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.
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Rusty But Trusty 