- The Car – 1958 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. Veloces were the higher performance variants of the Spider, a factory hot-rod. Many of them were raced when new and a number of them are still active in vintage racing today. Their production run spanned from 1956 to 1962. In all around 2,800 Spider Veloces were made including the 750 and 101 series.
- The Story -The car was advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle (pre-Internet) as mint. When I went to look at the car it was anything but. The engine compartment was a mess with birds living in it and an engine from a later car. The body had many rust spots and the gas tank was half dangling down due to the attachment points being rusted out. There were no carpets and only one seat with torn upholstery, sagging springs and totally deteriorated foam. However, it was a real Veloce which were hard to find and it came with most of the original parts. After acquisition the car was striped to bare metal and restored. It was a fun car to drive but because of the short wheel base, it was uncomfortable for me to take it on longer trips.
- The Cool Factor – This one is a 750 series car with the shorter wheelbase and no vent wings on the doors. About 1,200 of these were made in total and are highly desirable.
Beautiful Machines 