The twelfth car on the Sports & Exotic Car list is the Alfa Romeo Spider (Duetto to S4), with a hair under 128,000 produced over its long lifespan. Most popular in the United States, in part thanks to one movie (Fletch with Chevy Chase… oh wait). Interestingly enough, they’re still appearing in movies, with a silver Quadrifoglio appearing in The Wolf of Wall Street. However, in spite of their longevity and success, they’re still one of the most under-appreciated classic sports cars available, which equates to some great values for us. While an auction setting always leaves some question as to the final price, you can find this 1976 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce for sale in Oroville, CA with a starting bid of $5 and only 3 days left to go.
This car looks to have sat under a cover in a wet climate for a while, so keep an eye out for rust, and pick up a can of electrical contact cleaner on your way home. However, the paint seems to be shiny under the dirt, and there are no significant areas of rust or dents visible in the pictures on this silver car. Since it was last registered in 2002, you’ll probably need to figure on the usual revival costs, including a set of new tires to replace the Firestone Supreme SRs it wears now.
Things look pretty good back here too. With the early-style VIN, this may be a 49-state car that was not originally sold in California, and the newer-format license plate supports that theory (cars this age would have had 3 letters + 3 digits). Nonetheless, getting a car like this to pass smog just requires a good catalytic converter (perhaps one you mounted solely for the purposes of the test, not that anyone would actually do that) and a mixture adjusted for passing (as opposed to driveability). Those clunky Toronado mirrors need to go back to the 1980s, to be replaced with the correct polished aluminum trapezoidal pieces.
Looks like here’s where you’ll be doing the most work. Rubber mats and vinyl would have been correct for this year, although the “pigskin” seating surfaces look bad enough to be original. Notice the ignition switch on the floor, so it’s likely had some issues with that. The driver’s sun visor is also in the passenger footwell – like many things, they tend to flop down with age, so the owner probably just pulled it off. The dash doesn’t have too many cracks, and the glove box door is not as badly warped as you’d expect.
The car is said to run very well, and to have new brakes and fuel injection. However, it’s not clear whether this work was done before or after the long period of storage. Areas of concern include the sooty-looking stuff on the cam cover, air box, etc., which suggests some kind of fire, and the black color of the coolant tank, which suggests oil was in the coolant at some point. The great thing with these cars is, all the known issues are fairly simple to assess, so a quick visit is worth your time. Worst case, you leave the car and drive up the beautiful Feather River Canyon Road the seller lists for his address.
Tags: alfa romeo, convertible, Feature, italian, spider veloce
Rusty But Trusty 
January 29, 2014 at 1:12 pm |
I do love this car, and I love that it was included in Wolf of Wall Street