Classic cars – Page 2

September 30, 2015

Market 431: Sprint 750B 06395 -much assembly required

Update October 1 2015: Available now from Joop Stolze.

Giulietta Sprint 750B 493*06395, 1315*05812 & 00112*15344. This car appears to be offered by ReOriginal’s on eBay out of Livingston TX. Car is very much where the project I am currently working on is -lots to do! Paint is 10 years old but shines, interior work looks pretty good and it comes with an extra engine. No mention is made whether all the trim etc comes with the car. This is a rare car in that it’s one of the last 750B Normale’s -the last 200 750 ‘eyebrow’ grill Sprints were Veloce’s.

But do the original parts include bumper, ‘eyebrow’ grills, headlights with rings, hood center strip and front center grill? Looks pretty nice here. You can buy those bumper bracket trim bits new from several vendors.

Continue reading “Market 431: Sprint 750B 06395 -much assembly required”

September 8, 2015

Market 400 (!!): Sprint Veloce 750E 08765

Update September 7 2015: This car is available again on eBay out of Brunswick Georgia, maybe the same seller as last time? Still needs a lot of work. I don’t remember what the last asking price was., but now it’s $35,000.

Update March 9 2012: I received some less than encouraging pictures of the underside of the car from someone who knew it -it’s got some structural rust that will be difficult to fix. Check it out.

This is thick, difficult to replace metal. Will be fun for who ever gets to repair it -even more so for the check writer!

Continue reading “Market 400 (!!): Sprint Veloce 750E 08765”

September 7, 2015

Market 388: SS 00242 in New Jersey

Update September 15 2015: Reserve not met at $65,200.

Apparently SS values have gone up $6000 since this car was last listed. I think I would have been tempted to sell.

Update September 7 2015: This car has reappeared, this time on eBay being sold out of Florham Park New Jersey.

I was just last night talking to a friend and SS owner about the value prospects for the SS these days across the project to perfect spectrum. He opined that they had actually gone down a bit in the last few years by his reckoning. Not some huge slide or anything, just market forces balancing restoration quality of cars bought and improved to make a quick buck, that seem to come back on the market repeatedly, driving values down a bit as a result; versus genuine ‘restored for the love of the thing’ cars that not only look good but are complete, correct and actually a pleasure to drive. Projects aren’t seeing the frenzy of 2 years ago, while the number of prospective owners out there is probably a bit stagnant and not as deep pocketed as the few high priced auction examples would have you think. I’m sure there are lots of Alfisti would happily add an SS to their stable, the question is, at what price? And then there is the almost absurdly high survivorship of SSs -probably above 20% tracked on this humble site alone.

Continue reading “Market 388: SS 00242 in New Jersey”

August 20, 2015

Market 416: Spider 10103 09100 project

Update 8/19/2015: This car is back on the market after having some work done. The body is better than it probably bought to be considering the snowy woodpile it spent several years associating with. What is a restored LWB Normal of this vintage worth these days? $50K? $60K? $20K? I don’t really know -haven’t been paying enough attention, but this doesn’t seem like a bad deal at $12,500, but you probably need to be near by and fancy a challenging project. Perhaps a garage endeavor to work on in your retirement? Be aware, last I checked, there were not too many places willing to take on metal replacement.

Update 7/1/12: This car sold for $10,201. The saga continues!

Giulietta Spider 10103 1495*09100. Projects are in fashion, and this rough around the edges interim car is riding the wave on eBay right now. It’s not too bad, not too good, just your usual needs everything project. If you jump now it could be yours -current bidding is a paltry $7350. Summer is upon us!

Busted in the nose, but trim unharmed, with lots of weird corrosion. Looks neither good nor bad -just a but rough. There’s a bit of corrosion in the rocker visible here.

Continue reading “Market 416: Spider 10103 09100 project”

August 18, 2015

Market 148: Cobra-ized early 750 Spider

Update 8/18/2015: As yet finding it difficult to find a human whose tastes align with its character, this Giulietta Spider continues to float from mark-up to mark-up (I would have thought mark-down to mark-down -but who am I to speculate). Buy it now on eBay for $37,900 and be eschewed by Alfa owners, Cobra owners and those who aren’t comfortable in the presence of this much yellow. I mentioned in the last update that the clock was ticking toward a time when it would be an attractive value proposition to take this car back towards stock. That clock is still ticking.

How hard could it be to lose the black?

Continue reading “Market 148: Cobra-ized early 750 Spider”

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”

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 30, 2014

Market 493: Spider Veloce 10107 167610 for sale… no expense spared, no excuses

This car has appeared at Fantasy Junction and they have put it on eBay. I saw it in person today and it is a thing of beauty.

Giulietta Spider Veloce 10107 167610. Tom Sahines in the San Francisco Bay Area has put this fine specimen of a Spider Veloce on the market. Tom has been the ARA tech hotline for as long as I can remember, and has deep knowledge of Alfa’s cars from Giulietta to 164 and probably beyond. I’ve seen some of his restorations in person and they are astonishingly nice. Ever the engineer, astonishingly nice to look at is not Tom’s main goal; astonishingly nice to drive is. An unusual goal in a world where cars for resale tend to get the minimum attention to functionality.

The asking price is $140,000. This may seem high, but a 750D in similar condition sold at Scottsdale for $140K.

All the usual praise applies: great panel fit, impeccable bright-work and lust inspiring luster. Yes please!

Continue reading “Market 493: Spider Veloce 10107 167610 for sale… no expense spared, no excuses”

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??

Continue reading “Market 169: ’58 Spider Veloce survivor”