dodger02 said:
PharmD4 said:
I'm new to these Italian roadsters, but I believe the 105/115 generally refers to coupes. I'm just looking at series 3 Spider 2000s.
Eh, not necessarily. The 105/115 cars came in a Spider configuration from 1966-1994. The 105/115 refers to the first three digits of the VIN.
Alfa Spider 105/115
My age is showing when I don't think of an '80s car as being "vintage". I was thinking an old school Series 1 or 2. Just don't go newer than Series 3, please. The '74 appears to be the sweet spot.
Pay attention to rust.
The prices on the Alfas have been creeping up faster than the Fiats, especially for the chrome bumper years. The 66-69 boattails are $40k unless they are serious projects.
The rust point is spot on -- that is the #1 issue, probably moreso with the Alfas than the Fiats.
I'm partial to the Alfas personally -- they have significantly more power, and are just cooler, IMO.
A 71-74 chrome bumper with a rebuilt SPICA FI (by Wes Ingram) would be my target -- they were lighter and had more power than the rubber bumper 75-81 cars. A car with well sorted Webers would be great, but more trouble if you are unfamiliar with them.
If you can find one, the 1982 is a sweet spot -- it had the lighter, cleaner Kamm tail body style of the series 2a cars, including the twin pod instrument binnacle -- but was the first year of Bosch L-tronic fuel injection, which restored the power to new early 1970s levels -- and is more reliable and efficient than the SPICA.
These can be easily backdated to chrome bumpers for a few grand.
If air conditioning matters, Series III or IV are your best options.
Here is a pretty cool comparison between generations:
https://classicmotorsports.com/articles/picking-best-version-alfa-romeo-spider/
