Rusty But Trusty

My entry to cheap, fun sportscars was with my ’77 rubber-bumper spider. Granted, it’s not the prettiest of Alfa’s creations, but at a low cost-of-entry, you get a convertible with that magical twin-cam and 5-speed, plus respectable, safe handling, even in higher-mile cars. I’ll admit I went over the top with my spider, so it no longer fits with our theme, but a lot of that was cosmetic, and drivetrain condition is our first concern here (being California-based, dangerous rust is usually less of an issue). Although I wouldn’t want to encourage it, the great thing for us with spiders is their fallback strategy – unless they’re completely thrashed, parting out is feasible (something I’d like to do to learn more about my car).

First up is a 1978 spider on Craigslist. Laid up for 20 years (1989 is 20 years ago?!), that means this car was only on the road for 11 years of its life, so it’s not an outrageous assumption that the rust is fairly minimal, miles would be around 100K, and if you’re lucky, the cosmetics won’t be half-bad. My guess on reasons for the lay-up would be something like a blown head gasket or failed SPICA fuel injection. Check for chocolate milkshake-like emulsion on the radiator cap or oil in the coolant overflow tank for the former, and fuelish-smelling oil for the latter. Fixing either of these would be $200 – $400 in parts (if you go used with the SPICA), and I believe having someone install the SPICA (used) is $750ish including parts. At $950 asking, this puts you at $1700 on the outside, probably a bit more when you figure in registration and resurrection costs. Of course, if you’re lucky the cause was nothing more than someone losing interest in a sports car.

Next is a 1974 spider. More attractive for its stainless bumpers, you’d theoretically be able to ask more for a car of this vintage, which the buyer seems to know at $1500. The appeal of this car is its documented recent transmission rebuild and rear brake work, plus you won’t need to smog it. However, as with the ’78, this car does not run. It’s a bit banged up in the nose, but for our purposes that should not be a problem. Apparently, the dash is also crack-free, which is worth a lot in itself.

Rear has also suffered some abuse. Even so, I still think it looks better than a stainless-bumper car. From what little I can see, the shutlines on the hood and trunk appear to be straight, which is saying a lot for a hand-built car. If you’re lucky, that rear bumper might be in reasonable shape.

The engine compartment looks complete from here, as the seller says it is. Also looks reasonably clean, so I’d hold out hope that they just lost interest in the car and with a bit of fresh fuel, a used fuel pump, or something of that nature, it’ll fire up. SPICA cars will run tolerably under the worst of conditions, as long as they’re getting fuel. Again, failed SPICA or head gasket are likely issues.

At some point I’ll probably feature a Fiat spider as well – while not too rare around here, they’re also a good, cheap gateway drug into the world of orphan cars.

Tags: alfa, romeo, spider, under $2000

This entry was posted on May 16, 2009 at 2:12 pm and is filed under Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.