UPDATE 1/4/12 – The Franken-Spider ended up selling for $6,412. Well sold!
The seller of the Moretti project we just featured mentioned an Alfa Romeo which they also have for sale. It turned out to be a rare 1957 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce Spider. We featured a much better candidate for restoration the other day, but we had to post this one just to demonstrate what not to do with your car. Beware; this will make Alfisti cry?Ǫ
Somewhere along the line, a creative owner decided they needed more protection from the elements. Most people would seek out a removable hardtop, but instead they pulled out the welder and grafted on the roof from their Volkswagen Beetle. Oh the blasphemy!
Here is another shot of the hack job. Notice how they molded it into the trunk. This is going to make restoration an even more painful ordeal than it would have already been. What were they thinking? Luckily, the numbers don’t match up, so this could just be a base model Spider and not a Veloce.
The bad roof job isn’t the only problem here. The rest of the car was cared for by the same person who thought up the modifications and the condition reflects that fact. If it were a real Veloce, the pre-restoration photos would make for interesting conversation at the upcoming Mille Miglia?Ǫ If you are a little crazy and are in the market, you can try your hand at bidding here on eBay. You will want to make sure that the vice grips are included.
Sadly at some point someone just thought it was an old car. I hate to think of the terrible things I witnessed 40 or more years ago. How about my friend to whom I sold my first car. His brother thought it was unsafe for him to drive and sold it to a scrapper. A 1958 Plymouth Fury Golden Commando, newly redone engine, less than 60 k. Dual quads, 350 305 horse. Think, Christine in the standard beige and gold without a dent or rip in the interior. That was in 1966. 8years old.
I don’t know much about these old Alfa’s, but it looks like some serious body work and a pretty slick way to make a hard top out of a roadster. I just think the VW was not the right choice for a donor car. It is a shame the car was so rare. the reserve should be pretty low. about all it would be good for is a hot rod project. how about a 2.3 turbo and 5 speed from a thunderbird . with a slick paint job it would be a cool cruiser. And for Mr Pickett I understand what you mean about loosing a car to the scrapper. When I was in high school I had a 63 chevy Impala SS with the big hp 409 and a 4 spd. I bought a 70 roadrunner when I went into the service, so I gave the SS to my younger brother. He drove it for about a month tore the trans out of it, which was easy to do with that torque monster. He parked in my moms back yard and left it. After 6 months the city got on my parents about it, she called my bro and he said he didn’t want it anymore so she give it to a guy for scrap. He probably got 30 or 40 $ for it. Now it would be worth muich more than I had in it. I should have had one of my friends to put it somewhere for me. I was 3000 miles away at the time. Lift is just full of those “I shouldas”
What about the white Jaguar XK 120 coupe in the corner? Hopefully it has not befallen to the same fate as the Veloce. :>)?
Now it is a show car in the making . I like the idea of the 2.3 turbo listed above from Foxy.
@ Rich…. I believe that the 120 coupe has suffered a V8 transplant (thereby altering the engine bay and tranny tunnel). There can’t be two snow-white 120 coupes half way restored, can there? Such a car was for sale earlier this month. The guy eviden
It is the same white jag:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150718049092+&viewitem=
I’m surpised that more people don’t appreciate the weight savings of a vise grip over a regular steering wheel.
I’m still amazed. This must be the answer to a question that only one person asked.
After seeing this, NOBODY had better pick on any of my hack projects ever again !
Does that mean the 55 front end on my 57 Chevy isn’t such a bad idea after all?
“I’m surpised that more people don’t appreciate the weight savings of a vise grip over a regular steering wheel.”… nice one Ron! :-)
Sadly you see these auto Frankensteins on Ebay all the time. There is currently one very nice original paint mid sixties Caddy which had it’s original paint clearcoated and not before covering with ugly pinstripes. Or how many times have you seen a nice early car like an Olds, Pontiac or Buick with a “350/350′ Chevy conversion. Jaguars with Chevy’s. To some it seems the easy way out. But it actually destroys the value of what is always advertised as an Original or Restored Car. And enough of the 4 door sedan automatics with floor mounted racing shifters and tiny steering wheels. Enough ranting. I hope someone can reverse this plastic surgery on this car and or use it for parts.
Or just finish it !
On an otherwise economically feasible project, why can’t the owner have fun?It’s kinda interesting………..
OMG, I am going to have nightmares on this one.
You all know how I feel when I see a 49 Mercury chopped and messed up.
24 Hours of Lemons!!! Mussolini and Hitlers Love child.
I seem to be the only person who kinda likes this. It needs finishing, and the air vents definitely need to be eliminated, but I think this has the potential to look really pretty decent. I can’t imagine it’s worth restoring to original spec at this point, so why not have some fun with it?
@HRFyeah I can kinda see it, but in a different light. Agreed the rear vents have to go bye-bye. Along with the window side piece with the arc-type windows. A nice pillar behind the door with cable operated wing vents for the rear windows would be a nice
I’m with HRF, and Rich. I’m not a serious Alfa guy. I do have an MGB roadster . I’ve been a hot rodder all my life. I see something in this car too. Since it is not going to be pure, why not do it up another way. You are both right about the vents, they scream VW. get rid of them and the hinges. and do some creative molding and it would look pretty slick. I think the eng compartment looks a lot like the mgb. They made a b with an aluminum v8 in them. In england the 315 v8 came in Rovers,, over here they came in ’63 oldsmobile f 85s and are still laying around. The v8 don’t weigh much more then the 4 cyl morris. it could be a pretty cool ride with a v-8 rumble. Some folks on here probably call that butchering the car, but I say that has already been done. Foxxy
Dear Foxxy: Get the Brit engine-The BOP Buick Olds Pontiac 315 V-8 was junk. I had one that was turbo’d in a 63 Jetfire Olds. Your idea is right though. The Brits upgraded the block castings and really improved the overall design of the engine. In addition to Rovers, they used that in a Triumph as well, I believe. TR-8? Thanks, Rich
Rich I see what you mean. in 63 it was probably not cast as well. I drove one of the olds f85’s it had a turbo on it but it was pretty weak , didn’t pull very hard at all. I have a thunderbird turbo-coupe running gear in a little ’85 ranger, now that pulls as hard as I need. if you put that 2.3 and t-5 in this little car it would probably just hop around in the road. lol I have a friend with a rover , I think it’sa 4.0 . it runs great ,is it also all aluminum? Had a friend in the air force that bought a TR7 new, and he had more problems then I ever thought a new car should have. seemed to handle good and I liked the shape, they didn’t make the 8 till later I think. I wonder if it was trouble pron?? Foxxy
I had an 87 Ranger with an 83 Turbo Coupe drivetrain ! It was slick ! Sold it to a friend that F’ed it all up then I got it back. Stripped it in 09 and just sold the running gear this fall. You ain’t kidding about pulling as hard as you need !
Im with the rest of you. It’s already been cut into, so I’d finish it and make a nice little rod out of it. Vents must go. Drop in a 2.8 from an S-10 or Blazer and chrome it up a bit and you could have a nice little head turner.
Zetec, all aluminum ford four cyl.
If there were a CSI for cars, this would be the premiere episode. But the cause of death was NOT the “re-captitation”… it was cancer. See, these Alfas are unibody cars… and Italian steel does not mix with compost piles in the footwells or algae on the coachwork. This thing was stored out doors, in a constantly wet, shady environment (probably under trees that dropped sap, bird sh__, water, and leaves).If by some miracle the thing doesn’t crumble at the sight of a pressure washer, the roof is pretty easy to rectify compared to the rest of the corpse. The thought of the brakes alone makes me shudder! In fact I would want to acid dip this whole car once the drivetrain was out.Assuming the drivetrain can be saved, the rust is not too far gone, you do ALL your own work except for machining, own an english wheel, a welder and a full set of air tools, you could have a fun car at the end of it all, sometime around 2022. No problem!
57 Alfa’s did not have regressed headlights. That front end is from the later “Graduate” model, which I always felt looked like a chopped and channeled Ford Falcon.
Hey, the key is in the ignition! Well theres half the battle already won. Lol