[pyesnosky]

Hello everyone,

Although I have exchanged a few PMs with folks here, this is my first post on the BB. I must say that I have really enjoyed reading the many articles and threads on Alfa restoration. This is a great community.

I'm based in the SF Bay area and I'd like to introduce you all to my new project. I have just completed the purchase of a 1958 Giulietta Spider Veloce. She needs a lot of work and through that process I hope to not only learn from you all, but also hopefully contribute to the community as well.

I'll leave this as a short introduction for now with one picture but I'll be back soon with an outline of my restoration roadmap and then more pictures and commentary as things progress.

Thank you all for what seems to be a very enthusiastic and helpful community.

Paul

 

[02Lightning]

Nice, Welcome!

 

[divotandtralee]

This must be the one from OR?

 

[alfabits]

This must be the one from OR?

No, that turned out to be a a normale or perhaps an abnormale conversion, not a Veloce. See the last page of my Thread My Veloce restoration nearing completion. - Page 21 - Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board & Forums for the story.

George

 

[divotandtralee]

I had another car in Michigan in mind that didn't look like that so I assumed there was a last minute switch.

 

[pyesnosky]

Yep this is the one from Michigan. The one from Oregon had much more extensive rust problems and was actually an abnormale.

This one has been verified as a true Veloce with matching chassis/engine numbers so I am happy.

Paul

 

[pathung]

Paul,

Looking forward to your "roadmap", and welcome to the BB!

Lots of folks who post frequently here have very specialized skills; unfortunately for newbies, these guys don't advertise them (but they will sometimes PM you when they realize that you're desperate), being modest. Be sure then to air your concerns; someone will definitely chime in with the right info. or point you in the right direction.

One interesting way to discover how many BB'ers are reading your thread is to keep track of the number of VIEWS after each new post in your thread, say, within three days' time; you'll be shocked. This goes back to what George Kraus (Alfabits) stated in his thread about making detailed, careful posts (with as many photos as possible!) for the benefit of fellow BBer's; what you ask and learn on your thread greatly benefits more Alfisti/Giuliettisti than you might think, so please ask away!

Another excellent source for Giulietta information is the Yahoo 750/101 Group. This is a moderated group (so is the BB), and membership needs to be applied for in order to make posts, with Group Moderator Lew Rosenberger (I have his contact info. if you're interested in joining the group).

Good luck!

 

[Subtle]

I'll follow this one--

 

[Andrew]

You couldn't really be in a better spot to restore a Giulietta. Lots of Alfa resources in the Bay Area, including Patrick Hung, Tom Sahines and other ARA folks, all the Alfa parts, repair, machining specialists in Berkeley, the list goes on.
I've got a 60 Giulietta Spider Veloce; they're the greatest.
Andrew

 

[pyesnosky]

Restoration Starts

Well folks, after a month of silence waiting for the car to be boxed up and shipped, it finally arrived at Daron's shop in WA state on Tuesday. Here's a picture of arrival.

 

[pyesnosky]

Mileage

And soon after arrival Vintage Customs started stripping the car for media blasting. They found an interesting discovery under the dash. These old dymo labels indicate that the car only added 837 miles in the past 44 years. The labels look old so this pretty much confirms the odometer shows actual mileage. (Current mileage on the odometer is 46,063.)

 

[oakland_veloce]

Hey Paul -

Looking forward to seeing the progress on this one! I've got a '65 Spider Veloce that is in similar condition to yours, and I'm in Oakland. We definitely need to trade notes.

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/giu...ew-guy-new-build-thread-65-spider-veloce.html

Cheers,
AK

 

[pyesnosky]

Off to the blasters

Well, the car is completely stripped of all remaining mechanical parts and it's off to the media blasters today. I was up in WA state this week and the car is quite rusted out from the doors rearward in the rocker area. And the floor pans and trunk pan are toast. Hopefully the car will survive media blasting. The good news is that the car is pretty straight, it doesn't look like it has been wrecked and twisted up. And the front of the car (forward of doors) is in nice shape. The lovely rust/red color of the car is red primer that was put over old paint on the exterior to preserve as much as was left. Post blaster pictures next.

 

[pyesnosky]

Post Media Blast

Well I am going to try to keep up with both threads. Both the Spider and Sprint are undergoing restoration at the same time. Vintage Customs are working on both. Here's a few pictures of the Spider, post media blast. Doesn't look too bad from the front, but take a look at the rear (which looks like it was patched already once). And the swiss cheese rockers, floor pans and parts of the fenders. Looks like I'm going to be ordering a lot of replacement sheet metal, most likely from Biondi.

 

[velocedoc]

Time has not been kind to this chassis. You are in great hands to bring this car back to life. I would be curious to see what the lower engine frame looks like where it goes into the body. This is a major rust area. How did the trunk fair?

 

[pyesnosky]

Time has not been kind to this chassis. You are in great hands to bring this car back to life. I would be curious to see what the lower engine frame looks like where it goes into the body. This is a major rust area. How did the trunk fair?

Luckily the engine bay is in pretty good shape. I have to look through all my pictures, but I think in general the engine bay, front frame members and front fenders and nose of the car are not too bad. Lots of problems from the firewall back. But, the car will come back. It will just take time, new sheet metal and lots of welding. The trunk floor is gone. That needs to be replaced as well. In fact, I think we're going to separate the flat sandwich weld in the back that joins the top of the back of the car, the trunk floor and the bottom rear of the car and replace the bottom rear and the trunk floor and then sandwich it all back together. (If that makes sense.)

 

[Gordon Raymond]

McCabe Automotive Restorations in Mundelein Illinois is just finishing up a 1960 transitional Veloce spider that showed about the degree of body deterioration. These cars can be brought back with patience, and the correct shop.

 

[pyesnosky]

Spider Update

After a long time silent, there is an update on my Spider Veloce. Most of the work the past two months has been done on the Sprint Veloce that is also being restored. But, some work on the Spider has been done. The guys at Vintage Customs have done some rust repairs to the structure between the ****pit and trunk. Two montage pictures (pretty small) showing the work done. I grouped these together so as not to post 8 pictures. More work soon to follow. The Spider and Sprint parts from Biondi should be arriving in WA state next Tuesday.

 

[Gordon Raymond]

Excellent patch Paul. Good catching the weakness in this area.

 

[AlfaDrone]

Yes Paul

I saw your 'metal reinforced' crat with my eyes last time i visited Bionsi's workshop. It was ready to go