For Sale: 1974 Alfa Romeo Spider

[jarrington]

Reluctantly the time has come to sell my 1974 Spider. It's becoming abundantly clear that with 3 little kids I'm not driving it enough, and as long as it's around it's going to be hard for me to finish project "Family Alfa" - my '67 Super. I bought it about 3 years ago as a shabby but original driver and have put a ton of time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, and money into it since then. Some of the high points:

Documented California car - extremely solid. The PO brought it to Arizona and later Utah in 1996, I bought it from him in 2005 and moved it to the Washington DC area in August of 2006. The only rust was in the front of the driver's side floor pan, which was replaced with a new panel sourced from Europe. I took a wire wheel to the rest of the interior floor to take care of any surface rust and painted the whole floor with Eastwood rust encapsulator.

Bare-metal respray in the original Giallo Pagoda 2 years ago, holding up very nicely. The color is rare, beautiful, and definitely not red. Paint work is not concours but is very very nice.

Engine rebuilt with all rotating parts balanced, ported and polished head, 10.4:1 Borgos, Rare high lift factory cams (search the BB for "mystery cams"), isky springs, more. Lots of torque, nice and tractable, revs nicely, sounds fantastic.
Weber DCOE32 carbs with Euro manifold and throttle linkage, sport air cleaners with curved ram pipes
Trans is in good condition, with only a really meatfisted downshift in cold weather causing any grinding. I put the proper Redline fluid in it from Centerline, which seems to make it drip a bit but shift really nicely.

Interior in good shape, with new door panels, nice console. The seats were redone in a very thick marine vinyl before I bought the car. They have a few light scratches but are nice looking and very serviceable. There is a crack in the dash, and the handbrake boot needs to be restitched.
Vintage blaupunkt Frankfurt in the dash, with a modern Pioneer in the trunk controlled by a hidden wired remote in the ashtray. Speakers are installed in the dash vent holes. Top was replaced in 2006 and is in nice shape. Vinyl top boot is included, as well as a full car cover.

Rare, very nice looking OZ Racing 15x7 wheels with Yokohama AVS100 tires. I also have the original Turbinas - included - and a set of period BWA Sportstars are negotiable.
Suspension is stock and in good condition, with a recent alignment by an Alfa shop and new poly trailing arm bushings. Rear springs replaced to eliminate sag. There is a minor clunk on takeoff I keep meaning to have looked at.

I'm posting here prior to throwing it on the eBay, will leave it here for at least the next couple of weeks. I'll try and take some beauty shots in the next week or so. Please PM with any questions. It's going to be hard to let go, but I think it's time. Located near the Washington Dulles airport.

Update: 09/2008
As much as I hate to say it, the car needs to go - changing the asking price accordingly.
Now Asking $10,500 OBO.
I'll be taking more pics this week and will likely post to eBay with 10,500 as the Buy-It-Now and a very reasonable reserve.
I just had London Auto replace the fuel filter and tune the carbs and it's running really nicely. This is a really nice driver S2, ready to enjoy the fall driving season with a new owner.

Thanks,
Jason

[lgbalfa]

nice spider.

good luck with the sale.

[BAMAALFA]

Lemon Tree very pretty

[nochicken]

Jason,

Say it ain't so--everyone should have both an Alfa Sedan AND a Spider

Good luck with the sale--your Spider is a well set-up, great looking version.

[Frank S]

Great Car! I just purchased a 74 spider and in the process of getting it certified.

I noticed that the interior lights(doors, guages and rear nite lights) are not working. Turn signals, head lights and brake lights work fine. Any ideas what this could be and cost to fix.

I also noticed on the right side front hood near windshield, the metal part that covers the wipers assmebly. The gap between the part and the fender seems to be much wider then the left side. I can place my whole finger in the gap. Is this normal can it be fixed?

Thanks
Frank

[lowmileage]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jarrington Trans is in good condition, with only a really meatfisted downshift in cold weather causing any grinding.

[jarrington]

Big ol' bump - make me a reasonable offer. See the update to the first post.

[jarrington]

I know, I know. Convertible season is pretty much over. Anyway, I finally got the car cleaned up, so here are some nicer pics. As you can tell by the last pic, I like bright primary colors.

As of last week it also has new brake pads and rotors all the way around, a new poly trunnion to axle bushing, and I threw in a set of Shankle springs and red Konis. I put poly trailing arm bushings in a few months ago, so the rear end is nice and tight now. The lower stance looks good with the 15x7 wheels, too.

-Jason

[jarrington]

In the interest of time, I'll respond to some questions and pic requests on the board.

First, yes the color is original, and it really does have a bit of a green tint to it in some lights. It's really a nice color, and changes in different light from a bright canary yellow to a more subtle shade to that slightly greenish hue. I like it a lot better than an orangish Ferrari style yellow, and it gets lots of compliments.

The body work was done about 2 1/2 years ago. When I bought the car the paint was mostly original, which you can see from the first pic. There was some minor work on the LF fender around the marker light, with the bondo cracking. The rockers and seams were in great shape, and the only rust of any consequence was in the driver's floor - the typical wet jute under the driver's feet. I sourced a new panel from one of the European vendors (Automobilia?) and welded it in. Or rather, held stuff while my friend the welding shop foreman welded it in. The rest of the floor was cleaned of all surface rust and painted with Eastwood's rust encapsulator.

I've done most of the work myself, although I have used London Auto for a couple of items such as the front end alignment. They know Alfas, but they're pricey, they have an agenda, and they don't know the car as well as I do. They did a nice job balancing and tuning the idle on the Webers, I must say.

I did the top shortly after the paint - it's a canvas job from Topsonline. It turned out pretty well, for my first (and last) top installation.

Odometer shows 44,3xx miles and I believe it has turned over once. The engine has about 3k miles on the rebuild.

Spare tire well is original - that's mostly dirt, with a speck or two of surface rust. I've been meaning to do the same thing I did with the interior floor - wire wheel and paint with rust encapsulator - but I haven't gotten around to it and it's by no means urgent.

Rockers are really nice and original - see the factory spot welds. The jack points are rock solid, and easily support the car. I just noticed last week that behind the passenger's front wheel there's an area the size of a quarter that is just barely starting to bubble. The next post shows what I'm talking about. It can still be taken care of very easily without cutting / welding, and a nice thick application of waxoyl or something similar inside the rockers should keep it from spreading. Even with this minor flaw I don't think you'll find many east coast S2s with less rust - especially with the original rockers.

I've not done poly bushings in the front end, although I have replaced a couple of tie rods as needed. The alignment is good and the steering is tight, with no clunks or shimmies.

The engine compartment is fairly clean, but could do with some tidying. There is a small section of surface rust on the upper radiator member, as seen in the pics.

Keep the questions coming - and feel free to call me at 801-361-1410.

Thanks,
Jason

[jarrington]

Here's the bubbling I mentioned, and a couple interior pics.

-Jason

[sgtpeper]

Ugh if I could afford it, I would be all over this one. I love the color - especially how rare it is .

Good luck!

[jarrington]

Last bump before it goes into storage for the winter...

-Jason

[jarrington]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jarrington Last bump before it goes into storage for the winter... -Jason

[Alfa Romeing]

do you still have the 74 spider for sale?