Alfa Romeo Spiders

Hi Everyone- Let me preface all this by acknowledging that I already know that a Miata is a wiser buy. I have owned three Alfas in the past so I know their charm and quirks.

I am on the fence on deciding between a 1971 and a 1981 spider. I have looked at a 91 spider for good measure. The series 4 has sexy sheetmetal for sure. I really prefer the interior of the early cars. They are a bit less pricey. The 91's owner was firm on the price and I don't want to spend what he was asking.

I looked at the 81 car today. It was in very nice shape. The car ran and drove excellent. From what I could tell, it needed nothing mechanically and only had 64,000 original miles. All the fluids had been changed, it had a new top, new brakes all around, new tires, and included a hard top. It was a very unusual shade of light blue that you never see on these cars. The paint was a bit thin, but the car had been garaged it's whole life and it showed accordingly. I must say that I was underwhelmed with the pick up of the car. My 73 berlina with spica was much peppier. I think the 81 was probably the pinnacle of Malaise. The car just felt flat above 5,000 rpm. The car would also include a set of dual dello'toro carbs that bolt up to the spica manifold. I would imagine the carbs and a different header would help performance wise. The car was advertised at $4k.

I am going to look at "what looks to be" a very nice 71 spider next week. The ad says that is has been painted a cool 70s shade of green and the engine was recently rebuilt. It has the 1750 engine and not the 2000. The ad had a number of other maintenance related things listed as well. It is listed for $5500.

The only downsides of the 81 was the thin paint, black rubber bumpers, and weak performance. The hard top was a definite plus. I would think it is almost worth $700 bucks alone. Would you all be more inclined to buy the 71 with the metal bumpers and fresh paint? Would it be worth it just from a collector/resale point of view? I know the 81 is not a particularly great year for the spider.

What say you GRM???

A '71 and an '81 are both Kamm tails, right?

I'd be wary of the respray on the '71 acting as a rust cover-up, (depending how recently it was done.) The '81 sounds like a better deal anyway. It has originality, unusual colour, hard-top, & cheaper price on its side.

Yes, both would be kamm tails. The only difference with the cars would be the rubber vs. chrome bumpers and the engine size. They both have spica injection.

I have yet to see the 71 in person yet and am planning on seeing it next week sometime.

Buy them all!

Is the '81 an S2? I don't remember the cutoff dates. For strange reasons, the S3's are a favorite of mine, with their 80's "aero" bits like the little rubber ducktail.

I've seen a lot of people avoid the S2s because they were getting heavy and slow. There used to be a really good Spider FAQ "out there" but I can't find it anymore. Anyway, I think they addressed some of the performance issues later on, but who knows if it was ever as simple, pure, and fun as the early cars?

The 71 might be a better car in original form, but I think you'll have to see it in person, and take extra precautions due to the "respray."

You have mail.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/racetearoffs/039-3.jpg

In reply to Karl La Follette:

Karl, is that the one you bought for a buck?

yes i spent a weekend ago it fired up again . I start it every day now and run it around a bit . Needs a new owner !

mmm... chrome bumpered spiders...

that said, when I was growing up, family friends had the "boat tail" spiders.. a white and a blue one. The white one I got my hand stuck in the trunk when the father closed it without looking (no damage to car or hand) and both met untimely ends at the hands of their oldest son

How can I gets one for a dollar? I paid $1150 for mine back in 1999. Was an '88 spider veloce. Miss that car.

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/alfa-romeo-cars-sale-wanted/166885-1981-alfa-romeo-spider-veloce.html

Here is the ad for the 81. I like that it isn't red like everyother one out there. The 71 is a weird shade of 70s green that appeals to me as well.

I stopped and looked at this car last week. It was parked by the side of the road with signs on it. It was pretty nice.

http://nwct.craigslist.org/cto/1772396088.html

Back when I worked at an Alfa shop (1980's), we grimaced when an '81 came in that didn't run right. That applied to most of them, actually. It was the last hurrah for the SPICA mechanical fuel injection, and the car was very, very temperamental. We took several of them and regressed them back to something like 1976 specs, which helped, though not as much as did the installation of a European intake manifold and a nice set of Webers.

In reply to drmike:

Thats the thing with this 81. It runs and drives perfect right now. The car does come with a set of dual dellotoro's that bolt right up to the spica manifold. I am guessing it wouldn't be that terribly difficult to get the car back to euro specs.....

Perhaps a SPICA manifold could be converted to EFI using the proper injector bosses and some time in a machine shop, then change the ignition over to an electronic setup (assuming it's not already) & add a Megasquirt setup? Maybe Dell'Orto's aren't so bad but getting the feedback that EFI offers using a wide-band O2 seems hard to ignore.

In reply to ccrelan:

It definitely says something that the car runs well! They don't do that by themselves.

DLHA Dell'Orto carbs are fine. I didn't get much experience with them compared to Webers. As a consequence, my box of jets for the Dell'Ortos was tiny compared to my Weber spares, which made tuning the Dell'Orto carb more difficult.

ccrelan wrote: http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/alfa-romeo-cars-sale-wanted/166885-1981-alfa-romeo-spider-veloce.html Here is the ad for the 81. I like that it isn't red like everyother one out there. The 71 is a weird shade of 70s green that appeals to me as well.

Wow, I like that 81 a lot. I'd go look at the 71 just in case, but I've always found it's easier (and cheaper in the long run) to change the induction/etc. on a solid one than it is to put a ratty one back together.

That is a really nice shade of blue. Is converting to chrome bumpers an option?

Here is the ad for the 1971 that I am going to check out next week. The seller posts the ad and then goes on vacation for two weeks. Didn't make a lot of sense to me......

http://worcester.craigslist.org/cto/1819328193.html

Not very impressed with the color of the 71. And the owner points out he has 12 year old tires. Whoopie. Definitely ask to see the receipts for the paint job and engine rebuild. If he doesn't have them, they didn't happen (in my book of life).

If the '71 checks out ok, it's not really a choice. The '81 is the stepchild of the Spider world. I've owned multiple versions of this car and the '71 is by far the better choice if you want to actually use it. Everything about it is better in my opinion. It's lighter, the 1750 is the better motor (although the 2 liter can be made to work as well with cams and light flywheel), it looks better, and simply is more fun to drive. Make sure the body work is in order though, that would be the most expensive part to fix as usual.

The '81 can be retuned to run strong- talking to my mechanic, he's pretty confident that they can make more power than the ported SPICA's, and they have pretty large throttle bodies. Cams and pump tuning- should work like a charm.

In terms of timing- '81 is the last SPICA car, '82 is the first Bosch but last rubber bumper car. '75 is the first rubber bumper. Most really prefer the stainless bumper cars of pre-'74.

Be not afraid of SPICA- there's more than enough knowledge to make those run really sweet and reliably. I prefer the SPICA to carbs. The only thing carbs are better is the sound. for the best of the best race motor- right now the Webers lead, but I don't honestly think anyone has done everything needed to make the SPICA work- and I intend to do more of that on a car I hope to finish this year.