polishing this car if I bought it.

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2008 Andrew Watry Berlina Tour

Andrew Watry, keeper of the Giulietta Berlina, Giulia Sedan and Berlina registers, began putting together a Fall Berlina tour a few years back to encourage local Alfa Berlina owners to hit the backroads and exercise their often overlooked Alfa Sedans.  Well, with appreciation for Alfa sedans at an all time high (especially for the Giulia TI and Super) and Andrew welcoming all comers so long as they’re driving an appropriately interesting or old car, the event has grown.

Stopped for a photo op on Redwood road. 

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Market #50: Al Leake’s 57 Monoposto Spider race car

Update 2/11/09: This car just showed up on Anamera advertising that it will be auctioned by RM.  They are looking for $125,000.

95a9ec9425How much mark up does a detailing add?  Someone is going to find out!

213965f39dThis is one sweet ride.  Knowing me, if it were mine I’d commute in it.

Ex-Al Leake 1957 Giulietta Spider ‘Monoposto’ 1495*02646, Engine 00106*00512. This is a pretty serious purpose-built race car and it is available right now from Fantasy Junction. Click on the link if for no other reason than to look at the 50 or so pictures provided. No price is stated but Sophia, his most often raced Giulietta Spider made about $75,000 on eBay last winter so you can bet that this car will be at least that much.

Al Leake along with some other guys including H.B. Luginbuhl had an SCCA race team that started in the late 60’s/early 70’s called Rubber Chicken racing. Al continued to race and build Alfa’s for many years until he lost a battle with cancer earlier this year. A little of his history and cars can be read here on the Alfa BB. I saw Al race a few times at Sears Point and Laguna Seca and I can personally attest that he was very very fast and that this car is capable of winning against seemingly faster and more nimble cars if well driven.

It’s refreshing to see a modern era vintage race car that is both fiercely competitive and tastefully presented. I like the contrasting white wheels and cut down windscreen. A lot of Giulietta Spider race cars lose the under door trims, eyebrow trims and even grill heart. If you are fast this eight pounds of jewelry isn’t going to keep you from winning.

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Market #48: 2L 57 Sprint revisited

Sold!  $23,102 is the winning bid after 16 bids.  I think this is the best price this car has acheived yet.  Will its reign of terror end or will we be seeing it again on eBay?  Time will tell.

Giulietta Sprint 750B 1493*04891 with 105 2 liter engine ‘AbNormale‘.  This car has been for sale since before I bought my first Sprint a couple of years ago and can presently be found on eBay.  I featured this car and another by the same seller in Market 26 and it doesn’t look like much has changed with this car.

You have to admit this car photographs well.  It’s straight, the trim is all present and it has a slightly agressive look to the way it sits.  Smaller 6 inch headlights are neat feature of these early Sprints.

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Market #47: Restored Austrian Giulia SS

This 1964 Giulia SS is available here and here out of Austria.  I seem to remeber this car from somewhere else, but haven’t had time to go through my files to see.  No price is listed on Anamera and price is listed as inquire on the sellers website so it’s a safe bet they want top dollar for the car, maybe 50K Euro’s?

Very nice backdrop for a photo set.  Greens in the background really bring out the lustrous red body.  I don’t see anything wrong here.  That’s quite a billboard they put out front.

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