Re: Lottery Sprints and Giulia Speciales

[Tony Stevens <tony@domain.elided>]

Thank you JHertzman@domain.elided for your detailed comments, perhaps I didn't
make my questions clear

The SS story was that the Giulia SS came about because there were unsold
Giulietta SS shells awaiting completion, so maybe this is how the Giulia
SS came about, I did not mean to indicate that there were 1,000+ shells
lying around. One can visualise such a decision being made if say 100+
shells existed, which could be the case when 1962 Giulietta SS
production was some 71% down on 1961 & AR may have based an order for
'62 on the '61 figures.
As this was the only comment so far then maybe it is just a rumour.

The term "Lottery Sprint" is often used to identify the first models
shown to the public, fitted with a rear hatch & external fuel filler. I
have heard of cars with chassis numbers in the low 300's which have
conventional bootlids & fuel fillers. Perhaps another question could be
"are there any surviving Sprints in the sub 100, 100 & 200 chassis
number ranges, & do they have a hatch or bootlid"?

Another titbit of rumour/history, it seems that body corrosion became a
real problem (!) in italian cars built fron mid/late 1964 onwards, when
the first consignments of Russian scrap metal may have started arriving
in Italy as payment in kind to Fiat for the Lada car project. Fiat &
Lancia owner comments have also backed this up. Maybe just another
rumour? 

Tony Stevens

In message , JHertzman@domain.elided writes
>In AD7-801 Tony Stevens writes: 
>
>"I heard a story years ago that there was never a plan to build a
>Giulia SS. The story goes that it came about because there were so many
>unsold Giulietta SS bodies awaiting completion when the Giulia 101 was
>announced that completing them as a Giulia SS seemed the logical thing
>to do. True or false? The apparent greater corrosion encountered with
>the Giula SS could indicate that the bodies were allowed to "mature"
>before completion......"
>
>If so, it would represent monumentally poor planning on somebody's part, to 
>have more leftover bodies lying around at the end of the production run than 
>had been sold from inception. By Fusi's numbers, there were 1,366 Giulietta 
>Sprint Speciales built over a six-year period, and 1,400 Giulia Sprint 
>Speciales built in the following four years:
>
>Giulietta SS:
>1957                                                    5
>1958                                                   11
>1959                                                  195
>1960                                                  200
>1961                                                  742
>1962                                                  213
>                                                               1,366
>Giulia SS:
>1963                                                  620
>1964                                                  676
>1965                                                  103
>1966                                                    1
>                                                               1,400
>
>Tony's other question was " The Lottery Giulietta Sprint - has anyone 
>actually seen one, how many were built? My Italian connections seem to know 
>little about them other than a same myths read & heard for many years, 
>together with a few press photos."
>
>Griff Borgeson's account of the development of the Sprint was published in 
>1964; he was much more a solid historian than rumor-monger, and he had photos 
>and other information from participants which Alfa did not have. The lottery 
>had not been for Sprints, but for Giuliettas- the berlinas which Alfa was not 
>yet ready to build. The numbers of cars promised certainly would have been 
>widely known at the time of the securities promotion to which the lottery was 
>an adjunct. Borgeson does not give the exact dumber, but does refer to "a 
>couple of hundred free cars". The Sprint came into being to fulfill the 
>lottery promises, but there is no reason for there to have been a break 
>between the "lottery" cars and the following production. Sprint chassis 
>numbers started with 00011 in 1954, and reached 01438 during 1955, I would 
>assume that any with numbers to around 00210 were lottery cars, but that 
>there would be no difference between 00210 and 00215 or indeed 00500 or 
>01000, other than the historical footnote.
>
>Cordially,
>
>John H.
>Raleigh, N.C.
>

- -- 
Tony Stevens                                           http://www.alfastop.co.uk
ALFA STOP, POBox 50, Belper DE56 1AS, UK
Tel: +44 (0)177 382 2000
Fax: +44 (0)177 382 1900

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