5-April-2014: I'm always looking for parts that I'm missing on my car. I know that the chance of finding the currently missing parts is small and if I find any the are most probably unaffordable. In June 2010 I found a brand new reversing light which I had been searching for for a long time. Since these lights are very rare the price of the auction at that time was quite something but anyway I decided to buy it anyway because that part was missing on my own car and on the donor vehicle I used to own. Today during my more or less usual search on E-Bay Italy I located another brand new reversing light. I have one brand new original reversing light since 2010, but this is definitely a part of which I would like to have a spare one, especially because the location of the reversing light of the Giardinetta is at quite a sensitive position so the chance of damage during  usage is not merely hypothetical.

E-Bay Italy auction for brand new reversing light.

The price is very reasonable and comparing to the one I bought in 2010 it is very cheap so I will buy it to have a spare one at least. I never expected to run into an affordable additional light but apparently miracles occur so it seems. Lets see when the item arrives whether it's actually brand new, the picture accompanying the auction appeared new so ......... Another striking item on the picture accompanying the auction picture is the fact that the brand of the light is not Altissimo (manufacturer of the Giardinetta rear light clusters and reversing light I purchased in 2010) but a manufacturer called Veralux. That is a manufacturer I've never heard of so far. Just as the headlights for the Alfasud, which was made by Carello, & Bosch, possibly also the reversing light was made by more than one supplier. The pictures with the auction look the same as the Altissimo light I have with only 1 visible difference, the injection point for the black plastic rear cover is different, for the rest I see no differences therefore I order 2 of them. The seller seems to have 4 pieces.

12-April-2014: The package from Italy with the recently purchased reversing light arrived. I'm very curious what the condition of the part is and what it looks like in reality. The packaging is of an excellent quality so that builds confidence. Besides the good quality box the part is wrapped in bubble wrap so this E-Bay seller is definitely a recommended seller.

Package from Italy arrived in good order.	Well packed reversing lights.
2 Brand new Veralux reversing lights.	Lh Veralux, Rh Altissimo, only difference on rear end is injection mould runner for Altissimo.
Lh Veralux, Rh Altissomo, Altissimo lens is higher.	Lh Veralux, Rh Altissimo, Altissimo reflector appears more bright.

Comparing the newly received reversing light with the Altissimo light I bought on E-Bay several years ago shows that there are a 3 small differences between the 2 brands. I can surely recommend to purchase these reversing lights to other Giardinetta owners. The Altissimo reversing lights are extremely hard to come by and very expensive. The brand Veralux parts is an affordable alternative. Apparently this Veralux brand also produced the fog auxiliary fog lights for the Alfasud Sprint. In case a Giardinetta owner is looking for the Italian E-Bay seller feel free to approach me. I suppose he still has some of them. The black plastic rear end frame shows a tiny difference, the Altissimo light has an injection mould runner point, the Veralux light doesn't. The second difference is the lens height, the Altissimo lens is higher than the Veralux one. The third and final difference is the reflector, the Altissimo one seems more bright.

20-April-2014: Today is a nice and sunny day, so an excellent opportunity to have a look in the box with brand new Alfasud parts I purchased some years ago through the Dutch E-Bay counterpart called "Marktplaats". I hope some useful parts are in there for my own project. The parts which are not suitable I will try to sell through the Dutch Alfa club forum and hope to get at least a part of the purchase price back. About one third of the box contents consists out of rubbers. These parts are hard to recognise without the part number catalogue so I leave them mostly inside the box. Whilst unpacking the items to my surprise I find a brand new right hand door card with black trim for a first series Sud in its original wrapping. That is exactly what is missing from my car. The first thing to do is check whether it's a Berlina or a TI door card. Unfortunately it appears to be a front side Berlina door card. I guess such kind of enormous luck would be a bit too much to ask for to find a brand new TI door card. I will make somebody happy with it by selling it.

Right hand door card for first series Alfasud. Unfortunately for me it's a Berlina door card (part number 532632) and not a Ti one.

Lets see if any other surprising items are within the box. A first/second series Sud parking brake cover, a first/second series grille scudetto, a glove compartment door for an Alfasud L dashboard, an Alfasud L dashboard ashtray, a windscreen washer fluid bag, 2 gear levers, a gear change stick, 2 shock absorber patterns, a wheel wrench, a lh-side plastic timing belt cover and a rh-side metal timing belt cover, a used grille scudetto, a air filter box for double twin choke carburetors, 3 bonnet release cables with plastic bracket and finally some heating panels. The heating panels are most probably 3rd series Sud panels but I have to look into that. All in all very interesting and useful parts, but the percentage of useful parts for my own project is a bit lower than I hoped. Hopefully I can sell some of the parts so I can get some money back.

Box filled with brand new Alfasud parts, contents unknown.	Open sesame.
Box contents mostly unpacked, quite something.	Parts which may be suitable for my project remaining.

25-April-2014: Last week I unpacked a big box of brand new Alfasud parts, today when walking into the garage I was surprised to find another box with the same Alfa, Lancia & Fiat logo's on them. I didn't recall that the batch of parts I bought had 2 boxes. After opening the box things are starting to come back to me. A brand new cylinder head in original box is included, 2 sheet metal parts for the headlight frames for a 3rd series Sud and a plastic bag filled many brand new engine valves and valve springs. In addition a fan and fan housing are in the box. Whether these 2 parts are destined for an Alfasud I highly doubt, but some further research will have to be done to be sure. Also another gear lever is included so I guess I will never have to be worried that I run out of gear levers. This box had one and the box from last week also contained 2 of them so for sure enough to last a lifetime.

Another box full of boxer engined related miscellaneous parts.	Another box full of boxer engined related miscellaneous parts.
Another box full of boxer engined related miscellaneous parts.	Another box full of boxer engined related miscellaneous parts.
Another box full of boxer engined related miscellaneous parts.