This is a situation where the listing person is incredibly willing to get rid of a car but has no idea about any details regarding it. According to the listing, they are guessing it is a mid-80’s Alfa Romeo Spider with unknown miles and missing title. The price is $500, so even with all the unknowns, it might be worth the price. It is located in Madison, Mississippi. Thank you Craig B. for the tip. The car is on Craigslist.
There are no photos of the engine. The only information about it in the listing is that the listing person has no idea how or why the car has been parked for the last 18 years. In one photo of the interior, you can see a manual shift lever. That would be a 5-speed manual transmission. The engine could be a host of 4 cylinder engines, including a 1.3, 1.6, 1.8, or a 2 liter.
The two photos of the interior show it to be incredibly dirty. Thankfully it was stored indoors or else there might not be anything left of the interior considering the windows were down and the convertible roof would have decayed with age. The convertible top does look to be broken in some places, along with other things in the interior. Poor pictures make things very hard to make educated guesses.
You might have seen this car on Jalopnik the other day. It was part of their site which allows readers to vote if the price is worthy of the car or not, which a larger percentage of poll takers thought it was a worthy price. The overall situation seems strange, so you should proceed with caution if you want to purchase. Make sure you iron out all the essentials before you start trying to free the car.
Another one–at least take the junk off it, under the hood pics? yes it is parts car price but you want to know what you are getting…Geezus..
We’ve seen far worse on this site for a lot more money.
I look to see this on a flipper’s trailer in a couple of weeks for $8,500.
Or more…
8500.what are you on.its not a 67 ,68 0r 1969.
Published in the 2019 Sports Car Market Price Guide: The median value of a 1967 Duetto is, $48K. The ‘68, ‘69 Spider median values are, $35K. The 1985-86 (which, judging by the federalized bumpers, this example probably is) have a median value of, $17.5K. A quick perusal of Hemmings and the Hagerty valuation tool supports these valuations. Five hundred bucks is a no-brainer. If the drive train is complete and it can be made to run and drive with little effort the return on investment will bring a wide smile to the savvy owners face. If the car is toast, the parts can easily net a profit. There is nothing to debate here. It’s a screaming deal.
Too bad there’s not more info but such is the price. These Alfa Roadsters are on my list. This might be fun to just see what you could do. I can see through the dirt. Wish it was Madison, Wisconsin and not Madison, Mississippi.
Madison, Mississippi, might mean no rust unless the car was flooded. Madison, Wisconsin, on the other hand, is virtually a guarantee of corrosion. Having grown up in Northwest Indiana in a town with a four letter name 35 miles from Chicago, I do know.
I guess you have never been to Mississippi to buy cars.they rust from the inside out.
Its cheap whatever is actually left.
This is a Spider “Aerodinamica”, the 3rd generation built from 1983-1989. Only 1.6l and 2l engines were available. The 1.3l engine was only offered until 1977 and the 1.8l engine until 1982. Since the Spider is a Veloce, it has a 2l engine with injection.
I’ve owned Alfas for 47 years and never heard the term “Aerodinamica” in the US. I do recall that was the name of an Alfa created in the 1910s….. All US S3 cars had 2 liter, fuel injected engines and they started importing them in 1982 as ’83 models. These had Bosch Motronic fuel injection, which was decent, but finicky. The center mounted tail light in the rear spoiler of this car means it is a 1986 or later. If the seller had bothered to list the VIN, the year would have been easy for anyone who knows these cars to look up. Is that an aftermarket fiberglass rear bumper? Seems oddly faded to be stock. I’ve restored several Alfas and have 2 S1 spiders now (’67, ’69). This S3 model is at the absolute bottom of the collector/value curve but is bound to appreciate at some point. Parts are cheap if you know where to look. If this one isn’t too rusty and the engine turns, it could probably be made into a decent runner for with a new interior and top for less than $2-4k, which would put the all-in at about what some of these cars go for. I’ve never understood why Alfa Spiders are not more popular than, say, MGBs or at least as popular as Alfa GTVs or even BMW 2002s. They are cheaper, faster, well designed, and they corner like they are on rails compared to MGBs and most Triumphs. My first one, a ’76, was faster than my brother’s 2002tii. Yes, they rust, but all cars in that category or of that age range rust. Perhaps it is the relatively low production volume and long, long 25 year production run of what is basically the same design. In any case, this may make a decent project for somebody willing to put a little work in.
This is a Spider “Aerodinamica”, the 3rd generation built from 1983-1989. Only 1.6l and 2l engines were available. The 1.3l engine was only offered until 1977 and the 1.8l engine until 1982. Since this Spider is a Veloce, it has a 2l engine with injection.
Thanks for the info Eric Z. You seem to know your Spiders. This one is too far away for me, but for the years 1978-1989 what year(s) would you recommend?
If I’m to give you a recommendation, then find a rust-free specimen, that’s probably a life task. Joking aside, if it should be a Spider, then a Veloce of 83-89 or you look for a 4. Gen Spider.
MK1 are very popular today because of their rarity (only 10000 pieces were built) and accordingly expensive, with the MK2 you will hardly find a usable car (at most a rusty bondo queen), the MK3 is not popular because of the rubber parts (who cares, you don’t see them while driving), but has the best quality of workmanship, the MK4 also has power steering, sounds and drives like a modern car, so has no Italian flair.
By the way, at Alfa Romeo the addition “Veloce” stands always for the sportiest version of a car.
Kevin, your first choice should be a very early S2 car with steel bumpers (71-74). They are simpler to work on and are holding or slightly increasing in values, but some can still be found at a good price. If that doesn’t work for you, I think a late S2 car would be fine (’78-82), or even an S4 car (’90/91-93). All of the S2-S4 cars have nearly the same mechanicals, drivetrain and suspension. Only the cosmetics and emission controls changed. S4 cars are a little more comfortable, but not quite as classic looking. Be prepared to have trouble with the A/C in most S2 and S3 cars. S1 roundtails are the most classic looking, but with a very limited number in the US, they can be pricey and they are not quite as practical because they have no A/C and most are carburated. Hope that helps. Join the AlfaBB. Tons of good info there and a great community.
I agree with Eric Z about the rust. That probably means looking in the southeast, west or California. Buying a car long-distance isn’t really that difficult as long as you are careful. (I live near Pittsburgh and have nearly a dozen classic cars, none of which are from Pittsburgh….) There are some good national inspection companies that can tell you if the car you are looking at is solid and how it runs. (I use Lemon Squad). Also, make absolutely sure that your seller has service records for the car. That often rules out dealers. Long term private sellers are usaully much more honest about what a classic car needs and they keep good records.
I’m guessing Eric is not from the US as things are a little different here in regards to Alfa’s.
We got our last 1600’s in 1967, and the last 1750 in 71. Every 105/115 car after that is a 2 liter.
Back in the 1950’s Veloce meant something in regards to performance, but by the 1970’s it was just a trim package. When this car was built Veloce gave you alloy wheels, canvas top, leather seats and AC was standard. The base model aka the graduate, got steel wheels, vinyl seats and top and AC was optional. Oh and you could only get black as an interior option on the base car. Mechanically the cars are identical.
I own everything from a 67 boat tail to a 1990 series 3. I concur with Eric in that the series 4 is a good looking spider but it is the worst to drive. Between the extra weight and power steering it is just a cruiser. My favorite is the early series 2, light and fun, but I will offend some alfisti in saying dump the SPICA. When SPICA works it does fine but when it goes off it is a PITA. I can still get new weber but the rebuilds of the SPICA are getting less reliable as the parts dry up.
This car is worth the 500 bucks just in parts. The wheels alone are worth 2 to 300 and if you parted it you could easily net a couple of grand. If it was closer I would have grabbed it for parts.
Oh and you can back date the series 3 to series 2 rear. The plastic pieces unbolt on the corners and the trunk piece is bolted and glued in place. You have to replace the lights and fill in some of the bolt holes as well as figure out which bumper to run. This sounds like a lot but series 3 do have less rust issues. I did this and used a late model series 2 rear bumper, but I used a fiberglass replica rear bumper because of weight.
Someone could’ve at least rolled the windows up. So amazing how little some people care for valuable things.
I’ve had several Alfas including a 1977 Spider, which was one of the cars I had in College. Loved it.
I think real owner i dead since years. Try see how durty the garage is. Maybe the windows was up. The rear glass is gone.
Maybe it was parkt becourse of illnes. You never know. How much does it cost to ship this, lets say 1000 miles, “overthere”?
If to germany 2-3000$
I bought a boat in similar situation and was able to track down the owner of record who gladly signed an affidavit for me to get a clear title. It’s not that hard to do in most states.
Good luck with that .most states purge records after 10 years
I HAVE 2.0 COMPLETE BIN IN DRY STORAGE 4 36 yrs TEXT OR 📞(310)(906)(5887) THANK’S
I’m new to Alfas, having just bought my 89 Spider Veloce (no rust) about 6 weeks ago. The door cards on this one have the door speakers and the seats look to be in better shape than mine (with 102K miles). The right side power mirror is broken off along with the door handle. No shots of the lower portion of the car and the seller says that s/he doesn’t know what happened to the enginer (does that mean that there is no engine?). If the seller opened the left door, they would find the build date on the tag there. If it is really a Mississippi car sitting in what looks to be dry storage, it might be rust free. 762 miles from my home in Efland, NC…just a little to far to take a road trip with a trailer. If it were closer, I’d buy it in a heartbeat for the parts.
Hey stop by sometime. I am in Mebane and have a lot of Alfas
Sounds great. How do I contact you? I’m on Buckhorn Road and my mobile is 919-491-8714
In the US shipping with a top notch carrier is about $1/mile. I use Intercity and just had a car shipped from LA to Santa Fe, New Mexico for $1,200. You can find guys with one truck and trailer who will do it for less but $1/mile is a good benchmark in the US.
This is a 1986 or newer spider. 1983 was the first year for this generation. Starting in 1986 they discontinued the dual binnacle instrument cluster in front of the driver, making this car a 1986 or newer.
I can never understand why a car is a place to pile your junk and then try to sell it with all of the junk still on it. A neighbor of mine had an MG-TD that he drove into his garage when they moved here, but he never drove the car again. He just piled junk on it. People offered to buy the car for a fair price, but he was never interested. I have no idea where the car went after he died.
It’s obvious by the seller’s words and (lack of) actions that e just wants to be rid of it. Putting any sort of effort into cleaning it up just means that he would have more interest in it and most likely want more money for it.
There’s a lot of people out there that inherit stuff they don’t want and could care less what condition its in, they just want it gone. These sorts of listings can present a great opportunity for someone to pick up something they want for cheap. They just have to beat the flippers.
I’ve noticed that too. I’ve seen it in-person and on channels that feature classic cars. People have all manner of cars from American muscle to European sports cars, AC Cobras, Ferraris and Lamborghinis ingloriously residing in garages or barns with all manner of junk piled on them. Whether they want to sell or not it still drives me crazy! I think to myself, it’s bad enough the car hasn’t run in decades, is collecting dust, has mice living in it, what have you, but do you have to pile your old paint cans, roofing shingles, timbers, and garden equipment on top of them, too? On some level they have to know the car has value, yet I guess they get so used to having it around beating it up as a storage shelf doesn’t bother them. Bothers me though. Lol.
Having dealt with numerous flood cars, the appearance of those seats and the heavy coating of fine dirt on the horizontal areas suggest it MAY be a flood car, I would not buy this car unless you need it for parts.
That general area has been the victim of more than a couple major floods over the last dozen or so years. Check up under the dashboard to see if there is a fine coating of silt on the horizontal parts, and look closely inside the instrument glass for silt.
$500. How can you possibly go wrong unless you have to ship it far.