Tag: sports cars

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Market 191: Giulia SS in France

This RHD Giulia SS is available right now out of France for 29,500 Euro’s or $39,700 at time of writing.  I’m not certain, but looking at the pictures I think this is the car that Alfa workshop in the UK has on their web site.  How many Bluette right hand drive SS’s can there be?  If anyone knows the VIN I’d be happy to add it to my register.

This is a great color for a Sprint Speciale -if I ever get a Giulia SS I’ll paint it this color.    All you can really tell from pictures of this low resolution is that it’s an SS and it looks great from far away.

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SS 00121 rebuild 8: a few parts needed then the waiting begins

With all the focus lately on my questionable rust repair techniques, I haven’t said much about the engine.  I have a modest list of parts to source and buy, but basically, the engine is all torqued together and  is just waiting for me to get the body done and drop it in.  I have it displayed proudly on a wooden pallet so I get inspired everytime I turn on the shop lights.  This is how it looks.  I wonder how long after assembly it’s okay to wait before firing an engine up?  I expect to fire it up in June.

The valve cover is loosely assembled because most of the parts on my ‘still to source and buy’ list are under it.  Cams, tappets and shims feature prominently.  Another unresolved issue is the holes in the valve cover these valve cover bolts go through are not big enough -I need to drill them all.

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Bodywork 13: win-win rear end repair

It was nearly 2 years ago that I started work on this corner of the car -was the first body work I attempted.  Back then I didn’t really know what to do about some of the problems I faced, but as with all things, I figured when it came time to make a decision, I would somehow know what to do.  The bodywork was tweaked just enough in a crash, and rusted through in just enough places that getting it back to stock was going to be difficult.  Now that I am welding and unafraid and have to deal with it, I have decided to repair it by emulating the early lownose rearend -a much simpler design and hopefully easier to fabricate.  Check it out. 

A reminder of where I started and what I started with.  Now that I have experience I can tell you the dent to the left of the tail lights, in the gentle curve of the Kamm tail area is a harder thing to deal with than the edge chop.

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Alfa Sprint crash from ‘Les Choses de la Vie’ 1970

I enjoy movies set in Europe in the 1960’s where they have real street scenes.  I watched ‘How to steal a million’ with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole the other night and the street scenes were amazing.  I was reminded I haven’t been featuring video’s in a while and it brought to mind this video.  I know, you’ve seen this before but paying close attention to the details will get you thinking.  If you’ve never seen it watch it before you read the comments after it. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeKtzX1pAXo]

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Market 189: Early Sprint project 750B 01996 in Italy

Giulietta Sprint 750B 01996 is available right now on Italian eBay out of Padua Italy.  While incomplete, it looks like a good, albeit expensive start for someone looking for an early car.  I’ll be in the market for one when the SS is done -but that may be a while.

Not exactly straight and ready for paint, the drivers side lower grill area looks to be pushed in a little.  Dig the string holding the glass in place.  Must have been shipped recently.

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Bodywork 12: good enough is good enough

The title of this one has become my mantra. Welding is getting easier incrementally, as is shaping the metal. As I cut little areas open, remove the dead metal and add new in I am always telling myself to just get it good enough so I can grind it down, smear the weld with all metal filler, sand that down and hide any imperfections under some polyester filler. Here is the latest. This picture was taken about 2 hours before I sat down to write this.

You can’t really see much of the improvement, but this is what it looked like when I left tonight. I’m only looking forward to the sanding and filler stage because it will mean the welding stage is done. Did I mention welding is dirty work?

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Market 188: Spider 1600 372427 project in Italy

Giulia Spider 10123*372427, 00112*00662. This car, like the Sprint in market 187, is available in Italy from Ghibli Auto Classiche in Umbria.  No details are available on their website, but enough pictures are posted to form an opinion.  This is a typical example of your ‘fairly complete but needs a lot’ restoration basis.

Curiously both this car and the Sprint they have on offer are missing left hand side headlights.  Grill bar from the same side is missing as well.  One of the three cars in this picture are what generally come to mind when an American of a certain age sees or hears the words ‘foreign sports car’, and they are taken aback when told there are coupe versions of these cars.

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Sprint Veloce 10106/10124

1959

10106 1493*11001 – 11101, 1315*32008 – 32738

Sprint 10106 1493*11014. 6510643. USA.M158

1960

10124 1493*21488 – 26200, 00106*00001 – 01742

Sprint 10124 1493*23899, 00106*00701. 6513688. USA. M17.

Sprint 10124 1493*23900. 6513689. USA.

Sprint 10124 1493*23908. 6513696. USA.

Sprint 10124 1493*23926. 1960/07/20. AR501. UK.

Sprint 10124 1493*25843. 1960/08/24. UK.

10106*155001 – 157384, 00106*00001 – 01742

Sprint 10106*155616, 00112*16201. USA.

Sprint 10106*159107, 00106*02408. 6520091. USA CBP AWZ 854.

1961

10106*157385 – 162690, 00106*01743 – 02897

Sprint Veloce 10106*158491, 6519476.

Sprint Veloce 10106*159109, 6520090. Germany.

Sprint Veloce 10106*159110, 6520094.

Sprint Veloce 10106*159111, 00106*02376. 6520095. M17

Sprint Veloce 10106*159157, 00106*02423, 65201**. USA.

Sprint Veloce 10106*159755, 00106*02602, Manufactured July 29 1961, sold to Algiers Oct 3 1961.  Originally Iseo Blue.

1962

10106*162691 – 164608, 00106*02897 – 03257

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Sprint Veloce Confortevole 750E

For whatever reason, the lightweight Sprint Veloce was discontinued in 1957. I have read it had to do with a lack of competitiveness against the Zagato Giulietta variants and the imminent launch of the Sprint Speciale among others. I would argue economics had as much to do with it as anything else. The manufacturing inefficiencies required of a special lightweight body separate from the Normales, along with its peculiar trim could be eliminated if they built the Veloce out of a lightly modified Normale body. This is just what they did and the Confortevole was born.

bodynumberThis is the Bertone body stamping for a Veloce Confortevole. Note that it ends with an *A*. The body was the same as the normale Sprint but… well probably not totally. The Sprint Veloce lightweight ceased to be the weapon of choice on the race track some time in 1957 and the lightweight was no doubt expensively inefficient to produce so they stopped making it, replacing it with the Confortevole, which was intended to fill more of a GT market segment than that as a dedicated race car.

Framed wind up windowsThe first 50 cars had this arrangement with the aluminum frame and wind up window. I’ve never seen the guts so I cant say if it has any differences below the surface. The last 149 had regular wind up windows, 142 of these 1493*06469 – 1493*06611, were made in unbroken series and account for the last early body style cars. The Confortevole was a sort of transition car for Alfa, who was focusing their go-fast resources on the SS at this point. The extremely short run of these cars makes them highly prized, though not as exotic and therefore expensive as a lightweight.

oilpanAll but the earliest Veloce’s had this oil pan with it’s cooling labyrinth built into the bottom. Note the rubber buffer to keep the pan from bumping against the frame rail. The bracket for this is only found on Veloce’s. All Confortevoles have the same mechanical spec as the lightweight.

1957

750E, 1493*04719 – 06008, 1315*30267 – 30761

Sprint 750E 1493*05063, 1315*30689. 1958/03/22. Roma. d&T Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*05834. 1957/09/57.

1958

750E, 1493*06009 – 06611, 1315*30762 – 32007

Sprint 750E 1493*06046. 1958/02/06. Austria.

Sprint 750E 1493*06056, 1315*30799. 1958/02/18.

Sprint 750E 1493*06064. 1958/02/08. 655453*A*. S. Africa.

Sprint 750E 1493*06127. 1958/02/20. 655515*A*. S. Africa.

Sprint 750E 1493*06138. 1958/02/10.

Sprint 750E 1493*06183. France.

Sprint 750E 1493*06184. 1958/03/27. Zagato rebody. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*06193, 1315*30800. 1958/02/06. S. Africa.

Sprint 750E 1493*06230, 1315*30808. 655618*A*. Netherlands.

Sprint 750E 1493*06469, 1310*30952. 1958/05/08.  M357.

Sprint 750E 1493*06475.

Sprint 750E 1493*06476, 1315*30853. 655844*A*.M6

Sprint 750E 1493*06481, 1315*30972. 655869*A*.M35.

Sprint 750E 1493*06482, 1315*30988. USA. Project.

Sprint 750E 1493*06498, 1315*30967.

Sprint 750E 1493*06509.

Sprint 750E 1493*06524. USA.

Sprint 750E 1493*06544. 655933*A*. UK.

Sprint 750E 1493*06552, 1315*30984. 655941*A*. 1958/03/15.

Sprint 750E 1493*06557, 1315*31034.

Sprint 750E 1493*06559, 1315*31223. 1958/03/xx. 655948*A*. AR501. USA.

Sprint 750E 1493*06567. Dead.

Sprint 750E 1493*06568.

Sprint 750E 1493*06575, 1315*31038. 655964*A*. USA.

Sprint 750E 1493*06590. 655979*A*.

Sprint 750E 1493*06596, 1315*31230.

Sprint 750E 1493*06600. 1315*31079.  M307.

Sprint 750E 1493*06610. 1958/06/11. AR305. USA.

Sprint 750E 1493*06611. USA.

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Sprint Veloce Alleggerita 750E

As of 8/11/10 there are 39 Sprint Veloce’s on the register that are confirmed to exist.  21 of the cars on the register have links to photo sets.

l19Sprint Veloce Alleggertia racing in France. Check out Saffier de Bard, lots of great period pictures to be found.
The appearance of the Sprint Veloce was inevitable. Creating an even faster version of an existing sports car to take racing was standard practice among auto makers who raced in the 1950’s. This seems to be especially true of the Italians who perfected this approach to car building. You can almost imagine the scene after Alfa debuted the Giulietta Sprint in the racing world only to be beaten by Porsches in the same class.

The first line is the Fusi stated range for the year and the following are numbers on cars that have been reported. d’Amico and Tabucchi have some differences listed and I’ll try and work them in later. Eventually as enough data points become available I’ll modify or remove the year/range headings and provide a better view of the flow of things at Alfa and particularly Bertone in through these production runs. An entry ending in Ref. is for an important car which may or may not exist.

30661Veloce’s were marked 750E here on the build plate along with the body and engine number. 750 Veloce’s all have 1315*3XXXX engine numbers.

30659Bertone body numbers for the Veloce’s were changed to start with 77 rather than the 65 used on Normales. The total of ~610 comes from the body number explanation for 750B’s. I’ve never seen a non lightweight Veloce below about chassis number 6000.

badges svBody shape of the Alleggerita Sprint Veloce’s is the same as the Normales. Aluminum doors hood and trunk were used, but not necessarily on all of these cars. Badges were updated as seen here.

bigiThere was only one guiding principal at work on the Sprint Veloce: go faster (and beat the Porsche’s)! With this in mind, both sides of the power balance equation were adjusted. The engine power output side of the equation was increased by using Weber 40DCO3’s, higher lift cams and a shaved head (among many other things), and the various factors on the other side of the equals sign that are multiplied by velocity were reduced. Or, if you prefer, the engine was tuned to increase power and the rest of the car was tuned to remove weight, rolling resistance and drag.

pass doorCompare this to a Normale door panel. The window itself going from glass to plexi doesn’t save much weight, but the winder mechanism and associated brackets and controls are massively heavy for the job they have to perform. Almost looks like a British roadster removable side curtain. This particular car was ordered by the prince of Sweden new with various non-lightweight feature as a hopped up road car, rather than the out and out racer the Veloce was originally intended to be.

bighThe tuned engine of the Veloce had a higher redline (rev limit) so they made a special tachometer with a 6600 rpm redline that went up to 8000 rather than the 6200 redline/7000 limit of the Normale. Other interior details included the omission of the choke knob and glove box door (this car was specially ordered to include both) and supposedly lighter weight construction seats.

under backVeloce final drive was changed to 10:41 from 9:41 to take advantage of the increased power and provide for a higher top speed. The typical use for a Veloce was a race like the Targa Florio or Mille Miglia, a long distance road race, so the fuel capacity was increased from 56 liters (14.8 US gallons) to 84 liters (22.2 US gallons). Thats 28 Kilograms or 61.7 pounds more fuel carried. These little cars are all about conservation of momentum so I doubt it mattered much. Note that most of the volumetric increase was achieved by growing the tank in the direction of the rear axle keeping it low and as near the center of the car as possible. This growth of the fuel tank necessitated the rear emergency brake cable and yoke type set up seen here.

latest10_20_08 252While this car is a fake Veloce from back when owners felt the addition of side draft Webers allowed for the use of this badge, they did get the rear circular badge correct in that they left off the chrome over brass base that goes under this badge. A detail that is usually overlooked by restorers of real Veloces, who tend to add this little trim bit.

1956

750E 1493*01380 – 03545, 1315*30001 – 30266

Sprint 750E 1493*01380, 1315*30001. 1956/04/24. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*01461, 1315*30006. 1956/04/24. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*01613, 1315*30011. 1956/04/21. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*01722, 1315*30025. 1956/05/03. 77025. AR501.

Sprint 750E 1493*01806. 77034.

Sprint 750E 1493*01819. 1956/05/05. Scaglietti rebody. MIA. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*01849, 1315*30046. 1956/05/05. Rebodied by Zagato. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*01862. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*01889, 1315*30048. 1956/05/19. 77048. 1956/05/27 first race.

Sprint 750E 1493*01944, 1315*30059. 1956/04/24. Zagato rebody. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*02028, 1315*30074. 1956/04/24. Telaio + engine used on Zagato rebody of 1493*06936. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*02158. 1956/06/20. Zagato rebody. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*02209. 77111. USA.

Sprint 750E 1493*02289. 1956/07/06. Zagato rebody. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*02239. 77117.

Sprint 750E 1493*02277.

Sprint 750E 1493*02308. 1956/06/19. Zagato rebody. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*02348. 1956/07/04. Zagato rebody.

Sprint 750E 1493*02488. 1956/07/14. Zagato rebody.

Sprint 750E 1493*02508. Sweden.

Sprint 750E 1493*02578. 77184. Italy. ’08 MM #310.

Sprint 750E 1493*03409. USA.

1957

750E 1493*03546 – 04718, 1315*30267 – 30761

Sprint 750E 1493*03559, 1315*30279. 1957/01/4. 77265 or 77285. UK.

Sprint 750E 1493*03613. 1957/01/03. Zagato rebody. USA.

Sprint 750E 1493*03798, 1315*30552.

Sprint 750E 1493*03807, 1315*30359. 1957/02/05.

Sprint 750E 1493*03808. Italy. ’08 MM.

Sprint 750E 1493*03877. 77336.

Sprint 750E 1493*03907. 1957/02/26. Zagato rebody. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*03999.

Sprint 750E 1493*04045. 1957/03/01. Zagato rebody.

Sprint 750E 1493*04067, 1315*30393. 1957/03/01. M59.77393. Sweden.

Sprint 750E 1493*04069. 1957/03/21. Zagato rebody. Japan.

Sprint 750E 1493*04118, 1315*30452. USA.

Sprint 750E 1493*04127. 77411.

Sprint 750E 1493*04159, 1315*30442 (original) 1315*30598 (now). 77422. M558.

Sprint 750E 1493*04227.

Sprint 750E 1493*04229.

Sprint 750E 1493*04238, 1315*30468.

Sprint 750E 1493*04239, 1315*30449. Japan.

Sprint 750E 1493*04249. 1957/03/17. Zagato rebody. India.

Sprint 750E 1493*04347, 1315*30526. M60.5/27/57. 77468.

Sprint 750E 1493*04447, 1315*30528. 77498. M136.

Sprint 750E 1493*04547, 1315*30622.

Sprint 750E 1493*04637, 1315*30635. Now: 1315*32359. 1957/06/14. Japan.

Sprint 750E 1493*04657. 1957/06/19. Zagato rebody. Germany.

Sprint 750E 1493*04700, 1315*30481. 1957/04/19. 77500. Conrero.

Sprint 750E 1493*04717. 1957/06/22. Zagato rebody. Ref.

Sprint 750E 1493*04718. 1957/08/03. Zagato then Michelotti rebody.