![\"\"](\"http:\/\/giuliettas.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/06\/rig707.jpg\" "\\"rig707\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nYou never know when that first glimpse happened.\u00a0 I sold my Fulvia to a guy who had a toy of one as a kid and it was his favorite toy.\u00a0 Thirty years later…<\/strong><\/p>\n So, you have a similar story and you need to work it out.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because you don’t want to find yourself saying ‘I really wanted a Spider’ when you’re half finished fixing up that Sprint, although it is well known that Alfa ownership is most often in the plural, usually limited by available space, and you will find yourself with several Alfa’s in most cases if space allows.\u00a0 So you work it out and that blonde chick who drove a Spider Veloce to college and always seemed to park next to your Dodge Dart seems to be the genesis of your desire to have a Spider.\u00a0 Or maybe it was a relative with an SS, or a neighbor whose Sprint Veloce had so earnest an exhaust note.\u00a0 You see, there’s a reason you have been watching the internet for a Giulietta for sale and find yourself reading these words here.<\/p>\n Now you know what kind of restorer you are -or at least have deluded yourself into thinking you are, and have a pretty good idea what kind of Giulietta you want and why.\u00a0 What do you do now?\u00a0 Research the cars, get social and prepare your funds.\u00a0 Research is fun.\u00a0 You learn there are many flavors of Sprint where you initially perceived just one.\u00a0 You discover the original color palettes and pick a favorite with an exotic name like Azzuro Nube.\u00a0 You ponder the world of the 1950’s that gave birth to these cars.\u00a0 One day you introduce yourself on the 750\/101 group.\u00a0 “Hi, my name is Artemis, I’m a retired deity, and I am looking for a Giulietta to be my first.\u00a0 I’d like to find a Sprint project that is complete and doesn’t have much rust.”\u00a0 You are welcomed, get some advice and maybe a few leads, but no car.\u00a0 Your funds are in order, your heart is set, and a trap is closing in around you.<\/p>\n What trap?\u00a0 We live in an acquisitive society.\u00a0 A VERY acquisitive society, whose acquisitiveness is only matched by its impatience.\u00a0 Not only do you need a Giulietta Sprint -you need it now.<\/p>\n Back when the itch could be scratched relatively quickly.\u00a0 This must be early in the production before they modernized the facilities.<\/strong><\/p>\n “Hey Artemis, I saw your post looking for a Giulietta Sprint.\u00a0 I just put my project on eBay -not too much rust, pretty complete, blah blah blah.”\u00a0 Three weeks later an incomplete rusty Sprint is lurking in your garage.\u00a0 There are these boxes of parts -the kind they put fruit in with the 1″ x 8″ open slot at the bottom that have already leaked a dozen unidentified fasteners onto your garage floor.\u00a0 Some boxes have parts you can’t identify even after studying the parts book late into the night that the next day your buddy informs you are 70’s Dodge truck parts.\u00a0 You start telling yourself ‘the rust isn’t that bad’ once you get over the first wave of reality setting in, and hey, you got your project Sprint, it’s in your garage, and that fantasy restoration that takes about 45 minutes to play out in your imagination is calling.<\/p>\n Things will never be made this way again.\u00a0 Note how the hoods and trunks are mounted.\u00a0 Any one of these could be your car or mine -is someones!<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s time to get to work.\u00a0 I’ll talk about sizing that project up in my next ramble if I ever get to it.<\/p>\n Next post in this series.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n