Garage Find, California, U.S.A. 1957 Alfa Spider Normale (SCCA race car until 1967).
Owned since new by race driver/owner Carl Ring, it is one of ten Giuliettas prepared by S.W. Griswold.
The Ring Car is a true garage find. In 1989 I was racing my ‘67 Super and gave my grandmother a plastic trophy I won and the neighbors said their uncle had an old Alfa they needed to get rid of. I did not go see it thinking it was an old beater and I have too many cars.
Well 6 years later I was bored and asked if I could see the car. They said yes, but the garage door had not been opened in over 25 years so it may be tough to get in…hell the door did not move, it came apart. LO AND BEHOLD a time machine. A real wonderful (dirty) RACER with all the old tech stickers from Riverside, Laguna, Stardust, etc. and old taped number 35GP - and it still had Goodyear Sports Car Specials!
WOW! In California all these years! I have been working on it for about a year now, and when all the parts were out I was going to have it painted in, out and under but it was so original! (with actual 63K miles and never hit badly any where). I just waxed it and left the original numbers on it and did the under carriage, motor, etc. The rest of the car still looks as if it was run hard and parked in its last race in 1967. I have tested it only one time so far at Sears Point Raceway. I was just testing it to see how we got along. In its ’67 trim, it ran 2.23' and that was braking early and accelerating late. What a car!
Even the ride height are as raced back then. I wanted to know exactly how she felt in her hey day. The rear end is a welded 512 - that is the only chassis mod. I keep the 512, but put in a locker . Its a little rough on the street in a little hollow car, but what a mechanical sensation, and on the track its nice and smooth with no problems at neutral throttle.
I have shown it at a local Alfa show and it was written up as a lesson in history – But it is a bit rough. The casual observer doesn’t understand why the numberss are just taped on rather than laser cut vinyl. But that’s how it was done back then and being only the second owner of the Ring Car, I like to preserve that history.
The owner/racer Carl Ring parked this car after the ‘67 season in the very spot I found it. He went on to race in Europe in F2 and was in the race where we lost Jimmy Clark as he spun.
- Peter S. Batagios
