Restoration pics
Discussion
Here goes with some photos of the (ongoing) restoration of my 1964 Giulia Sprint Speciale. The first batch show what a big job this was. The pictures are taken at DTR European Sports Cars where I bought the car from Paul de Turris just over 12 months ago. I am not sure that either they or I realised the full scale of the undertaking at the time...
This seems to take forever. I'll post this to see if it has worked and resume later..
This seems to take forever. I'll post this to see if it has worked and resume later..
Some more from the time it was acquired..
The car was converted to RHD when it was initially imported in 1964 and the photos above show what a shoddy cut and shut job it was. I thought about having it put back to LHD, because the car is quite asymmetrical and obviously designed to have much more space on the "proper" driver's side, but decided against it in the end. Paul also said that he would improve the conversion.
The car was converted to RHD when it was initially imported in 1964 and the photos above show what a shoddy cut and shut job it was. I thought about having it put back to LHD, because the car is quite asymmetrical and obviously designed to have much more space on the "proper" driver's side, but decided against it in the end. Paul also said that he would improve the conversion.
Tonight's last batch, and also the last of the "before" photos. By way of background, the car was complete (despite the impression from the pictures) with the correct engine. The nice man at Alfa Romeo's museum confirmed the delivery date and original colour (Alfa Red, unsurprisingly) when I gave him the chassis number. Alfa's records don't match engine numbers to chassis numbers precisely, but they do show that the engine number is in the correct block of numbers so there is every reason to believe it is the original engine.
More to come (tomorrow)
More to come (tomorrow)
I think the blue car is a Fiat 124 Coupe.
It certainly is a big job, but we are now 12 months in and the car is painted and being reassembled. The panel work, prep and painting have taken around 1,000 hours I think! There was also about 20kg of lead cut out from the car (you can see it clearly in some of the pictures).
Tonight I'll try to post the next batch showing the start of the panelwork, including the new sections the guys at DTR fabricated using their Englsih Wheel.
Paul is such a perfectionist. He saw original unrestored SS's in Austria and Italy and measured them up to compare with mine. Turns out none of them are symmetrical (I guess to be expected for a low volume hand made car), and mine was the closest to symemtrical of the three. After doing that Paul noted that the sills in my car, which had been previously replaced, did not have exactly the profile they should have had - so he replaced them. For good measure, to give it some extra rigidity (see how narrow the pillars are), he made the new sills with box sections. I joked with him that he was adding weight, and he pointed out that whatever he had added certainly weighed less than the pile of lead on the floor...
It certainly is a big job, but we are now 12 months in and the car is painted and being reassembled. The panel work, prep and painting have taken around 1,000 hours I think! There was also about 20kg of lead cut out from the car (you can see it clearly in some of the pictures).
Tonight I'll try to post the next batch showing the start of the panelwork, including the new sections the guys at DTR fabricated using their Englsih Wheel.
Paul is such a perfectionist. He saw original unrestored SS's in Austria and Italy and measured them up to compare with mine. Turns out none of them are symmetrical (I guess to be expected for a low volume hand made car), and mine was the closest to symemtrical of the three. After doing that Paul noted that the sills in my car, which had been previously replaced, did not have exactly the profile they should have had - so he replaced them. For good measure, to give it some extra rigidity (see how narrow the pillars are), he made the new sills with box sections. I joked with him that he was adding weight, and he pointed out that whatever he had added certainly weighed less than the pile of lead on the floor...
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/mG3yrueh.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/XSPgtljh" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/XSPgtljh.jpg)
Thanks. When I saw the car in the metal, and it was clear that it had been hacked about by someone with ambitions bigger than their capabilities, I knew I had to bring it back to life. I am very grateful that Paul and his team at DTR have put so much time and effort into the car. I think it is going to look wonderful when it is finished -probably better than when it rolled out of Bertone's factory - and that is a testament to the work they have done. It's taking (a little) longer then predicted, but it looks like it will be worth the wait.
Have been in discussions with Paul at DTR today and completion is now scheduled for end May. Work has been on hold while they accelerate work on their Dino and 250s as far as I can see. But I hope to have some more photos soon.
The only real update is that I have decided to fit a period radio as modified by Tadpole Radios. I want to give a name check to Rory at Tadpole who has been extremely helpful and gone to some lengths to answer my inane questions. I don't have the radio yet, and obviously will have to reserve final judgment until it is in place, but as far as old-fashioned service and knowing your product is concerned, Rory at Tadpole is getting top marks so far. It really is a pleasure to come across this type of operation these days.
The only real update is that I have decided to fit a period radio as modified by Tadpole Radios. I want to give a name check to Rory at Tadpole who has been extremely helpful and gone to some lengths to answer my inane questions. I don't have the radio yet, and obviously will have to reserve final judgment until it is in place, but as far as old-fashioned service and knowing your product is concerned, Rory at Tadpole is getting top marks so far. It really is a pleasure to come across this type of operation these days.
XJ13 said:
Interesting project - thanks for sharing. You mention Bertone; is your car the 1963 Bertone "one-off" Giulia Sprint Speciale by any chance or am I thinking of a completely different car?
Unfortunately, not a one off! There were about 1400 made, I think. And prior to the Giulia, there was also a Giulietta SS, with a smaller (1300) engine.I think the car was inspired to some degree by the BAT cars of the mid-fifties, in particular BAT 9. Those were one-offs, done by Bertone as an exercise in producing low drag coefficient vehicles. I don't know if that's waht you were thinking of?
FWDRacer said:
Couldn't agree more.
Restoration skills - in awe of. Quick questions, was the Shell dipped or media blasted to get it back to bare metal?
The car was bead blasted, and has been zinc phosphate etched to try to avoid the [Italian Car + British weather] = [Heartache] problem..Restoration skills - in awe of. Quick questions, was the Shell dipped or media blasted to get it back to bare metal?
Sorry that there have been no updates for a while. The project went into slow motion while DTR rushed through a Fiat Dino restoration (and lovely it is too). It's all hands on deck now, and things are going back togther. The headlining is in and the final decisions have been taken on interior colour and configuration of the rear seat-cum-storage arrangement. A couple of bits were sent back to be rechromed as they didn't pass Paul's beady-eye, and the block was sent back for a few improvements. I will be visiting on Saturday and will post up more pictures.
It's been a long time, and I was hoping that the car would have been on the road by now. At least I haven't missed any good weather..
At my age it sounds silly, but I am bursting with excitement now that we are in the final stages!
It's been a long time, and I was hoping that the car would have been on the road by now. At least I haven't missed any good weather..
At my age it sounds silly, but I am bursting with excitement now that we are in the final stages!
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