After a horrific accident in 1976, Niki Lauda managed a comeback that landed him in a Brabham-Alfa Romeo F1 car sponsored by Parmalat. It was 1978. The car was powered by an Alfa flat-12 and raced to limited success. Lauda’s re-entry to the track was enough, however, to prompt Alfa to celebrate the event with a “Niki Lauda F1” edition of its Spider; three-hundred fifty were made. The car received special graphics, a spoiler and badging and that’s about it. No performance enhancements, not even a set of sexy wheels. If I were Niki Lauda I would wonder, what the heck. That said, it’s rare to see one of these survive in its original condition, but here we go, on eBay, with car #71 currently bid to $2925, reserve not met. This Spider runs and drives well and comes with plenty of documentation. It’s located in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
The engine is Alfa’s beautiful 2.0 liter twin-cam four-cylinder, dressed with Spica fuel injection thanks to federal emissions controls. Output ran to about 111 hp, and torque was decent. But if you feel it’s lacking, plenty of performance parts are available. By 1978, the manual gearbox had five speeds. The underside is clean and dry, thanks to California livin’ for most of its life.
The interior is the weak point here. Both seats are torn, and someone has employed the tried-and-true “black tape method” to repair the rips. The dash is likely cracked under that toupee of felt. The top is serviceable, but the rear window is starting to haze. The gearshift boot is shabby and the entire center console has seen better days. If I had to pick one thing to fix in here, though, it would be the seats. A thorough cleaning could improve the rest.
I said the interior is the weak point, but the paint is not wonderful either (I don’t even want to talk about those bumpers, what an insult). But! the paint is original, and the graphics, which are often abandoned when these Lauda Editions are restored, are intact. I can live with the exterior. Bucking the historical experience with Alfas, this ’78 appears to be if not rust free, at least minimally infected. Overall, it’s a tired car, but given that nice S2 Spiders will sell for mid-teens, the current price is on the low side. I just hope the seller doesn’t think the Niki Lauda badging ought to add much of a premium.
Di di di di di di, di di di di di di di. Such a cool movie, a young Dustin Hoffman, and every red Alfa reminds me of that movie. So popular, in fact, Alfa named the roadster “The Graduate”, 1983-1994. While Lauda was a great driver for our time, that name will fade, like all the other great race car drivers, but Hollywood and The Graduate, will live in infamy,,,on cable. These were great, fun cars. I mean no disrespect, but this was no Fiat.
Actually, the “Graduate” name denotes the base trim level of the spider, while Veloce is the mid- and Quadrafiglio is the high-trim level. In other words, they were all “Spiders”, and not all Spiders were “Graduates.”
Sorry Howard, many great race drivers and their names are still remembered long after they’re gone. And this is an auto site, not movie memories.
Uh-oh-here come the content police! Quick-jump in the Alfa-maybe we can get away!
Howard
Rush and Lauda vs Hunt are pretty good movies.
I saw them both at Fox Valley annual gearhead movie nights.
Such an iconic and timeless design…well, the “aerodynamica” period was a bit of an awkward teen phase, IMHO. Those tacked on spoilers and awful mandated bumpers. Like zits and braces. I’ve never seen the Lauda graphics before, so that’s cool, but hope the seller isn’t hoping for a premium on something that looks like it needs to be scraped off and repainted. Wonder if anyone can reproduce something like that?….
Lots of Graphic places can do the job.
I’ve emailed photos of graphics and received vinyl for race cars.
I think decals could be made the same way.
I have decal sets available.
Ironic that this slug has Niki Lauda graphics. And those unspeakable bumpers. But marketing above all for some!
Now, one of 350? Quite rare, the question is, can you save the decals? Get new ones? Hm, even beeing Austrian and therefore I rate Niki among the greatest, I will pass. Sitting in an italian spyder with the steering left of the middle and the pedals on the very right is no fun to me. OK, I might be over exaggering.
Thomas
Bidding ended on Sun, May 25 at 1:56 PM.
US $3,750.00
30 bids
Reserve not met