Alfa Romeo Spider (1966-1993)

INTRODUCTION

The Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider briefly impacted on the wider public consciousness in the film The Graduate, but among car enthusiasts it’s always been up with the MGB and Fiat Spider as a classic sports car mainstay. Underpinned by a shortened Giulia 105-series platform and powered by a range of twin-cam engines, this car is every bit as good to drive as it is to look at.

Like the MGB and the Fiat, the Alfa enjoyed a very long production run – a side effect of the lack of investment during the 1980s. This resulted in the Spider becoming pilloried for its ageing design as the years rolled by, but today it means you have a huge (and sometimes confusing) choice of cars. Do you go for the prettiness of the earlier car, or the usability of later models?

MARKET VIEW

In simple terms, the earlier the Spider, the more potential value it has. The boat-tail cars command the highest prices: ‘As the years go by, the value of the earlier boat-tail cars will pull away from the later ones,’ says Richard Norris of Classic Alfa (in black T-shirt, above).

You need to spend between £12,000 and £15,000 for bodily excellent (or restored) cars, and up to £20,000 for concours. ‘Right-hand drive ones are extremely rare,’ adds Norris. Cheapest is the 1300 – up to 20% less than the 1600 and 1750.

The Kamm-tail S2 and S3 cars with full-fat 1962cc engines are the best to drive, but the market tends to value them some way behind – a project costs as little as £1500, ‘…but a well-sorted S2 comes in at around £10,000,’says Norris.

‘The S3 tends to be devalued by its clumsy makeover, with MoT’d cars changing hands for £3000-4000, and nice ones for £5000.’

The S4 is the odd-one-out: the best appointed and easiest to live with, yet its 1990s vibe means that even the nicest fail to go for much more than £8000.

IN A NUTSHELL

Alfa Spiders have huge specialist support, both in the UK and worldwide, so they’re a great bet if you want a ‘sensible’ classic with a whiff of the exotic.

Corrosion is top of the checklist. ‘The areas most affected are door-bottoms, sills, the inner sill area around the jacking points, rear lip of the bootlid, rear wheelarches, floorpan and the boot floor. It’s likely just about any car you check will have been afflicted by tinworm, but it’s the quality of the repair that matters most,’ says Richard Norris.

Also check the front crossmember under the radiator and the chassis members at the rear of the engine bay running under the front floor, plus the areas around the front and rear suspension mounts. The soundest advice is to buy a car with the best body you can find. The mechanicals are very strong, and parts are plentiful.

The hood frame is a potential source of problems on the Duetto: it needs to be intact because you’ll struggle to find a replacement – S2 and newer cars’ frames are still readily available. Those stainless bumpers cost about £500 apiece, too.

The 2.0-litre engines can suffer head gasket failure, but a full rebuild for any capacity is typically around £1000 in parts and £3000 for labour. Gearboxes can develop synchromesh issues, especially in second, and typically cost £500 for an exchange unit.

Tired suspension (knocks from worn front bushes and self-steering due to worn rear trailing arm bushes) is also common, but new bushes all-round and replacement springs and dampers will put that right.

‘Rear axles are strong, but S4 cars seem to suffer from noisy differentials. Nothing changed in the design, so this is believed to be down to poorer component quality,’ adds Richard.

Electrics and trim faults are easily cured. Cracked dashboard tops in factory left-hand-drive cars are easily replaced or retrimmed – less so right-hand-drive ones. There’s more demand for the converted right-hand-drive S3s and S4s in the UK, but make sure the cut ’n’ shut facia isn’t a mess of peeling vinyl and rattling panels.

Some cars will have received performance upgrades, so make sure any modifications have been carried out to the highest standard.

CONCLUSION

‘Something for everyone’ is an overused phrase, even by cliché standards. But it could well be true here, as with the Alfa Romeo Spider your choices are unusually extensive.

However, they can be broadly simplified: buy an early car for its looks and future investment; the S2 and S3 for performance and value; and the S4 for all-round usability.

The truly desirable Spiders are, of course, the boat-tail cars. No question about that, given their rarity, originality, style and sweetness. They’re the most expensive and offer the greatest potential return on your money.

But don’t despair if they’re already priced outside your range. The S2 cars, especially, are stylish in their own right and, with the option of the larger engine, offer a more rounded drive. The S3 tries hard to look like a newer car, but only partially pulls it off, while the S4 comes with more lavish levels of equipment and the promise of all-year-round thrills.

Octane’s choice would be a boat-tail car. Its uncorrupted purity is irresistible – and its investment potential makes paying the extra worthwhile.