Sprinting About

[pathung]

Quote:

Originally Posted by concept 101 The body colour is bluette (AR 327). Dennis, Malmo, Sweden

[concept 101]

No Patrick, the Bluette is gone long time ago, maybe 25-30 years, and after that it was resprayed in some kind of reddish, hard to say now which one of the shades.
Dennis

[AlfistiSA]

Steering wheel repairs – You will need a two part epoxy - 2 sticks of stuff mixed by hand to get a ball of stuff which you can mould into the missing places. I use “Pratley's Putty” out here.

Finish it off as neatly as possible, Pratley's works off well with a bit of water - the better you finish it, the less you have to rework with a file & sand paper

Once you have filed and sanded the repair to be smooth & the joint to be as seamless as possible, you can then paint the complete wheel with an epoxy primer & a black epoxy topcoat. Obviously you would need to check with your paint supplier to find a primer & paint that will adhere to the plastic of the steering wheel & follow ALL of their instructions / guidelines.

Caution, even though epoxy paint is tough, wedding rings etc will scratch the painted surface, so be careful.

Ciao
Greig
Sunny South Africa

[AlfistiSA]

Hi Patrick

Referring to Sprints:

1493 is a 750 Chassis designation - a stamped "E" after or sometimes above the 1493 denotes a Veloce, while the "B" for Normale was never stamped.

10102 is a 101 Normale while 10106 denotes a 101 Veloce.

So yes, while a 1493 is Technically a 750, there did come a time when there was a transition from 750 to 101 and cars built during this period have come to be known "Interim Cars" or "Transition cars"

This period was from around Chassis 1493*6600, Circa May / April '58 to the start of the 101 designation 10102.15501, in 1960, (according to Fusi). By '61 the 1493 Chassis designations had been phased out.

My personal opinion - duck for the flames.... is that there are pure 750's, Interim cars and pure 101's

The Interim cars with the later 101 chip-cutter type grilles and larger tail lights are part of both series and play a unique part in the evolution of the Sprint, they are so varied, that it is difficult to find two which share the same specification, for during this period, so many things changed on the cars, below is a list of some of changes & it is by no means a definitive list, so feel free to add to it.

1.) Front seats -750 seats have removable lower cushions, 101's are fixed
2.) Dash tops - 750's are fixed & painted, 101's are removable
3.) Dash mirrors - 750 mirror glass is held in place by a 3 jaw spring clamp, 101 uses a crackle black housing
4.) 750 engines are not the same as 101 engines - only the pistons & barrels are interchangeable.
5.) 750's used a 4 speed tunnel case gearbox, 101's used a 4 speed split case gearbox - the floorboards are also different, early cars have flat floors, later cars have a taller hump in the transmission tunnel to accomodate the split case gearbox
6.) The differential bearings are different in size - trust me here, it's not by much, but the 750's use a smaller size.
7.) The dash knobs on a 750 are gold, on a 101 they are silver
8.) 750 radio blanking plates are metal, 101's are plastic
9.) 750 sills are open at the bottom, 101's are closed
10.) 750 jacking points are through the outer sill cover, 101's are below the sill.
11.) 750 mudguard or fender flares are rolled over the wire bead horizontally, the 101's are rolled vertically - you need to see & feel this to understand
12.) 750's use the aeroplane casting on the boot, 101's have the number plate bracket.
13.) 750 numberplate lights are in the aeroplane casting, 101's have 2 dome lights on the rear bumper.
14.) 750 front bumpers have no lip on the rear edge, 101's have a lip on the trailing edge
15.) 750's use a light construction front suspension with a 4 bolt upper wishbone, 101's use a much heavier construction front suspension with a 2 bolt & bridge upper wish bone fixing - BUT there was a medium construction front suspension in the Interim period- the wishbones are clearly 3 different sizes and the bush size also changed.

And so it goes on and on, any or all of these changes could be fitted to cars built between the interim years, obviously the early ones have more 750 characteristics, while the later ones have more 101 characteristics.

Please note that all of the above are subject to what "Luigi-on-the-line" fitted at the time

Interim cars are to be celebrated as they are a wonderful blend of any or all of the above and as I've said, they represent a very important phase in the Bertone's build & the evolution of our little Jewels. I've mentioned elsewhere on this board that in about April / May '58 Bertone moved premises and hired an additional 50 heads in the new & bigger premises, these new artisans brought new idea's and concepts in the building of the car, coupled with the sanctioned Alfa Romeo Mid Cycle Enhancement, (MCE in the Motor Industry) where the nose & tail were face lifted, slowly morphing the 750 into the 101, meant that there was a flurry of evolution and activity from April / May '58 to December '60.

If you have an Interim car, you have a very important piece of Giulietta history.

For the record Dad's 11 Jan '60 Sprint was built with 101 seats, 101 front bumper, 750 aeroplane, 750 motor, (1315), a 4 speed 101 split case gearbox, 750 rear bumper, 101 sills, 101 wheel arches.

Looking at the myriad of differences between my '57 and '61, it's hard to believe that they came from the same Works.....

Ciao
Greig
Donning the flame proof suit as I speak......

[pathung]

Now I don't know WHAT I have under the tarp! Mine's obviously not a PURE anything, as it has an aeroplane with lights, gold-colored dash knobs, under the sill jacking points, etc. Must be an "interim" car, and I'll leave it at that.

[Marco750B56]

Complete the number´s of my Sprint 750B:

Chassis AR 1493 - 02095
Engine AR 1315 - 02131
another number in firewall: *652001*

Beste regards

Marco

[cstlhn]

My car is AR1493 20051. There is a number near the hood catch; 659742?

WDYT?

David

[6alfas]

That's the Bertone body number.

[Steve O]

I have a '59 Sprint 'abnormale', AR149320753. It now sports a hot 1600, with 5-speed, and 4-wheel discs, but otherwise displays far more 750 traits than 101. Currently red, and may have always been (?).

[alfadini]

Hi Pat,

Please add my 1962 Giulietta Sprint Normale to the list.

Chassis # 162558

Build date: February 2, 1962

First registration: February 27, 1962 to Régie Nationale Des Usines Renault

Color: Azzurro Iseo (AR 320) with blue/grey interior (no longer those colors but hope to get them back to that state)

Getting it close to being a running vehicle again!

Walt

[AlfistiSA]

Hi Walt

Welcome aboard the BB, nice Sprint !!

Interesting, there was talk that some of the later cars were imported into France as unfinished and "finished" off by Renault.

This was apparently a tax loophole as unfinished or semi-knocked down (SKD) units attraced a much lower tax rate. I believe these units got one or two extra French items, like Marchal headlights, etc as a passing nod to local content.

I know of at least one 1300 Sprint which was delivered with disc brakes and a 5 speed gearbox. (the 1300 Sprint was the swansong of the 101 range after the Giulia Sprint, the were made in '64 / '65.)

Regards
Greig

[alfadini]

Hi Greig,

I don't have any info about this being a SKD car.
This car still has Carrello headlamps so that might mean it was brought in whole.

One thing different is the brake reservoir is made of glass. I believe this was a French only thing.

It also has a city horn, country horn set up with the city horn being of French origin. Is this a French only requirement?

It does have blue Calif. plates so it has been here since the 70's

Walt

[AlfistiSA]

Hi Walt

Unfortunately I don't have any info on the French assembled vehicles, other than a brief discussion between enthusiasts a few years ago.

I'd be interested to see if there are any other differences between your car and one of a similar build date.

Regards
Greig

[Collivanfan]

Hi all,

French assembled Giuliettas is news to me... I was under the impression that Renault undertook the marketing & support for Alfa Romeo in France as part of the reciprocal agreements between the 2 firms, which included AR having the Dauphine & R4in their home market range, later joined by the mid-sized Renault vans & trucks (got to get a van angle into this mail somehow!). And of course there is contunual speculation of an Alfa Romeo & Renault connection with the tipo 103.

French law then dictated that brake fluid reservoirs were transparent, hence the glass version. Maybe just these were installed in France?

BTW, Renault also tendered to build & run Arese, a fact as I have seen the internal AR documents - from memory, the projected production volumes were huge.... That must show how close the relationship was. Just think, we could have been driving Alfa Twingos or the French could have been driving Renosuds!

Tony
England

[AlfistiSA]

Hi Tony

Assembled - hmm, poor choice of words from me - Marketed & Supported sounds much better, sorry if I caused any confusion.

I understood that there was some local content, but not much & that the units were "finished off" by Renault as a tax dodge ?

Regards
Greig