I once bought a close relative of this car, a 1976 Alfa Spider, for $1,200 and used it as a daily driver—though not without such foibles as a noisy differential, copious rain leaks (despite a new top) and, inevitably (it was an Italian car) rust. The handling was always superb, though. Well, here’s a 1977 Spider on Craigslist in Castle Rock, Colorado that appears to have none of the issues I experienced. Of course, the asking price of $15,000 is in excess of 10 times more.

The brief description hits all the right buttons. It’s originally a California car (I’d want to see the paperwork on that) that appears to have never been molested—it still has all its original smog equipment. There is “no body rust whatsoever,” but that seems to contradict the statement that “the only area exhibiting rust is underneath the spare in the trunk.”

The top looks good, from what can be seen. The joy of this car is being able to unlatch the top and fling it back from the driver’s seat—much less fiddly than English cars of the period. The car has always been garaged. The extensive photos seem to confirm the car’s all-around good condition. The original mileage is 81,500.

The interior looks fine, without any tears or splitting in the vinyl seats. The dashpad suggests there may be cracks underneath it. The owner doesn’t say it runs and drives, but presumably it does.

The modern version of the Alfa Spider debuted in Geneva in 1966, with very attractive “boattail” rear styling. The car was nicknamed the “Duetto” though that wasn’t official (a candymaker had the name already). The official name was Alfa-Romeo Spider 1600, which meant it carried the 1,570-cc version of the famous Alfa twin-cam engine. With dual side-draft Webers, it produced 108 horsepower. In the U.S. it sold for $3,950, about $1,000 more than an MGB. Production of the 1600 Spider was modest, just 6,324. This is the car Dustin Hoffman drove in The Graduate, which later led to an entry-level “Graduate” Alfa Spider model.

In part because of U.S. safety regulations, the boattail was out for the second series of the Spider, extant from 1970 to 1982/3. The first of these were 1750 Spiders, but by 1971 we had the 2000 Spider Veloce, with 132 horsepower. Arguably a lot less attractive than their predecessors, thanks to the Kamm tail and (after 1974) the big rubber bumpers. But still a lot of fun to drive, and the Kamm improved luggage space. There were later versions with smaller displacement (1300 and 1600), but I don’t believe they were sold in the U.S. A big change for U.S. cars was the introduction of Spica fuel injection, starting in 1969. Total sales of the Spider Veloce 2000 Iniezione (with injection) was 22,059. Spider production ended in 1993.

The main question for possible purchasers of this car is whether it’s worth $15,000. Classic.com puts the average value of a 1977 Spider at $25,148, so yes, it probably is. The main thing to ascertain is the running condition and how bad the rust in the trunk has gotten.