Project Cars--You Get to Vote on "Hold 'em or Fold 'em"

qbrozen

I keep pondering selling off the Alfa. The reasons are many. I've learned over the years I'm just not a convertible person. Money is tight right now and we could use the cash. I don't have time for it. Etc.

I figured if things pick up for us in the future, I could turn my sights toward a track car instead.

But, until then, what do you think? If I decide to do it, I gotta move quick while convertible weather is here. What do you think its really worth?

For those who may have forgotten, its an '86 Veloce 5-speed in triple black. Body was taken down to bare metal, all bondo removed, and painted from scratch in the original black maybe 3 years ago. Its probably seen the sun for all of 50-60 hours since then, so its still perfect. Starts and runs great. Shifts great.

Suspension could use all new bushings. Could use new carpet. Seats are in great shape. I had the bottoms of the seats rebuilt from scratch. Meaning new custom foam and coverings. They match the original backs perfectly with their red stitching and all. Top is also new'ish. I think I finally put it on after the body work was done. Custom stereo setup (just an mp3 cd player in stock location with an amp under the rear deck and component speakers). Tires are new. Has original Cromodora wheels. Ugliest part about the car is the underside. We did replace all the floorpans and spare tire well maybe 8 years ago and undercoated it all, but the original rails are pretty dinged up and the front underbody spoiler is in rough shape. To the best of my knowledge, it needs a cam cover seal and oil pan gasket. However, I have not had to add oil since I changed it over a month ago, so its not urgent in the least.

I know pics would be helpful, but I ain't got them at the moment. Oh, its sitting at about 96k miles. I bought it ~10 years ago with ~88k miles.

fintail

Which is the parts car?

Andre-mobile or driver for boomchek

Odd Euro manual 107

Tight fitting top

Now here's a real car

hpmctorque

It sounds to me as though you're ready to part with your Alfa, and that you're looking for a little encouragement, from those who've been in your situation, to advise you to part with your baby.

Look, you say you're not a convertible person, you could use the money from the sale, or the reduced expenses associated with eliminating an extra car, and you've
averaged only 800 miles per year. These add up to a sell signal. It's time to give someone else a chance to enjoy (or curse?) that Alfa.

boomchek

I like that Gran Ville. Hard top 4 door sedan. Looks half decent at a decent price. Maybe when I'm ready to jump on one, I'll scoot down to Washington and pick
something up as the selcetion seems a bit better.

That manual SL must be rare. Weren't 99% of the ones here slushboxes?

boomchek

I keep pondering selling off the Alfa

If you're putting money into it just to have it parked most of the time, then I'd get rid of it. Yes the sooner the better while the nice weather is out. Selling a convertible in the winter is nearly impossible.

When you bought it originally, what was your goal or intentions with it? To restore it fully? To race it? Or just to keep it as a spare fun car?

fintail

I am pretty sure all 107s sold in NA were automatics, yeah. Any manual car is going to be grey market, and those are uncommon even there.

Regarding the Alfa dilemma, I say sell. I see lots of reasons given to sell it, no real reasons given to keep it. I don't know if the car has much upside, and if there's no deep sentimental attachment, might as well make use of the cash instead.

And now for something completely different

qbrozen

it was a fun car that could be a project for me and my father. I really bought it for him. We picked it out together. It has been all my money, but we've shared the blood and sweat. I was living at home at the time. I bought a house maybe a year later and he promptly delivered it to my garage as a "housewarming gift." I kept hanging onto it for sentimental reasons, but he doesn't seem to care much about it, and now he's got his own convertible toy, so the reason seems to have no merit.

qbrozen

except nobody has suggested a value.

;P

lemmer

$6,601.50

qbrozen

will that be cash, check, or charge?

texases

Here's one that sold on Ebay for $5400 - how does yours compare?
'86 Alfa

andre1969

I like that Grand Ville, too. Looks like its in nice shape, although it's somewhat of a stripper model. I like that color though.

For some reason, the Grand Ville has always fascinated me. With that car, they tried to push up into Electra/98 territory, perhaps to the highest prestige point that Pontiac would ever get, and then they just came crashing down after that.

I guess most people weren't fooled by it though, and just bought an Electra or 98, anyway. Pontiac tried grafting the Electra/98/DeVille C-pillar onto the roofline, but the car was still just a B-body and not a C-, so it didn't give you any additional room inside, whereas an Electra/98 actually was a bigger car inside than a Delta or LeSabre. And I guess the styling cues just didn't set it off as a more prestigious car. I can look at a 70's Electra/98 and immediately tell it's more upscale from a LeSabre or Delta, but the Grand Ville just doesn't look that different from a Bonneville or even a Catalina.

This was probably territory that Pontiac really never should have tried to enter, and even they started scaling back a bit. For 1973 they dropped it from a 126" wb to 124, although that's probably not enough to make most people notice. Then after '75 they dropped the Grand Ville name and just called the thing Bonneville Brougham.

Big Pontiacs in general took a nosedive in the wake of the first oil embargo. As a whole, the Catalina/Bonneville/Grand Ville sold about 375,000 units for 1973, but that was cut to around 174,000 for 1974. Then, as big car sales were starting to rebound, they actually fell further in 1975, to around 125,000. For 1976, I think they recovered slightly to around 137,000. The downsized models were more popular, at least in 1977-79, but big Pontiacs would never relive the glory they had in the 60's and early 70's.

qbrozen

real tough to tell by his pics and brief description.

The Quad is a level above the Veloce; however, its main extra feature is the removable hardtop, which he apparently doesn't have. So I'm not sure what the point would be to the Quad without this. His interior looks to be in better shape. Although I can't tell in the pics provided if the original red stitching is there or not. If not, then the seats have been recovered improperly (a common occurence with these).

Heck, I think he's got the same stereo I do.

Oh, and if his AC works, that's a plus. Mine doesn't.

But, all in all, if I use this for comparison, I would THINK mine may be a $5k car?? Which is what I was thinking of putting for an asking price. Maybe I should "ask" $5500 for the hell of it.

michaellno

When I saw your first message asking if you should sell it, I thought to myself that it's about a $5-6K asset waiting to be sold - this was based on nothing more than a SWAG.

So, your idea to put it up for sale at $5500 and see what happens seems to be spot on, though I'd be interested to see what Shifty says about it.

texases

Heck, you could ask $16,500 like this guy did to try and get his B-J money back - best offer was, you guessed it, about $5,500 :surprise:
"restored" '86

lemmer

If I knew your a/c was out I would have deducted $1000 from the proposed asking price, putting you pretty close to your number.

boomchek

Successful tips in selling your vehicle quickly by Boomchek:

Based on the way I place ads for my dealership, I'd put it up simutaneoulsy on Craigslist, Kijiji, BuySell and Auto Trader, all for the same price all at the same time. I'd also consider any popular local web sites or community papers. the more exposure the better, especially if it's free.

The more someone is browsing for that specific vehicle, on different online sources, and the more they are exposed to yours (4+ different places), then chances are higher that they'll come and see yours compared to another one they only saw once on one site.

If you get no calls within 2-3 days, drop it by $500 and try to make sure it ends with $999. ($5499 to $4999) It's a psychological thing but it seems to work with all the used cars I list on freebie sites. Same as with multiple listings, works really well.

Also take some good photos of 3/4 front view, 3/4 rear view, interior shot and engine shot.

List items you have fixed on it such as seats, the red stitching, etc...

Example of a Good write up:

Its an '86 Veloce 5-speed in triple black. Body was taken down to bare metal, all bondo removed, and painted from scratch in the original black maybe 3 years ago. Its probably seen the sun for all of 50-60 hours since then, so its still perfect. Starts and runs great. Shifts great.

boomchek

Dreamer Cadillac

So he spent $42,500 on a car that might sell for about $5k, and might appeal once again to 9 people, 2 of them being his buddies, 3 who can't afford it, and 4 who can afford it but won't buy it cause the $10k paint job is not exactly their cup of tea. :confuse:

NSU. Worth repairing?

Rare?

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah $5K-$6K sounds right. Some of the price guides are too optimistic about these 80s Alfas. You get better money for the 90s cars. Basically Alfa pricing for the 2000s follow a used car trend rather than collector car trend---that is, the NEWER they are, the more they are worth.

Alfas don't get pricey until you hit the Duettos in the late 60s, or a spiffy GTV.

fintail

Caddy is insane, it's more efficient to throw money into a lit fireplace, and probably better looking too. Not much class there.

NSU is a parts car, but those are some hard to find parts.

The Sunbeam Alpine is virtually unknown in NA, I have never seen one in person. It probably has electricals and rust propensities to the typical period British standard, but it might be worth something to someone.

qbrozen

Well, at least I was being realistic. In all honesty, the bottom line price I had in mind (in other words, my hem-and-haw-but-take-the-money price) was $4500. Sounds like maybe possibly I could do a hair better than that.

The AC is a complete non-issue, IMHO. Sure, some folks will complain. Hell, maybe I should take the time and just pull the system from the car. It didn't work when I bought it. I didn't care. So I just never did anything about it. A shorter belt was on the car when I bought it to bypass the compressor. But the unit is still there. I figured I'd get around to it someday. From those few who have a working system, I'm told it does virtually nothing, anyway. Factory specs for a working system are that it produces a 7 degree decrease from outside ambient temp. Impressive, huh?

Alfa pricing is odd. Although I don't think they've followed used car trends. Seems to me it wasn't long ago you could get a showcar for $6k. So I'm pretty sure they have increased. Just with no urgency, and still not worth "restoring."

Which brings me to that Ebay ad. That is a joke! Come on. "BJ claims a concours restoration." How blind do you have to be to fall for that? Weren't you AT the auction?? Did you not LOOK at the car? That interior is about 6 months from looking like mine!

SSSOOOO... looks like I'll be doing some polishing and vacuuming tonight in preparation for some AM pics. Then maybe I'll drive it to work afterwards.

Funny thing about selling cars. You procrastinate about those little things that need fixing and then, when you go to sell, you bust your butt and get them done in time for buyers to look at it. But then you start to think "hell, now that its in THIS kind of shape ..."

fintail

A real truck

Silver whale

texases

re: the truck. A friend of mine restored one like that, same year he was born. Let me drive it, once was enough - not something you drive for fun!

boomchek

wow, that is a nice truck. i wuldn't rod something like that though, I'd keep it the way it is. has it's natural charm.

hpmctorque

You may have bought that Alfa to bond with your dad, and hopefully it achieved that purpose, but I sense that you've acquired some sentimental attachment for this car, and have difficulty letting go of it.

qbrozen

Yup. That sums it up.

I just sent Dad an email 2 minutes ago to let him know my plans.

I waxed it and cleaned up the inside last night, then pulled it into the driveway this morning and snapped off about 20 pics. Tried to get as much detail as I could. Then I went and forgot to bring the camera to work to download. Well, maybe the wife will help me out when she gets home this afternoon. If not, it will have to wait. I gotta work on the description, anyway.

Is there any such thing as TOO much detail?

By the way, I STILL can't figure out when I bought it or how many miles it had. I pulled out the title and found that I actually got a new one in 2002. Car had 90k at that time. OH, its only on 93k now, by the way, not 96k like I thought. So we're talking only 3K in the past 6 years!

I'm pretty sure I bought it back before my wife and I were engaged, and it may have even been before we were dating. So that would put it at around a '98-'99 purchase.

lemmer

Would you deliver it to Alabama? Everyone needs to visit the Barber Motorsports Track and Motorcycle Museum at least once in their life (and it just happens that it is five miles straight down the road from my house).

qbrozen

For the right price, I could drive it down and fly home.

Although I may need a medical crew standing by to extract me from it after 1000 miles (i'm guessing on distance).

qbrozen

Ok. What do you think of this? Too much information?

The summary:
1986 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. 5 speed. 93k miles. Black with black leather (with original red stitching) and black convertible top. Runs, shifts, and looks great. Asking $5495.

The story:
After more than a year of just thinking about it, I’ve finally come to the conclusion that my ’86 Alfa Spider Veloce deserves a new home. I don’t have the time or money for it anymore.

When I purchased this vehicle a decade ago, it had about 86k miles (Yes, I’ve only put 7k miles on it in the ~10 years I’ve owned it), the floors were rusted out, the seats all but destroyed, the cloth top on its last legs, and the paint was faded and cracked. But the engine has always run great. I bought it from a shop in Southampton NJ who claimed to specialize in Alfas. They sold it on behalf of a customer whom I never met. But it was obvious this customer treated the car very poorly. It most likely spent the first 10+ years of its life outside in the elements year round.

I drove it on nice days in that condition for the first 2 convertible seasons. In the winter of 1999, all of the floors from the firewall to the rear deck and the spare tire well were cut from the car and new OEM pans from Alfa were installed and undercoated.

In the years that followed, I did little things here and there, like replace all the shocks and brakes (2001), new exhaust from catalytic back (2001), put on a dash cap (2001), rebuilt the clutch and brake master cylinders (2004), replaced the slave cylinder (2004), replace the intake hose (2005), new tires (2005), replaced the engine and trans mounts (2007), replaced rear springs (2007), etc.

Finally, in 2005, I decided to invest in the body. A professional shop took the entire body down to bare metal, removed all existing bondo they found and replaced with metal, prepped and painted the whole thing from scratch in the original gloss black. You’ll notice the gentleman took a few liberties while working on it, like painting the spoiler and bumpers and leaving off a couple of emblems (I still have the “Spider Veloce” script emblems in the glovebox). He did such a great job, I couldn’t possibly complain. And I think the spoiler looks better like this than its original rubber anyway. As you can see in the pics, it looks fantastic. It reflects like a mirror. There are 2 imperfections I have found. One is a slight run in the paint on the right front fender (see pic) and the other is a reverse ding that was caused by an improperly secured battery in the trunk. I’m sure the latter could probably easily be repaired, but it’s so minor I just haven’t bothered, personally.

The newly beautified body forced me to replace the convertible top and have the seat bottoms reupholstered (in matching black and complete with proper red stitching). The seat backs have no tears and just minor superficial cracking, so I kept those original. It wasn’t until taking pics for this ad that I noticed there is a tear in the back (not on seating area) of the passenger seat (see pic).

Has power windows, which go up and down slowly, but do work. Car came with air conditioning from the factory, but compressor was bypassed prior to me purchasing it and I’ve never bothered to fix it because I never felt the need for it. It is a convertible, after all. All gauges work. I redid the stereo for the 2nd time since purchase just last year. It now has a removable face CD player (I believe it will play MP3 CDs) and 4 Infinity speakers (as you can see in pic, rear speakers are component speakers). It sounds quite good.

If I were to keep it, the next thing on my list would be to replace all the suspension bushings. It rides pretty rough and jiggles over bumps. A kit is available through Centerline. Carpets could use replacing, although a nice set of carpeted mats could suffice for a while. The dash cap looks OK, but the original dash underneath is cracked. The glovebox door has sticker residue I was never able to remove and the door itself is quite warped. The trunk release lever self destructed several years ago and I’ve never replaced it. I have an S-hook attached to the cable to release the trunk latch.

I think that’s about the whole story. I hope I’ve covered it all and answered any questions you may have.

Pics:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbMWjFm2bs2MD

texases

Very nice pics - looks great! I'm partial to black cars, that paint job is excellent. What would I change? I'd drop the 'I don't have the time or money anymore', would make me wonder what you weren't keeping up with. I'd also drop the comments on needing carpets, at least from the pictures they look OK. Good luck.

fintail

I agree...don't sweat the small details, and maybe even cut out some of the negatives about the car. The car looks like it is pretty decent, and the small faults should be discussed in person. I'd think it has enough appeal to find a buyer.

boomchek

The ad body is good but I'd leave out the stuff I put in BOLD. In reality it's a used 22 year old Italian car that most people, especially Alfa loyalists don't expect to be perfect.

If you start off that it wasn't looked after very well from new, then people will get a negative vibe about it. I know I would. Like Texases said leave out the time and money too. You might catch a non Alfa person wanting it, but that statement might scare them away because they'll think it's a huge money pit.

Forget about mentioning what doesn't work. The negative attributes will always overwhelm the positive ones and will result in your car being put on a "maybe" list, or worse "forget about it" list. If they ask what's wrong, then say it needs nothing major other than usual minor imperfections that 20+ year old cars need.

Good luck!

1986 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. 5 speed. 93k miles. Black with black leather (with original red stitching) and black convertible top. Runs, shifts, and looks great. Asking $5495.

The story:
After more than a year of just thinking about it, I’ve finally come to the conclusion that my ’86 Alfa Spider Veloce deserves a new home. I don’t have the time or money for it anymore.

When I purchased this vehicle a decade ago, it had about 86k miles (Yes, I’ve only put 7k miles on it in the ~10 years I’ve owned it), the floors were rusted out, the seats all but destroyed, the cloth top on its last legs, and the paint was faded and cracked. But the engine has always run great. I bought it from a shop in Southampton NJ who claimed to specialize in Alfas. They sold it on behalf of a customer whom I never met. But it was obvious this customer treated the car very poorly. It most likely spent the first 10+ years of its life outside in the elements year round.
I drove it on nice days in that condition for the first 2 convertible seasons. In the winter of 1999, all of the floors from the firewall to the rear deck and the spare tire well were cut from the car and new OEM pans from Alfa were installed and undercoated.

In the years that followed, I did little things here and there, like replace all the shocks and brakes (2001), new exhaust from catalytic back (2001), put on a dash cap (2001), rebuilt the clutch and brake master cylinders (2004), replaced the slave cylinder (2004), replace the intake hose (2005), new tires (2005), replaced the engine and trans mounts (2007), replaced rear springs (2007), etc.

Finally, in 2005, I decided to invest in the body. A professional shop took the entire body down to bare metal, removed all existing bondo they found and replaced with metal, prepped and painted the whole thing from scratch in the original gloss black. You’ll notice the gentleman took a few liberties while working on it, like painting the spoiler and bumpers and leaving off a couple of emblems (I still have the “Spider Veloce” script emblems in the glovebox). He did such a great job, I couldn’t possibly complain. And I think the spoiler looks better like this than its original rubber anyway. As you can see in the pics, it looks fantastic. It reflects like a mirror. There are 2 imperfections I have found. One is a slight run in the paint on the right front fender (see pic) and the other is a reverse ding that was caused by an improperly secured battery in the trunk. I’m sure the latter could probably easily be repaired, but it’s so minor I just haven’t bothered, personally.

The newly beautified body forced me to replace the convertible top and have the seat bottoms reupholstered (in matching black and complete with proper red stitching). The seat backs have no tears and just minor superficial cracking, so I kept those original. It wasn’t until taking pics for this ad that I noticed there is a tear in the back (not on seating area) of the passenger seat (see pic).

Has power windows, which go up and down slowly, but do work. Car came with air conditioning from the factory, but compressor was bypassed prior to me purchasing it and I’ve never bothered to fix it because I never felt the need for it. It is a convertible, after all. All gauges work. I redid the stereo for the 2nd time since purchase just last year. It now has a removable face CD player (I believe it will play MP3 CDs) and 4 Infinity speakers (as you can see in pic, rear speakers are component speakers). It sounds quite good.

If I were to keep it, the next thing on my list would be to replace all the suspension bushings. It rides pretty rough and jiggles over bumps. A kit is available through Centerline. Carpets could use replacing, although a nice set of carpeted mats could suffice for a while. The dash cap looks OK, but the original dash underneath is cracked. The glovebox door has sticker residue I was never able to remove and the door itself is quite warped. The trunk release lever self destructed several years ago and I’ve never replaced it. I have an S-hook attached to the cable to release the trunk latch.
I think that’s about the whole story. I hope I’ve covered it all and answered any questions you may have.

texases

Yes, omission is forgivable, if not done to the extreme. One other thing I might do is spend a half hour on the wheels and take few extra pics - they still look dirty. I'm just a 'wheel guy', I guess :P

Mr_Shiftright

I'd cut the ad way down. You can explain things later to serious buyers:

"1986 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. 5 speed, leather, AC, CD, 93k miles. Black on black.Body and paint re-done in 2005. New top, restored floor pans. Needs carpets, a few other things. Runs, shifts, and looks great. Solid #3 car. Asking $5495."

qbrozen

Will do as you suggest.

I think, unlike alot of owners out there, the negatives ARE glaring to me, but only because I've put so much into it.

I've edited it down and here is the current ad.

EDIT: just saw your post now, Shifty. I would word it like that if I were putting it in the paper. Personally, I've had my time wasted by sellers too often who didn't give good detail, and I would like to try to avoid that if I can. But thanks for the brief one. I will edit the top of mine to read like that. They can read further if they are interested (and the detail will hopefully cut down on the inquisitive emails).

Mr_Shiftright

I don't know. We'll have to see about that. My theory is that all the detail creates more questions than it answers.

"On paragraph 2, line 6, what exactly did you mean by suspension bushings? Which ones? Who's Centerline? How much will that cost? Will that fix the ride? How are the shock absorbers? When you say cracks, how many cracks? Where can I buy new glovebox doors? Who's Centerline?" :P

qbrozen

That has been cut.
So there. ;P

boomchek

Good ad, hope you sell it!

jaserb

Been a while since I've been around - looks like most of the gang is still here. Qbrozen, the Alfa looks very nice, and the price seems fair. You should definitely sell it now, before the Alfa bug bites harder and you end up like me. :P

The yellow '74 Alfa Spider is still around, and running great. I don't get to drive it as much as I'd like with the Vintage plates on it, but it's probably better that I not have the temptation of driving it to work in DC metro traffic.

I've also been playing with a '67 Giulia Super project - complete minus the engine, but mostly in boxes. Of course, I had a spare 2L sitting in the garage ready to drop in... Here it is with the Spider shortly after purchase.

PO had disassembled it and cut out the rusty rockers, and it came with new sheet metal sourced from Yurp, where these things are much more common. I found a nice good ol'boy shop in rural VA that welded in the body panels and resprayed in the original color. The body and paint work is OK , but not great. Not as good as the Spider, but perfectly fine for a driver. For the money I can't complain at all - all that body work cost me less than just the paint for the Spider!

I've rebuilt the trans, de-rusted the gas tank, completely redone all the brake lines, and had the seats recovered. Now it's reassembly time. I just installed the engine last week. A couple more decent weekends and it will be drivable again - for the first time since 1984!

In the paint booth:

Engine installed (warning - crappy BlackBerry pic:)

It's been fun, but I'm ready for the project part to be over and the driving part to start...

-Jason

hpmctorque

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

Mr_Shiftright

He will. I've put my blessing on it.

qbrozen

Thanks, folks, for all the help.
I'm debating whether or not to post it on alfabb.com
I'm kind of afraid to have the alfisti pick it apart.

Jaserb, that is GREAT!
A Giulia would be a whole different story. That would be a keeper for me!

hpmctorque

Very nice yellow convertible, but I'm even more impressed by your Giulia Sport. My boss once and a Giulia. It was a neat car. If I might ask, how much have you invested in your Giulia?

What's your daily driver?

jaserb

It's a Giulia Super, not Sport.

I try not to count every penny for my own sanity, but I'm probably into it less than $10k still. Keep in mind this is a "driver" resto - if you want perfection you're better off buying something already done, like the very nice burgundy car for sale on Alfabb.com asking $33k. You can spend a lot more than that on a resto.

DD is a '98 BMW M3/4. I'm fortunate to own what I consider two of the coolest 4-doors ever produced.

-Jason

Mr_Shiftright

I'd try craigslist first. Alfa people are like Studebaker people sometimes (I'm sorry that was harsh).

But Lancia people are REALLY out there. They're "hoarders".

I think (my deu centi) that your buyer is a starry-eyed newbie who hasn't the guts to buy an MGB, is bored with Miatas, and wants something with some real personality.

My Alfa (1986) was dead reliable, and I drove it many times California--Colorado through the burning sands and drifting snow, through herds of moose and....okay I made that last part up.

AND....(don't be shocked) the AC actually WORKED WELL.

The downside:

1. The center console, on a long trip, might cripple a driver for life

2. You could be outrun by a garbage truck 0-30 mph.

3. The "yellow fan blade of death" is not to be messed with. Get that sucker OUT of there, before you have a huge dent in your hood or your head.

'nuff said.

qbrozen

you said it.

I did, however, dive in and post it on alfabb. 14 views so far and no replies. Kind of surprising. Thought I might get things like "you painted the beautiful rubber spoiler!?" or "where's the trunk liner?!" ;P

Driving it to work and back was enough for me. There is SO MUCH to be said for a quiet comfortable car that won't try to step sideways and knock out your teeth on every railroad crossing.

jaserb

1. The center console, on a long trip, might cripple a driver for life.
Only on the Monopod (86 and later) cars. The earlier ones had plenty of leg room.

2. You could be outrun by a garbage truck 0-30 mph.
Not my Spider. Webers, cams, big compression and head work sure likes premium, though.

3. The "yellow fan blade of death" is not to be messed with. Get that sucker OUT of there, before you have a huge dent in your hood or your head.
Amen - my first Spider did that @ about 5k RPM, and I was picking bits of fan blade out of the engine compartment the rest of the time I owned the car. Incredibly, no permanent damage was done.

-Jason

fintail

Maybe I am more of a shyster than some...if I was to sell something like my fintail, I would be relatively vague..."99% rust-free, runs great, very original car, good patina" etc.

I am a wheel guy too, which stinks when you drive a modern MB with their love of creating brake dust. I wipe down my wheels at least a couple times per week.

boomchek

I picked up that Car and Driver with the E55 review in it. Can't believe the guy has 200k miles on his (the one used in the article).

Mr_Shiftright

yes the Spiders of that vintage NEED to BREATHE. They simply won't rev with the Bosch fuel injection. you can't get any power out of them. The Webers, cam and head work solve this big problem. Of course Webers are fussy buggers and they eat gas, but hey, it's all about fun. (they are really meant for WOT work).