Archive for the ‘Feature’ Category

You Cannot Lose – 1988 Alfa Romeo Spider Graduate

June 13, 2016

With a recent flurry of articles on this fine site espousing the virtues of Alfa Romeo Spiders, it’s worth showing what happens when the dream doesn’t turn out so well for the owner. Sure, these are fairly solid cars if you assume an attentive owner who will keep on top of preventive maintenance and track & address suspicious noises as needed, but for many, these cars are their first toe in the water of Italian sports cars. And perhaps, as in the case of our feature car, it might also be their last. Check out this 1988 Alfa Romeo Spider Graduate for sale for $750 in Oakland, CA.

1988 Alfa Romeo Spider Graduate left front

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Never This Nice – 1986 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine

June 11, 2016

In the context of the entirety of Cadillac’s 114-year history, Cadillac’s compact, front-wheel-drive C-body cars will likely not get much respect among car enthusiasts. Riding on a front-wheel-drive platform, this “Cadillac of the future”, as it was described in period advertising, must have only been for the short-term future, because Cadillac reverted to rear-wheel-drive after the demise of the Seville. Among many of the right-sized American cars of the 1980s, only a few were honored by factory limousine conversions – Cadillac’s Fleetwood and Chrysler’s LeBaron being the most prominent (and perhaps only) ones. Check out this 1986 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine for sale for $3995 in Monterey Park, CA.

1986 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 right front

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Original Owner – 1976 BMW 530i

June 10, 2016

For all the E12 five-series means to BMW, it’s largely ignored by many car enthusiasts. Outperformed by its E28 successor, and lumbered with big impact bumpers and underdeveloped emissions equipment, it can be developed into a very competent driver by looking to the aftermarket and parts from BMW’s own later cars. So if you take a bigger fuel-injected six and its transmission from a later car, and add some suspension and brake upgrades, you can have a lot of fun for relatively short money, together with the arguably more attractive 1970s styling. But for every conversion, you need a blank canvas, and for that you could look at this 1976 BMW 530i for sale for $4000 in San Luis Obispo, CA.

1976 BMW 530i left front

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