Summer’s coming up, and what better way to spend it than by spending some dough on a sweet droptop? That summer fun could start with today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Alfa Spider. That is of course if you don’t find its price to be a top-downer.
Yesterday’s Carroll Shelby vandalized 1995 Viper RT/10 could also flip its lid. In fact, they have been known to do so at balls-out speeds. Speaking of speed, it didn’t take long for that arrest-me red sledgehammer to come up with a comfortable 56% Nice Price win. I guess it’s true, you just can’t argue with cubic inches.
That Viper cost nearly forty grand and had 400 horsepower. You could beat that one Dodge with just four of today’s 1981 Alfa Romeo Spiders, as they would rock a total of 440-ponies combined. And, at its $3,500 asking price for each, that would be a twenty-six thousand dollar savings too! Take that, first generation Viper.
Okay, so trying to driving FOUR Alfas simultaneously may present issues. And, based on their reputation, actually keeping four of the Italian beauties running well enough to do so may also prove a stretch. Because of that, we’ll stick with just today’s spiffy red Spider.
Originally introduced in prototype form at the 1961 Turin Motor Show, the Giulia 105-based Spider debuted in its production duds at the Geneva Motor Show five years later. Subsequently made famous in the movie The Graduate, the boat tail Duetto gained the nickname Osso di Seppia (cuttlefish bone) for the tapered at both ends appearance of its Pininfarina designed body.
By the time this ’91 edition rolled out of Alfa’s Grugliasco factory its rear end had been Kammed while up front the trademark Alfa triangle grille became lost behind the car's rubber baby buggy bumper mandated by US safety regulations.
Still, the Spider's shape remained handsome and the squared-off rear served to provide more trunk space in case you, like Dustin Hoffman, needed to traverse PCH multiple times in the attempt to seduce your lover’s daughter. I know, ick.
The seller says that this 2000 Spider is pretty unique in being rust free. He has previously addressed the creeping crud in the rockers - a common place for it to take hold - and claims that other equally attractive parts have amazingly not yet succumbed.
The body is impressively straight, and the ad notes the cloth top is new, as is the biscuit leather on the seats. The rest of the interior looks okay, there being at least two shades of tan to the carpet due to sun fading, and a wicked wearing of the plastic shift knob on the end of its nearly horizontal shifter. Of course they all do that.
A little more concerning is the missing console panel which reveals the snarl of wires beneath. Electrical issues are only second to niggling mechanical failures in these cars, and hopefully that doesn’t indicate some sort of looming problem. See what I did there?
Speaking of mechanicals, the ad says this car’s are fine, the 111-horse, all-alloy fuel injected four having put in 80,500 miles, and the transmission nicely not being a teenager about staying in gear.
Yes, Jeremy Clarkson says you need to own at least one Alfa in your life in order to legitimately get that Car Guy ass tattoo, but what we need to discern today is whether this ’81 Spider Normale’s $3,500 price makes it a good candidate to unlock that ultimate enthusiast goal.
What do you think, is this Alfa worth $3,500? Or, does that price make this a Spider that’s not pretty fly?
You decide!
North Jersey Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to NoahsMyBro for the hookup!
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