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Cars for sale at Auto Gallery of VA in Leesburg

5912 Views 22 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  Alfamel
If you've seen the green GT Junior on eBay, it's one of a number of Alfas that have popped up at a small Euro / classic dealer in Leesburg, VA:
http://www.theautogalleryva.com. No affiliation, no financial stake, etc.

I popped in to take a look at the cars, and by and large they're really pretty nice. He's asking End Of The World prices for some, and high but not too much so on others. Here's what he has:

'68 GT Junior (eBay car): Asking $26,500. I liked this one a lot. Has GTA replica wheels and GTA style mesh grille. Interior is really nice. One small crack on the wood dash (is that original on Juniors?) and a small tear in some of the trim on the floor by the driver's door were all I could come up with. Headliner was great, and the seats looked beautiful - maybe original?. Paint was also very nice, with great depth. I was a little concerned with the rear wheel arches - I felt up inside them and there may have been some filler. I didn't bring a magnet, so it could have been just road dirt / grime or undercoating up in there. Hard to say. It'll be interesting to see what happens on the auction.

'71 Spider: Asking $24,900. Lovely car. Recent repaint in Resale Red, with the side markers filled in. Weber carb conversion with the Euro style air cleaner. Original Cromodora Daytonas have been refinished, but are not perfect. Interior is great - the dash especially is brand new and looks and feels fantastic. Nasty '80s Kenwood cassette player has to go. The paint on this one wasn't quite as nice as the Junior, with a bit of orange peel here and there, but it definitely presented well. The wheel wells scared me a lot on this one. See Junior above, only worse by half. I'd like to see a whole lot of pics from the resto before I bit - including what they did with the side markers - and use a spot-rot on every square inch.

'76 Euro (115) GTV. Asking a lot - like, $30k or so. I didn't look that closely, since I disliked the color and I thought his price was way too high.

'84 Spider. The most nutso price he has - $18,900. Nice car, with low original miles, but there are some rust spots starting to bubble up along the rockers. The top is original, and it shows. And, you know, it's an '84 Spider. Is the nicest early S3 in the world even a $10k car?

'93 Spider - Asking $17,500. Black, redone 2-tone black and tan seats look better in person than in pics. They're some of the nicest seats I've seen in an S4 - much better than the typical shabby Alcantra. He said it had been repainted - original or not, the paint was excellent. Not a Veloce, has aftermarket IAP 15" wheels that look just like the 14". This one and the Junior are the ones that come closest to justifying his asking prices. If it were a Veloce with a hardtop it would probably even be a pretty good deal.

If you have any questions on specific cars I'd be happy to answer them.

-Jason
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Something isn't right about this 71 spider. The pics are the same as from Britalia Motorsport (but the price is $10K higher).
http://www.britaliamotorsport.com/graphics/alfaromeo/index.htm

Anyone?
Something isn't right about this 71 spider. The pics are the same as from Britalia Motorsport (but the price is $10K higher).
http://www.britaliamotorsport.com/graphics/alfaromeo/index.htm

Anyone?
That's the car. The dealer specifically said it came from Costa Mesa. If you're looking to nitpick details it has carpets instead of rubber floormats, the complete removal of the side markers is an obvious change, and the wheels are period but still not original. If you can convince me the body is more solid than I think it is it was probably a decent buy at the earlier price. Anyone from CA know more about the car?

-Jason
Those are some insane prices. I'm incredulous at nearly $20,000 for a Spider S3...
Just FYI,

BB member robtecno has a picutre of this pino green pseudo-GTA (GT1300Jr actually) as his avatar, and look at his profile:Click Here. He seems to own that champagne gold 2000GTV too.
People thought that 71 Spider was ahead of the market at $15K. How long does one need to wait for the market to catch up when it's priced at $25K????
Hi Jason - FYI side markers are an ugly American spec thing ! Euro spec cars have none from factory - our RHD cars are Euro spec as well ( except for being RHD of course! )

So indeed that 71 spider could be original - in that instance anyway.

Frank .
1971 Spider in Leesburg Virginia

My name is Ken and I own Britalia Motorsport in Southern California. I "retailed" the Spider to the dealer, Auto Gallary in Leesburg Virginia and did much of the cosmetic work on the car when I owned it. There is/was no rust on the car, and no issues at all with the wheel arches. The car appears to have been a West Coast car its whole life - both Northern and Southern California. I had it resprayed due to slug of non repairable dents along the now crisp mid level body line - the paint was nice to start with and is now very good. I can honestly say this is a very nice example. The photos are mine as well, (guess I should have sold the rights too) - many more images are still on my website, britaliamotorsport.com

The interior is from Re-Originals and turned out very nice - and was quite reasonable considering how much the interior now pops. The side marker light 'delete' is interesting, along with the dual chrome boot trim 'delete' as well. It is a great look. Once on a lift, from inside the front fenders you can see a small rectangle of tin covering the slot where the light hole used to be. Its a very clean job and identicle on both sides. While a mystery at first, my guess is sometime during the cars life someone thought it would look cool with all the extra stuff deleted. The car runs and drives wonderfully, the transmission is buttery smooth - great training for me regarding what these cars should drive like. As for the asking price...? The car is a rolling, driving peice of art. The owner will likely get to play with it, like I did, while he waits from someone to come along and take it off his hands. I hope he gets it. Any questions please advise - happy to assist. Has anyone else seen the 1967 Alfa Guilia Super that just appeared on Hemmings? A nice over the top resto. I called today and was ready to pay up to get it. Yikes! Not that far up. Another rolling, driving peice of art....for $55K. Ken
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Ken, that's good to hear about the wheel arches. What mainly concerned me is that the lips of the rear arches are far smoother than original, with no visible spot welds, and the inside of the bend has a lot of buildup - could be undercoating, or mud, or some other kind of "gunk". If you have pics of the car before or during the paint job I think that would help.

To be frank, I hope he gets it too. I told Lou that if he can get $25k for that car I'll have him consign mine. This '71 is a nicer than mine, but not by that much. I may need to give re-originals a call. Any way you slice it 25 large is a lot of cash for a non-roundtail Spider, especially one that's not quite concours correct. For that matter I haven't seen too many roundtails go for that kind of scratch. It's possible that the S2s are finally starting to get some recognition in the market, which would thrill me for obvious reasons.

-Jason
Hi Jason - FYI side markers are an ugly American spec thing ! Euro spec cars have none from factory - our RHD cars are Euro spec as well ( except for being RHD of course! )

So indeed that 71 spider could be original - in that instance anyway.

Frank .
I don't believe that's true. I'm pretty sure roundtails and the Euro S2s all had the tiny little round side marker lights. But no, this car is definitely a US spec car with the side markers "shaved", to use the hot-rodder parlance.

-Jason
Bottom line, the car is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. If someone pays $25K, then so be it. Prices are definitely headed up.
I don't believe that's true. I'm pretty sure roundtails and the Euro S2s all had the tiny little round side marker lights.

It might be so that this car has had the side markers removed and is indeed US spec but side markers are one thing (reflectors front and back in side panels) but actual flashing indicators are another - what you refer to as the tiny little round side marker lights on roundtails and S2s.
There are no actual side markers (reflectors front and back on side panels) on euro spec cars - only flashing indicators on the front quarter panel .

Frank :)
Geeezz...my S3 is a steal at 11,200!! :)
Lou at Auto Gallery

Hi Guys. I guess we here at Auto Gallery are getting pretty famous these days! Jason, it was nice meeting you the other day. Your comments were very much appreciated although I said 'ouch' a couple of times while reading them:).

Ken, thank you as well for your follow-up on the 71 Spider and I hope you don't mind that I used a couple of your photos as I had none at the time of posting to our website. The car looks so great in a California setting anyway!

Gentlemen, I try very hard to obtain really nice Alfas for resale as I am not only a businessman but also an enthusiast like all of you. Yes, some of the prices may appear high to some but understand that the market in Alfas is very fluid at the moment. I recently sold a gorgeous 1986 Spider Veloce with 38K for $16K. I can give you other examples as well. My point is this. Its all in the marketing and presentation and if a certain car is unique enough (i.e. low mileage, original, celebrity owned, etc) my experience has been that it will bring more money than the so called 'market' would dictate. Will I get my asking price each and every time? Of course not. What I have been very successful in doing though is bringing new converts into the fold. Many people who were originally looking for an older British, German, or Japanese roadster but then see my Alfas are delighted to be offered such a car. The best of the best. No projects, no rust buckets, no worn out mechanicals. Only the best. THAT is always worth more to someone!
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Hi Guys. ..
Welcome to the BB, Lou!

Asking prices are always a perception of what a car is worth, and as such there will always be a great range of opinions. There certainly are plenty of Alfas that come to market, but very few pristine cars, and if these are rare, then their prices will also be out of the ordinary... You may want to look at the thread "What $$ would you ask for your series 2, 3, or 4 Spider? " in the general forum "Anything About Alfa Romeos and AlfaBB.com". The results should be interesting...

Best regards,
Hey Lou - glad you found the board. In case I wasn't clear enough, I agree that every one of the cars you have are head and shoulders above the typical Alfa - especially the typical East Coast Alfa. It seems like you're making a bid to be a magnet dealership for high grade Alfas - sort of an east coast Fantasy Junction, or a Bobcor without the attitude. I think there's absolutely a place for that, and building a good relationship with us Alfa nuts can't hurt.

Enrique's pointer was a great one. While all the Spiders look pretty much alike there's a pretty dramatic difference in price between the different generations.

Keep finding these great cars, and when our rich friends ask us poor Alfisti where to find a real nice one we'll be sure and point them in your direction. :)

-Jason
Lou at Auto Gallery

Hi Jason,

I absolutely respect your comments. Just know that you and all the guys and gals on this forum are welcome to come by any time if for no other reason than to talk ALFA! I learn a bit more about the cars with every Alfisti I speak with so I appreciate the input. And thank you Zunige for the warm welcome to the forum!

Lou
Indeed Lou, you make excellent points. 60s and 70s Alfas are not the fastest, not the most luxurious, not the most bulletproof, not the most anything really, except... EXCEPT for some stange reason they are pretty much the most fun to drive. So why shouldn't they sell at high prices? People now pay ludicrous sums for early 70s Porkys, (Porsches :D), and nobody bats an eye.

No, as I see it the main reason that most Alfas don't sell for much is that they were so undervalued for so long that many, many cars got neglected to death. The survivors are mostly more-or-less basket cases that, to Alfa's great credit, are still amazingly drivable. So they are bought, sold, and driven though at the low prices appropriate to their condition. The very few that are truely in good to great condition are precious and the prices are sloooowly starting to reflect that truth.

You are helping - much thanks!!
The Auto Gallery

Hi Lou, nice collection of cars you have! Hopefully in addition to you selling duties you get a chance to 'exercise the inventory'....hey, someone has to do it! :)

No worries about using the photographs. Marketing and presentation are very important steps in the selling process. A clean detailed car and many large clear photographs, taken in front of an interesting back ground make any vehicle look better and help bring maximum bids.

Good Luck with the 1971 Spider and will call you as I complete my other projects. Next up a fantastic 1972 BMW 2002 tii (roundie). While not my usual British or Italian conquest, I have always wanted to try one. I have driven it every day for the past two weeks. Sweet. :cool:

Regards, Ken
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