Ever wanted to think out loud and let the world listen in on your thoughts. This is probably what blogging is to most people. I am going to weigh in here to start my hopefully weekly blog on the world of Alfa Romeo Veloces.
You can view my website at Veloce Register. This links you to the registers which I have been working on since 1970 for the Giulia Spider Veloces. With the advent of the internet, the access to find cars has been phenomenal which now takes me seconds to find used to be totally non existent when I started. This blog and the Veloce Registers go hand in hand.
It is my hopes to not go back over history that has already been written by so many others so eloquently. However there are times that referencing a source should make for interesting conversations.
So with out further ado, let’s wade in to a topic that has been fresh on my mind of late.
When you look at the over all production of Veloce models of Alfa Romeo we really only talking a few thousand cars. Given that production started in 1956 and ended in 1965 when Giulia Spider Veloce 391091 rolled off the assembly line, a period of history rolled in to the books.
For the novice reader, we have two series or versions: 1300cc we call Giulietta. Then we change the engine to 1600cc and the car is now the Giulia. There were two Giulietta Spider bodies known as 750 and 101 to separate the short wheel base and the longer wheel base.
There are only 3 Veloce models that will be the topic of conversation with two versions. The cars are Spider Veloce (1300 & 1600 cc ) Sprint Veloce (1300 cc )and the Sprint Speciales (1300 & 1600 CC).
To muddy the waters a bit, in what we call the transition year from the 750 and the 101 Giuliettas, the cars got a variety of different parts with some from Giuliettas and some from Giulia cars until the assembly line went all in one direction. A car buyer could also order windows with and with out vent glass, or in a special color.
You have reached a milestone in reading if you have come this far as I must have held your attention for a time. So, your probably asking yourself, so what differentiates a Veloce from any other Alfa Romeo. Veloce in Italian means “fast”. So a Veloce has more horsepower over a stock Alfa Romeo and therefore…”goes faster” Usually a Veloce had twin Weber carburetors, high lift cams, higher compression pistons, special rods/crankshaft, special guages to 8000 rpm and a special oil pan with pick up. More topics to discuss in the future.
When you look at the Veloce Registers there is two things that come to mind. There are a lot of 750 spiders and Sprint Specials in the registers, with more coming on line every month as they are found. Look at the number of 101 Giulia Spider Veloces and Sprint Veloces in the registers, there are but a few in comparison. Now look at what has happened over the last year with Sprint Specials market value going from the $50k range to bumping the $200k figure. Where is the market headed? Given the low survival rate of Giulia Spiders and Sprint Veloces, why hasn’t the market looked at these cars and raised their value as well? The only Sprint Veloce that seems to be heading up is the 750 “lightweight” racing model with sliding Plexiglas windows and aluminum bumpers. They only made 600 or so of these. Last August one just sold for $275k.
The spider Veloce has doubled in value, yet it still falls short of anything that the Sprint Speciale is reaching. There are fewer Giulia Spider Veloces, so given the supply you would think that the Spider Veloce built on the same floor pan, and drive train would bring more money than a Sprint Speciale. So what drives (sorry for the pun) the market to put a higher value on one car over another? Maybe is musings like mine that start others to thinking about these kinds of questions?
Let’s continue the conversation in anther post about the Special Sprint Speciales, confortovole sprints, and if time is given a glimpse into the SZ/TZ models. Also I hope to be able to by serial number mention some interesting cars that inhabit the registers. Also in the future ask about certain cars that were sold but have little to no information on with the public body able to help complete some history on them.
Remember, there is nothing better than the sound of a veloce at red line.
Veloce Register 