Spider Graduate, New Black Paint, Cloth Top, & Pirelli Tires Nr No Reserve Va on 2040-cars
Alexandria, Virginia, United States
Are you ready for spring on a sun-dappled winding road? This 1987 Alfa Romeo Spider Graduate is! A factory-trained Alfa tech who is a friend of mine had this Alfa for a little while before going to work on it last year. He has driven it 3,000 miles since finishing the projects, so it's road-tested and ready to enjoy this spring. As the photos show the car is straight and handsome. It has fresh paint in its original "nero" black color, which many consider the best color on this generation of Spider as the distinctive rubber spoiler and other trim blend well. The paint shines, and reflects the clouds and trees going by.
Brand new cloth top with a clear rear window.
The interior is nice driver quality.
The seats have been upgraded to black leather ones with red stitching
from a Veloce model. They feel great but the leather is 25 years old and
has some seam splits and other flaws. Another notable Veloce upgrade: the beautiful
five-spoke alloy wheels (plus a fifth in the trunk!) Mounted on those wheels are new Pirelli tires -- new tires make such a difference in ensuring Alfas handle beautifully. A nice modern addition to the car is a Pioneer CD stereo with four speakers (the Graduate came with only two; rear 6X9s have been added). One thing my friend did, since the car was for his own use, was remove the air conditioner. Why carry all that weight if it's not working, and in these cars, with the top down and vent windows open, a/c is sort of superfluous anyway. If the buyer desires it, the a/c unit, minus the compressor, would be made available at no charge. But it's in Maryland, not currently in or with the car. As shown in one of the photos, the A/C knob is not attached. |
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Audi rumored to buy Alfa Romeo, officials deny it
Thu, 28 Mar 2013For more than two years, Volkswagen has been making public statements about its willingness to buy Alfa Romeo and quadruple the Italian brand's sales, and for just as long, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has replied with some version of "Mr. Piëch, drop it." According to a report in Ward's Auto, all that jousting might be over: it claims that sources close to both Marchionne and Audi CEO Rupert Stadler admit that the two are in talks for Audi to buy not just Alfa Romeo, but a production plant in Italy. In fact, a final deal could possibly include partsmaker Magnetti Marelli.
Against that backdrop, a report by German news weekly Stern quotes a Fiat spokesmen as saying it doesn't comment on rumors and an Audi rep has said flatly that "There is no substance in the news." If a sale is being arranged, the timing would seem to point to how eager Fiat is to raise cash to complete its major initiatives. Even though Alfa Romeo continues to delay its return to the US, it just showed off the production version of the 4C at the Geneva Motor Show (shown above) and said that preferred Fiat dealerships here would get them. Then there's Alfa's recently concluded deal with Mazda to develop a roadster based on the next generation MX-5 Miata - a deal that would seem to help both the Italian and Japanese brands.
The monetary issues are troublesome, though. Fiat is taking a beating in the European market and its weak-kneed balance sheet is delaying gotta-have-it products like the Jeep Cherokee. Fiat has been talking to banks about getting money to buy the rest of Chrysler and those financial institutions have also raised issues about debt and cash reserves, and the nasty game of chess Fiat is playing with the United Auto Workers (and now the court system about the portion of Chrysler it doesn't own) could end up blowing another hole in Marchionne's plans. It is possible that this could finally have convinced Fiat to at least see how serious Audi's parent company, Volkswagen, is about buying Alfa Romeo. Or it could be just another rumor.
Marchionne to make Alfa Romeo a separate company within Fiat
Mon, 28 Apr 2014According to a report in Automotive News that quotes "people familiar with the matter," the next big play in Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's plan for Alfa Romeo is to break it off from Fiat Group Automobiles and set it up as a separate company within the Fiat empire, giving it the same structure as Ferrari and Maserati. The idea, say the sources, is that a transparent, standalone Alfa Romeo that has to justify its every move could clearly prove its success in the public financial statements it would have to report, finally achieving Marchionne's aim of making Alfa Romeo "a credible business proposition."
That, of course, assumes that Alfa Romeo will make a success of it. The brand hasn't made a profit in any year of Marchionne's decade at the helm; sales last year fell to numbers not seen in almost half a century and its new product offensive might not include the two vehicles currently responsible for 99 percent of its sales. We're told that the brand's six new models will begin arriving in 2016 - a roadster, a midsize sedan and large sedan, a compact SUV and large SUV, and a large coupe.
Marchionne aims to expand Alfa's global appeal in several ways, the first by stressing that they are Italian products that 'belong' to Italy. This is the stance that appears to have put the kibosh on the roadster twinned with the coming Mazda MX-5/Miata. Alfa Romeos will all be made in their home country, and if they take off they'll help bandage Fiat's problem with underused plant capacity, a bugbear that is just as problematic culturally and politically as financially. Top-tier trims would use V6 engines developed by Ferrari, and global access would get a boost by selling Alfa Romeos in Jeep's 1,700 international dealerships.
Next-gen Mazda MX-5 Miata mule spied 'Ring testing
Wed, 23 Oct 2013Fans of simple, lightweight motoring, rejoice - we now have images of the next-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata undergoing testing at der Nürburgring Nordschleife. Now, to be fair, this isn't some lightly camouflaged example that will give us a great peak of what the next Miata, which will also become the next Alfa Romeo Spider, will look like. This is a mule, with the new bits hidden under a current Miata's body. That doesn't mean there aren't a few scraps of valuable information here, though.
According to our flock of camera-toting spies at the Nürburgring, the next Miata is likely to grow a bit, as new models are wont to do. In particular, it will be longer and wider, and the wheelbase is likely going to be stretched, based on the shape of the wheel wells and doors. Both of those factors will add more space in the cabin.
Those are the big indications provided by these photos, but while the MX-5 might be growing, it's a safe bet based on these images that it, and the (likely pricier) Alfa, will retain the classic, long-hood, short-deck styling that so typifies rear-drive roadsters.