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Project Spider: 1960 Alfa Romeo Giullietta

I recently opined about the creation of Stellantis, the new holding company for FCA (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Fiat, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Lancia) and PSA (Citroen, Peugeot, Opel, and Vauxhall). Supposedly, the new company will maintain all of its brands but that seems, ultimately unlikely. It is easy to imagine that there will be a push to cover the $50+B investment cost and expense cutting is usually job-one in a “merger” of this nature. Who will stay and who will go? Fun to speculate but impossible to know, for now, with any certainty. With that thought in mind, let’s examine an older version of one of FCA’s mainstays, Alfa Romeo and its 1960 Giulietta Spider. This two-seater is located in Rohrersville, Maryland and is available, here on Facebook Marketplace for $3,900. Thanks to Chuck F. for this tip!

The seller refers to this Alfa Romeo as a Giulia but it looks like a Giulietta Spider to my eyes. With 177K  units produced between 1954 and 1965, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta was offered in a 2+2 coupe, four-door sedan and the Pinin Farina designed Spider. The Giulia, a model produced today, wasn’t introduced until 1962 and was offered in four-door body styles through 1978, discontinued and then revived later on. Having the model name incorrectly listed and asking the question, “Would like to know what a reasonable price would be for this 1960 obviously restoration project Alpha (sic)” indicates that this is probably a found car being flipped.

So what do we have here? Not a lot to work with, serious rust, missing trim, and a body that looks to be precariously perched over its unibody platform; note the position of the rear right wheel to the wheel opening in the lead image. The other images present a car that has been, at best, stored outside, maybe under a cover, for some length of time.  The passenger compartment floors are pretty well ventilated, you can see that some semblance of a repair has been affected, but it’s the same story with the trunk. Overall integrity is not going to be this Giulietta’s strong suit.

The engine, which clearly hasn’t turned a lick in many moons, is a 1.3 liter, in-line, four-cylinder that would have been good for 80 HP in original state and tune. Being of a DOHC design, the engine was probably impressive-sounding and had a nice power-band that would have moved this 1,900 lb. Spider with alacrity. Obviously, the air cleaner assembly is missing and probably a lot of other stuff too. A four-speed manual transmission puts the power to the rear wheels.

The interior is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get arrangement –  essentially, a steering wheel and a gearshift and that’s about it. This is a tough one because, besides the obvious missing components like the seats, instruments, wiring, and door cards, there is the entire matter of the floors – lots to contend with. What about a convertible top you ask? Fuggedaboutit.

Alfa Romeo has made some truly fine “driver’s cars” over their 111 years of storied auto manufacturing. Hopefully, they will continue to be an important, if niche component of Stellantis. As nice as it would be to bring this vintage Alfa back from its near-death existence, it may be too far gone. What do you think, thumbs up or thumbs down?

Comments

  1. bobhess bobhess Member

    This one’s got rust where no man has gone before…. Bean cans maybe?

    Like 2
  2. Avatar Andrew Thibodeau

    That car is worth about as much as a dirty sock

    Like 1
    • Avatar Mike

      I dunno, have you priced dirty socks lately?

      Like 0
  3. Avatar Iron Mistress

    I have owned at least a dozen of these and those I haven’t restored I parted out. This is a parts car worth about $350.

    Like 4
    • Avatar Mike Hawke

      If you give most of the parts away…

      Like 1
    • Avatar stu

      If you sand blast this car, nothing will be left to use or sell!

      Like 0
  4. Avatar Scott

    had a ’59 that I welded in floor, inner & outer rockers and got running
    like welding to tissue
    this was ~’87, bought it for $1200 & sold for $4500
    guy shipped it back to Italy
    loved the trans & rearend casting; a fun car but rust kills them

    Like 0
  5. Avatar chrlsful

    ex-ac-kaly da kinda cars I got in the early ’70s (all a kid could afford) alfas, fiats, lancia,& some Brits. My friends had modern 442, GTO, etc. I got 50s/60s and in bad shape. Fix em, drive em, sell or trade. 40 yrs later (back to ‘poverty’) I can’t afford them. 4 bronks later I seek out the 80s fox wagon (& pre-mini 80s vans: Summit, Stanza, Mitsu MPV, space runner, etc).

    Jim tempts me to ‘go back’ with this one.
    ;^ )

    Like 0
  6. Avatar HARM R SMIT

    Great retirement project knowing you’ll probably never get to finish it. Pitty a very elegant Italian sports car to cruise along the winding roads of Lake Como!

    Like 0
  7. Avatar Araknid78

    really sad. Almost makes me want to cry.

    Like 0
    • Avatar stu

      I have a big shoulder you can cry on….

      Like 0
  8. Avatar Bill McCoskey Member

    A long time [and former co-worker] who specialized in some of the best all metal body work lives near the location of this car. He is now in his 80s & recently had to stop working on other people’s vintage cars. I know he was starting to work on a similar car, so that new panel shown in photos might be his creation. If someone is interested, I can check with him to see if it’s the same car, and if so, what he can tell me about it.

    Nice versions [not show quality] can be had from about $30K, ready to drive.
    REALLY nice show quality & well restored examples can run $70K to $90K.

    Like 0
  9. Avatar Daniel Gavin

    I would love to know where / how someone in their right mind could possibly think this POS is worth $3,000.00. There is no hope for this….none what so ever………dug a hole, say a prayer and bury it…….case closed.

    Like 1

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