Vehicle Description
1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spyder
VIN AR149500735
Early short-wheelbase Giulietta Spyder finished in Fly Yellow with
Black leather interior. The paintwork is in excellent condition
along with the brightwork. Black leather seats feature orange
piping with black Italian wool carpets and black Alfa floor mats. A
beautifully refinished two-spoke Giulietta steering wheel with
Veglia instrumentation and a Pininfarina radio-block-off plate.
Vredestein Sprint Classic 155 HR 15 tires are mounted on 15? steel
wheels.
This is the 735th Giulietta Spyder produced with an early chassis
number. The current owner acquired this Alfa in 2010 and has
enjoyed approximately 25,000 miles, using the vehicle in various
vintage rallies including the California Mille Miglia, Colorado
Grand, California Classic, plus numerable private rallies with the
Petersen Automotive Museum. After purchasing the Spider, a bare
metal restoration and interior was completed by Custom Classics by
Aubrey in Lancaster, California. In preparation for the repaint,
the Pininfarina body was stripped down to bare metal and repainted
in Fly Yellow. Since then, services have largely been performed by
Santo's Italian Car Service in Northridge, California. Most
recently, on November 6, 2020, at 20,325 miles, Santo's Italian Car
Service was commissioned to remove and disassemble the
differential, repair the trunnion mount, bleed the braking system,
and adjust the parking brake.
Mechanically, this Spider benefits from a DOHC 1.9L inline
four-cylinder period engine paired to a 5-speed manual transmission
and disc brakes. The original numbers matching 1.3L engine is
included in the sale along with the original drum brakes. Complete
with the spare tire, tool kit, jack, tonneau cover, and 9 years of
service history. Fun to drive and easy to maintain, this Alfa Romeo
Giulietta Spider presents and drives well, and would be a great
addition to any collector's stable.
History
Designed by Pininfarina on a modified Sprint Coupe chassis that had
been shortened by five inches, the Alfa Giulietta Spider was the
company's second post-war model. The little two-seat Sports Spider
was introduced in mid-1955 at the insistence of New York importer
Max Hoffman, who saw how well small British and German sports cars
were being received in America. The Giulietta Spider offered brisk
performance (almost 100 mph) from its free-revving all-alloy
1.3-liter twin-cam four mounted in a steel unibody chassis that
weighed less than 1900 lbs at the curb. With the installation of a
1600 cc engine, the Spider became the slightly larger Giulia and
remained available in that form until the arrival of the iconic
Duetto in 1966.
Over its nine-year production run at San Giorgio Canavese, a little
more than 14,000 units of this durable little convertible were
delivered. In recent years, Giuliettas, especially the Spiders, are
gaining recognition as a good value in the collector's market, and
prices have been rising steadily, following the course of that
other post-war small-displacement favorite, the Porsche 356. Many
have been prepared for vintage racing, where they deliver good
performance and predictable handling, often vying against their old
sales rival.
