Italian cars – Giuliettas

November 13, 2016

Market 14: “1961 Concours 101 Sprint” 20825

Update November 11, 2016. This car is listed on ebay again out of Greenville South Carolina. It’s funny to read my old write up – so earnest! This car has been improved a tiny bit – most notably with Sprint seats being added, but still has a few things that could be improved if the new owner so desired. Or not.

s-l1600

Still a good looking example. This dealer had a Giulietta TI listed recently. Very little distortion on the side of the body in the reflection.

Continue reading “Market 14: “1961 Concours 101 Sprint” 20825″

November 7, 2016

Suspension 5: Sprint Speciale Differential housing clean up

Having this blog to look back on is pretty neat – I get to revisit my younger self, see what I thought about stuff, and reflect on what’s changed. Most people can probably relate to how it feels when they discover an old essay they wrote for school, or a set of pictures from some big event in their life – a very human mix of nostalgia, slightly embarrassed introspection and my-god-where-has-the-time-gone reflection on changing priorities. Anyway, I was doing some house keeping and found this post. I think it is as useful now as it was then.

younder-man

Me in a younger mans clothes – a few days before I wrote this post. How’s the Sprint Veloce doing Corey?

From July 30, 2008: Cleaning up the differential housing was one of those jobs I resisted doing for a while. Every time I looked at it the 2 hours of scraping, solvent bathing and degreaser scrubbing I would have to do flashed before my eyes and I found something else to do. Last week I rearranged a lot of my stuff to fit the Berlina in my space and found myself once again faced with this greasy lump in a tray sitting on my bench top waiting for me to clean it. It was time to face the subject of so much procrastination.

The housing was covered in a thick coating of dirt that had bonded with oil and built up over the years. To save time and solvent I used a small scraper to remove the big stuff. By the time I was done I had removed probably three pounds of the caked oily dirt.

Greasy oily goo scraped off easily, but there was so much of it that it took about an hour to get it ready for a solvent bath.

Continue reading “Suspension 5: Sprint Speciale Differential housing clean up”

May 8, 2013

Market 20: Waterloo Sprint Veloce 750E 08721

5/8/2013: This feller has popped up for sale at Bonhams at their up coming Spa Auction. Estimate is $53,000 – $66,000. Probably a bit on the low side.

“‘The Alfa, in a few words then, is a small car with a rev-happy dohc engine that can carry two people from point A to point B over all types of roads quicker than most cars twice its size. It does this not with blinding speed but with a wonderful combination of roadholding, compact size and sheer willingness.’ – Car & Driver on the Giulietta Sprint.”

Five years later and no new pictures. Thanks Jerry for pointing this sale out to me.

6/10/2008: Giulietta Sprint Veloce 750 AR1493E08721, Engine 1315*32399. Listed for sale on Classic Driverfor 31,200 GBP, or about $61,000. The ad text says it is a 1958 Confortevole but Fusi lists the chassis number range for 1958 ending with 07921 though there is a typo where the page breaks for the 1959 year information and beside the 1959 750 designation Sprint Veloce’s it says 1958. Conforevole’s end with car 06611 so its a stretch of the accepted definitions to call it one. In this condition and at this price I don’t think they added any premium for calling it a Confortevole and I doubt there is any dishonesty at work, likely just a lack of solid information combined with the usual regurgitation of hear-say.

“Perfect in all respects.” This is a car that the seller means for potential buyers to come see in person, and who in their right mind would buy a car at the absolute top of the market without viewing it in person and taking it for a spirited drive. I want to go see it just to get a better look at the sellers facilities.

This presentation is great. More museum than Classic car dealership with period pictures and statistics built into the display. You probably have to qualify to even step into the ring for a closer look.

Continue reading “Market 20: Waterloo Sprint Veloce 750E 08721”

January 21, 2013

Market 38: 1959 Giulietta Sprint Project 20107

Update 2/2/13: Bid to $18,100 with the reserve not met. I’m torn here. $18,100 is not a lot for a complete project car that is ready for a light skim, paint, trim/mechanical refresh and assembly -the body had to be done, but ball-parking it, you will be $10K into paint, $12K into the mechanicals and probably $20K refinishing and assembling trim/interior etc. That’s $60K for a ’59 Normale. I know a few guys who are deeper than that into theirs, but I don’t think I’ve seen one sell for that (have I?).

Update 1/21/13: Looking better without those widened wheel arches, this car is back on eBay after considerable work. Good car for someone who wants to just paint and put together a car.

Metal work looks great! Buyer gets to choose the palette and level of finish. It’s a lot of work.

Continue reading “Market 38: 1959 Giulietta Sprint Project 20107”

December 4, 2012

Market 446: Sprint 750B 09141 in Washington

Update 12/12/12: A reader has commented that this car has sold for $42,000 and another reminded me that the Craigslist price was $18,000 obo. Such a deal!

Giulietta Sprint 750B 1493*09141, 1315*07630. Cosmopolitan Motors appears to have been the ones who picked up this car that was sold out of an estate sale a while back for $20,000 OBO. A few guys who I correspond with on occasion were trying to buy it so I looked at pictures of it a few times back then – unfortunately I didn’t save any. Looks like a really nice original-ish car. I wonder what the current asking is?? Thanks for sending me this Zen.

One could definitely do worse than this as Sprints go. Has Autorouche (sp?) headlights same as Jeff has on his Giulia SS. Hood fits very very well.

Continue reading “Market 446: Sprint 750B 09141 in Washington”

June 25, 2012

Market 22: Mexico City Giulietta Sprint survivor

Update 7/1/12: 1 bid, reserve not met. No sale.

Update 6/25/12: This car has turned up on eBay after 4 years with the same pictures and from the same seller. Sprint values have come a long way in the last 4 years. I expect it will find a buyer this time.

Original post 6/20/08: Reserve not met! $12,099 was the ending price, $1 less than the black plate car out of Cottonwood. Seller added some new pictures of the car outdoors in daylight that show it is a pretty nice car. I think either of these cars was a pretty good deal and would be a great basis for putting together very nice original driver. I think both suffered from somewhat poor presentation and the fact that they both went through eBay at the same time. There can’t be that many guys (or gals) out there looking for Sprints, so any more than 2 or 3 a month in a given area is market saturation, and we’ve been seeing 5 or 6 a month since I started this blog. Last, I suspect both these sellers, encouraged by the strong sale prices mentioned earlier for project cars, put these on the market just to kind of see what they would do, without a real necessity to sell them.

Added pictures include this nose shot, always a pleasant sight. I wonder if a yellow curb has the same meaning in Mexico.

Continue reading “Market 22: Mexico City Giulietta Sprint survivor”

May 31, 2012

Market #1: White Giulia SS project

Update 5/31/12: Now on Craigslist. Look at the pictures at the bottom of this write up. Looks like the same car to me. I wonder what you would receive if you sent them $25K?

Update 9/20/10: A Giulia SS was listed on Craigslist this morning for $30,000 with pictures of this car. A scam? Borrowed pictures? I’m sure it will be answered before long…

5/20/09 Update: SOLD after 377 days! A guy I spoke to on the phone about this car last month, giving advise etc, has taken the plunge and bought this car. I told him exactly what I have been saying about this car all along, it’s probably a good car that everyone interested in an SS is tired of seeing for sale (you only get one shot at a good eBay auction). The selling price was around $45K and he seems very happy with the purchase. Look for it to be present at shows and events in Southern California. If anyone knows a good place to get keys made in Southern California post a comment as he needs to get door, trunk and glove box keys made.

I bet the seller of this SS would be happy if one of you kind readers would buy his 1965 Flavia Sport Zagato that is currently on Craigslist for $26,000 or trade.

3/31/09 Update: I think it will be a while before another car is featured here so many times. This car is on eBay again and this time it can be bought NOW for $47,500. Lets see if my ‘auction fatigue’ theory holds true. Now is your chance, you know you want it. I’ll offer the correct gauges to the new owner at 10% off.

3/18/09 Update: This car is now all repainted and spiffied up. Check it out on eBay now. $56,000 asking is big money but the car is pretty nice now.

Very nice work. The shut lines look good and the trim is all as it should be. Seller says he got it all ‘triple chromed’.

Continue reading “Market #1: White Giulia SS project”

April 7, 2012

Glas 1700 GT: What color?

I got these color charts in an email from Sascha in Germany who has a 1700 GT. Now that I have the original palette to choose from, I am rethinking the color I should paint the car. It needs a lot of body work so a light color would be best. It looks to have originally been white and later repainted to red. I’m not interested in red, having had a number of red cars over the years. I like the idea of white, but my cousins GT is white. I go on about light blue and gray Alfa’s, maybe this is my chance to paint something one of those. I have alternately decided on light gold, metallic dark dray and metallic light blue, so maybe I should settle on one of those. Tough decision. What do you think? Post a comment with the color from the charts below you would paint a Glas GT if you were about to paint one.

Perlgrau and Aquamarin are pretty sweet.

Continue reading “Glas 1700 GT: What color?”

March 27, 2012

Giulietta Sprint Accessories part 3: the rear seat

Update 3/27/12: I received a note from Brian today that included these pictures of his Sprint back seat. He’s getting it redone, but thought we would like to see the originals before they disappear.

This rear seat is in great shape for being original -but still has the usual discoloration from water or whatever. Here again is the raised headliner bit -as if someone tall enough to need clearance would fit back here.

Looks like the stuffing has died. Underdash Norelco razor? I don’t think the bottom cushion is original. Child seat mount straps or seatbelts seen between the bottom and back on the driver side?

Door panels look really good. Nice to see a good set of these.

Originally posted 8/16/2008: A rear seat in a Sprint. This is one of those ‘what were they thinking’ accessories, like a phonograph or an in-dash DVD player. I earlier reported that on one desperate occasion I had 5 people in my Sprint and it was a squeeze of clown car proportions. I am not overly tall or long legged but when I am driving my Sprint there is maybe 3 inches between the back of my seat and the ledge the rear seat would sit on. It can’t be more than six inches with the seat all the way forward. I could see this working for a small child, maybe. It’s possible there was a tax or vehicle registration benefit to having the Sprint be a 4 seater that outweighed the cost of the seat but I’m not sure. I do know that Italian tax and registration laws of this era had all sorts of weird impacts on vehicles, most notably the sub 1300cc and sub 600cc breaks. I’ll explore this at a later date.

Below are two examples of rear seats I’ve come across recently. I’ve probably seen three more in the last year in my scouring the net for cars to write up. I have a feeling that when orders for the rear seat didn’t materialize, Bertone started shipping them with cars to get rid of them. I think all the rear seat cars I’ve seen were 1959 or 60 cars.

Vaguely reminiscent of the rear seats found in GTV’s but with a center fold down arm rest. This one seems to have been redone at some point as the original upholstery would look more like that in the next picture.

Continue reading “Giulietta Sprint Accessories part 3: the rear seat”

February 13, 2012

Market 384: Sprint Veloce Zagato 1493*06184 at auction

Update 5/30/12: Sold for 414,400 Euro’s, about $546,000!

2/13/12: Giulietta Sprint Veloce ‘Zagato’ 750E 1493*06184, 1315*30851. This very interesting SVZ is going to be auctioned by RM in Monaco soon. While most cars I write about are straight forward subjects, and anything I say should be taken as insightful mainly due to heavy exposure to the subject if nothing else, and as being typically off the cuff. A car like this demands careful consideration and wording. Why? The genuine article -a Zagato re-bodied Sprint Veloce, that was re-bodied ‘back in the day’ i.e. the late 1950’s, is a very valuable car. See this thread on the AlfaBB for some lengthy but enjoyable reading on the subject. Interestingly, this car is listed as MIA since 1960. It’s important to note that there was no search party out looking for it -it just stayed under the radar since then. So, with a spirit of caution, I start, and will reserve my comments to ‘ooh’s and ahh’s’ once more.

That is one desire-able object! Note squared off wheel openings. Hood is a low as they could practically make it and still fit the engine. Color scheme is bold -red headlining is fantastic. Any significance to that license plate number? Wheels look to be period cast wheels -magnesium? This is pretty close to the top of the Giulietta food-chain.

Continue reading “Market 384: Sprint Veloce Zagato 1493*06184 at auction”