SOLD

• Engine:  1570cc twin-cam four cylinder

• Transmission: 5 Speed Manual

• Year: 1963

• Registration: ENP 433B

• Mileage:  55,700

• Exterior colour:  Farina white

• Interior colour and material: Black leather

VIEWING BY APPOINTMENT ONLY PLEASE.

- According to the Alfa Romeo Museum archives this car was manufactured on September 24th 1963 with front disc brakes and invoiced by the factory to Alfa Romeo Great Britain on January 31st 1964. The original paint colour was White with a black interior.
- First registered new in England on April 2nd 1964.
- This car is a very rare original factory produced right hand drive version (Giulia 1600 Spider Normale), of which only 404 were made, and all in 1963.
- Supplied new by the Alfa Romeo distributor E. L. Bouts Motors Limited of Wolverhampton and registered with the Birmingham number plate of 14-FJW. The car still retains its E. L. Bouts hand book wallet containing the original hand book.
- It is clear that the car was used a lot by its first owner/s and certainly much enjoyed as they had covered about 50,000 miles by the time the car was just two and a half years old. A problem with the engine resulted in the car being left with a garage in Kenilworth in Warwickshire in about 1966 from where it was acquired by an Italian Gentleman with the majority of its engine in the boot!
- The charming Italian Gentleman, a local hotelier, had been sent by his Father to Birmingham as a student to learn English and ended up remaining in this country. His relatives continue to run the family hotel in Cassino, near Naples in Italy. We were fortunate to be able to purchase this Spider directly from this Gentleman and his lovely family.
- The Alfa Romeo Spider had been his dream car since the launch of the earlier Giulietta and it was on a whim that he made the garage in Kenilworth an offer to purchase the Spider. To his delight the offer was accepted and he promptly moved the car to a lock-up garage where it remained until 1978 when funds and time allowed him to be able to return the car to the road. The engine was re-built and a restoration was carried out on the car which included a re-paint in its original white, an interior re-trim of seats and carpets, a new roof, re-chroming of many items, a new exhaust system, and the repair and replacement of many other items. All these works and parts are documented on an invoice from a company called Unisant Limited of Cradley Heath, West Midlands, dated November 24th 1978 for an amount approaching £7,000. This would have been a lot of money in 1978, which is probably why the invoice was not marked "paid" until June 15th 1979! According to a search on Google and Google Street View, it appears that Unisant Limited are still trading.
- The Gentleman was good friends with Mario Deliotti, another locally based Italian who owned an Alfa Romeo dealership. During his career Mario became extremely well known within the Alfa Romeo world for his expert knowledge of Alfa Romeo cars. The Gentleman and Mario were never happy with how the engine operated in the Spider and we were informed that he re-built it for the Gentleman in 1980 using his great expertise.
- The first MOT certificate on file is dated May 22nd 1986 and records the speedometer reading as 53,545 miles. We were assured by the Gentleman that the current recorded mileage of 55,700 is genuine. It is clear that the car has had very little use over the years, due in part for the reason that for some time it shared storage space with a number of other notable classic cars such as a de Tomaso Pantera, a Citroen SM, and a Rolls-Royce to mention just a few. It was because of having so many cars, the Gentleman registered the Spider in the name of his Mother-in-Law from between February 1992 to February 1996. Soon the other cars were sold and the Spider was alone again in its garage.
- Soon after registering the Spider back into his name the original registration number was transferred to one of the family cars. It was then re-registered by the DVLA as ENP-433B.
- In the summer of 2009 it was decided that the Spider should be treated to a bit of a re-fresh so it was dispatched to a local classic car restoration company. They fitted new carpets, new leather seat covers, a new folding roof, new bumper sections (supplied by AFRA in Milan), some new exhaust sections, and re-painted the boot lid to apparently remove a dent that was in it.
- This is an extremely rare car that has been owned by the last owner for about 46 years. The interior is in superb condition and the paintwork presents extremely well (especially considering that it is 35 years old) due to the cars minimal use and good storage over the years, and there are only a few very minor marks visible. The condition of the floor is superb due to its lack of exposure to the elements. A very special car with a great history.