Another 750B restoration in the UK - 1955, chassis 1493 00555

[alfazagato]

William,
Congratulations a great find. I bought my SZ from Sweden too and have names of various people there who may be able to help on the magazine front. I am in the US at the moment but will e-mail the info when I get back.
I do agree about the engine colours! It might be worth stripping back and re-coating in an aluminium colour. I use Rover Steel Grey metallic as it appears to be a clean aluminium finish but is easily cleanable and can be touched-in as necessary.

[williamcorke]

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for your comments - it would be brilliant if you could activate your Swedish contacts to track down the road test (if the story of the car's history is true... and in any case I'd rather know one way or another).

I have (as I think you know) a 750 spider, and in a rather nerdy way enjoy the differences in the appearance and surface texture of the sand cast block compared to later, 101 series and beyond, Alfa engines. It looks more hand-made - and so forms part of the attraction the early Giuliettas have over later models in my view of things.

So it follows that painting the engine, in whatever colour, strikes me as a (minor) crime, whatever the purists might say one way or the other (and of course some engine parts were painted at the factory).

Probably everyone on this forum has at some point taken pleasure from the look - and even feel - of an Ally casting from one of 'our cars'. So given we're all aesthetes to some extent, I hope my slightly severe case can be forgiven.

All this hobbyism keeps you sane, supposedly.

Best regards,
William

[GTA246GT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oelholm How come the car isn't RHD? Sweden was a left side driving country until 1967...

[divotandtralee]

William, the floors are indeed hand made as is the rest of the car. My car, #5021 has stamped floors. Could it be they didn't stamp out some of the early ones for lack of dies? Hard to say. Bertone was not very cooperative in finding color codes from my experience. You will be tempted to remove the paint only to the primer but this is almost impossible because there are many coats of filler primer and tons of very hard filler on the entire surface. The bare metal will have huge areas of surface rust like a burnt surface of a cast iron fry pan as Bertone store the bodies outside before they painted them. They must have lightly sanded the orange rust off and painted over the rest. There is much lead in the body also. FWIW, the small headlight components are very difficult to source. If you have the buckets, which are very unique, you are ahead of the game. AFRA claims to have some components but they talk with a forked tongue and the reflectors (parabolas) are pitifully junk repros. I noticed your tunnel hole is very small for the gearbox shift tower. Mine is about 6 " in diameter for the tunnel case (floor mounted shift)which had all the proper hardware and boots installed when I got it. The column shift boys in your neighborhood, including Tony Ranson and Paul Gregory can tell you more about solving this detail. I was at Rusper with Tony in 2006. sorry I missed it this year. Richard Hampton and I are both in paint and have the wiring in and dash and chrome fitted. I don't like to show progress in a broadcast until it is finished because I believe in black cats and broken mirrors. Lastly, we've met before on E-bay. Good luck and contact me off line anytime. Rick Lesniewicz (AKA Traleedog). It's going to be a beautiful car.

[williamcorke]

A letter arrived from Italy today (the environmentally conciencious amongst you will be glad to hear that Fiat Group use 'Carta Riciciata al 100%' for their envelopes). A very rapidly posted response to my email enquiry as to #555's history - the attempted email reply having bounced back to the efficient factory archivist Marco Fazio. It gave me some pleasure to think that Alfa Romeo in 2007 had spend 0.65 Euros (approx 1 USD) on postage, plus staff time cost etc.) for the sake of a car already over its half-century in age; surely a sign that management priorities in Milan/Turin do take account of the heritage we all so admire.

Text as follows:
"According to our documentation file, the chassis number AR 1493.00555 and the engine number AR 1315.00541 originally correspond to an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, manufactured on the 4th July 1955 and sold on the 7th July 1955 to Bonniers Bilbolag from Stockholm, Sweden. The body colour is Alfa red."

It's good to have confirmation both of the sale via Bonnier's garage, and also of my conviction that the car was originally red. It strikes me that 'Alfa red' is a rather blunt description, as most of us (let alone a bona fide Alfa Archivist) know that there are several reds in the game. I wonder what the record actually says. My guess is 'red'. Anyone know any better.

Anyway, the car, in my ownership, will not end up red. I've already made clear in this thread my dislike for it as a colour for cars (though fine for blood and cricket balls etc.). It would have been helpful to the colour decision process if the car had originally been a tint I could live with, but that not being the case, I am now entirely free to stick a pin in the colour chart.

[Subtle]

If I could offer my 2 cents(Cdn) worth--Black or Graphite Grey++++

[williamcorke]

For what it's worth, I do love flat grey as a car colour, and so have managed to end up with three grey cars - a 750D Spider, a 105 step-front GTA look-alike, and a Lancia Aurelia B10. The two Alfas I changed from red to Grey (with red interiors, natch), and then the irresistible early B10, with its original leather interior (almost unheard of) turned up, in... grey. So I'm greyed-out, and #555 will be a different colour. Pale blue suits these cars, and me; also black. Does anyone have a picture of an early Sprint in the green colour listed in some of the books?

[davestebs]

The only picture that I've ever seen of a green sprint is on this page: http://www.giulietta.nl/DreamHC/Pagina120.html Scroll down and look in the crowd of Sprints. I don't know if it's the right green, but it is a nice color!

[Twin cam]

Hi William

Black looks great on a Sprint but is a swine to keep clean! How about the pale Aston Martin racing green from the 50's. It's not an option colour but it's period and would really suit the Sprint. I'm with you that unless the car's history demands it, you should choose the colour you like.

Blessedly the original colour of 00024 under the present red was blu chiarrisimo and there is plenty of original paint to get a perfect match from the inside of the glove box. It's a lively blue and not as pale as Capri etc and it should suit the car. I've not seen another Sprint in this colour.

By the way my bonnet is in aluminium but the boot is steel!

Paul

[IMG]<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ibthorpe/1599495622/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2393/1599495622_72f8b0dd27.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Sprint 00024 colour" /></a>[/IMG]

[williamcorke]

Hi Paul,

Funnily enough I'd been wondering about one of those Aston pale metallic greens (picture of an Aston 'Z Car' below in the pale variety I favour) and agree with you that it would look very well, and 'in period' on the car.

Great blue, #24's original colour. Is it the same as the car in the photo below, do you think? Perhaps a bit closer to the 105 French Blue colour...

I found a picture of a Dutch Sprint that looks like it is a metallic green, but it's hard to tell - could be a faded silver! Also on the giulietta.nl site, a picture of a stunning metallic silver car, to help keep the metallic / non-metallic debate simmering for a while longer.

Of course I'm a long way from a paint decision, but it's important to be able to visualise the destination when you embark on these perilous journeys.

Ciao,
William

[williamcorke]

One of my knobs is missing! Below is a pic of what I'm after (have the other three) - gold on cream base. Any leads gratefully received.

Also:
- centre trim strip from bonnet / hood
- sill trim (cast Al.) I have two of the short pieces, but am missing the other 4 bits
- fuse box. 8 fuse boxes seem to be available, but should my car have a 6 fuse box? Not sure, perhaps someone can advise
- headlight 'buckets'

There'll be lots more, but that's enough for now.

Regards,
William

[Twin cam]

Hi William

Yes that's the green, dead tasteful! The blue of 00024 has a bit more green in it than the pic of the Sprint you posted but colour repro on screen can be pretty unreliable but the picture I posted looks pretty accurate on my screen!

Re fuse box, I'm pretty sure it should be a six fuse one. I'll keep my eyes open for any suitable bits

Cheers

Paul

[Alfajay]

I know very little about 750 Sprints, so forgive me if this is a dumb comment. But, I too was struck by the small diameter of the hole for the shifter in the photo that williamcorke posted.

Were any Sprints delivered with the gearshift mounted on the steering column? Might that explain the tiny hole in the tunnel? e.g., that it was just used to add oil and/or access the shift mechanism.

These are such neat cars - it's nice to see another heading back to the road.

[Twin cam]

You are right Jay, the early Sprints had column shifts and here's what it looked like

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ibthorpe/1604403682/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2178/1604403682_f36d4d2e16.jpg" width="500" height="367" alt="Img 4662" /></a>

Paul