Hi Everyone.
I am a newbie to the alfa world. I just purchased a 1993 alfa romeo spider. I don't even have the car yet, it is in another state and I am going to be making a 1200 mile drive to get her home. The alfa only has 40k miles and supposedly is in great shape. My question is what things should I do before making the trip, I was thinking of taking her to a shop and getting al of the fluids replaced, and maybe the coolant flushed, is there anything else I should be aware of.
Thanks in advance for everyones help.
Hi
Yes you did see this on ebay. I picked it up for $8700, which seemed like a fair price, most of the 1993 spiders that I saw for sale were between 10500 and 15000.
As long as the owner has been taking good care of the car, it should be just fine for your trip. I would take it to a good Alfa mechanic and have him just give it a good check (which you should do with any used car anyway!). If he says it's OK, the just hop in and drive it like you stole it!!
Reminds me of when I got my car....first trip was the 1400 mile trip home! And that was after not driving an Alfa for 6 or 7 years! Turns out it was a great trip and I had a blast...the first 5 minutes was a strange feeling though. Give yourself an extra couple days just in case you run into a snag or two.
Hopefully your car is everything it was advertised to be. 1200 miles isn't a lot when you put it in the life span of the car but I'd be most concerned with the basics....tires, brakes, recent oil change, hopefully no active leaks. Perhaps the previous owner can recommend a local shop for you to have a quick inspection before you start your journey.
Where are you driving it from anyway? Maybe one of us lives nearby and can look at the car for you before you start travelling?
I don't know what you might want to see, but if you're going to drive with the top down, please take some good sunscreen, long-sleeves, good sunglasses and a hat with a brim!
I think you'll be fine. You can size up the previous owner pretty quickly as to whether he took care of the car. He should also let you do a fluids check at his house if he's any kind of guy at all.
Last year I bought my 74 off of ebay. The PO was a doctor who knew nothing about the car, but it was obvious that he was taking it to a good Alfa mechanic. Car was in-tune electrically and fuel injection wise, and there were no leaks.
You are welcome to stop in and grab a beverage at my place in Park City, UT. I'm 1 mile off I-80 at the top of the climb up from Salt Lake City. You will probably want to rest the car anyways, it's a tough climb of about 3500 vertical feet in just a few miles.
If you're new to the 1991-1994 Spider I can offer one bit of advice before your roadtrip. The A/C on that car is an afterthought, a completely separate system not integrated into the existing climate control system. To get cool air, you need to move the sliding controls to "off" and "cool" positions. Then you turn on the A/C fan through a different switch that actually has two functions - in the middle you select the A/C fanspeed and the outside bezel rotates to select the temperature (These controls are in addition to the "normal" controls) On mine the cool air only seems to come out of the side vents.
Nathan
1991 Spider
1991 164L (sold)
1993 Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo
1988 SAAB SPG Turbo
1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9
I can recommend two Alfa mechanics in the Denver area.
1) Dale Macgowan - Alfa West RSR, Inc.
3778 S. Kalamath St., Englewood, CO 80110
phone 303-789-9378, fax 303-789-9774
Dale and his father before him have been wrenching on alfas for over 40 years. Dale actually ownes one of the two duettos that were used in the movie "The Graduate".
As Dale is all by himself he can get very backed up with cars he's working on and sometimes takes a long time to get cars completed. But for rebuilds, etc. I wouldn't have anyone else work on my car.
2) Stewart's Ferrari of Denver
1480 E. County Line Road
Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
Bill Evenden is the Alfa authorized mechanic there and is very knowledgeable, especially on the newer model spiders and 164s. Their prices are reasonable (for a dealership) and the service is top rate!
These are my recommendations. I look forward to meeting you. Have a safe and fun roadtrip.
Garrett
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