Description
My Alfa Romeo Spider has been an excellent car and the reasons I'm selling it are that I don't use it very often and I've been everywhere I want to go in it.
I've driven the car in Europe many times, visiting France, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands and including a trip to Italy to visit the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese, crossing the Alps on the way into Italy and on the way home too which was an amazing experience.
I've owned the car for the last 15 years and it has always been garaged in my ownership and is covered to protect it.
The car was originally registered in Germany, you'll see the original registration document and some of the previous owners names and locations on the "Fahrzeugbrief" in the photos.
There is also an image of the "Abmeldescheinigung für den fahrzeughalter" which is a deregistration certificate for the vehicle owner, likely issued from when the car was brought into the UK.
The car still has the original "Blei frei" sticker inside the filler cap to remind the owner to put in unleaded fuel, confirming its German history.
In my 15 years of ownership the car has been a complete joy to own and drive, it gets looks everywhere it goes and my rule has always been if its not raining the roof will be down, even if its cold.
The Spider is a great car to drive on all roads offering a great experience to the driver, its also very comfortable covering motorway miles and can easily cruise at modern day motorway speeds.
The car has had work done to it in the time I've had it, which is all detailed in the extensive service history which came with the car when I bought it and naturally I've continued that.
Rather than detail everything in this listing, I'm happy to go through the history file with anyone who makes an enquiry about the car.
The car has aftermarket chrome mirrors and wiper arms, I do have the originals which obviously will come with the car.
The gearknob and handbrake lever are also aftermarket, again the originals are present.
The roof is in perfect condition, the screen doesn't have any cracks and I'm very careful not to crease it when the roof is down. The roof clips in easily and secures it nice and tight.
I have the matching interior colour tonneau cover which I've never used.
The car has a few issues which are listed on the invoices from The Alfa Workshop who have looked after the car for me in the time I've owned it
First motion bearing slightly noisy, gear box is noisy in all gears, better when up to temperature.
It does crunch into 2nd gear when its cold, but when up to temperature its much easier to engage especially when coming down from 3rd gear.
Play in the differential, which can create a knocking noise when changing gear and accelerating. Jamie from the Alfa Workshop demonstrated this to me when the car was on a ramp. He tells me that the fix is to buy an LSD from the series 2 car or to get the differential rebuilt.
I've learnt a driving style to mitigate this but it does exist.
Steering box has some play.
Slight oil leaks around the crank seal, rocker cover gaskets and gearbox.
Some information on the LHD vs RHD cars which you may or may not know.
Most of the cars in the UK and almost all of them that were imported to Alfa dealers here were converted to RHD.
The LHD drive cars have more space for the driver, the passenger side naturally and by design has less space, and if you try both you'll absolutely notice the difference.
Obviously the LHD cars are as they were intended by Alfa Romeo, and all of the services such as steering, brakes, clutch, wiring and everything else that had to be moved for RHD conversons are all in the correct place and therefore the LHD cars don't suffer with any of the legacy issues of poorly converted cars.
I understand this isn't a great time to list for sale an open top car, but the decision has been made to put it up for sale.
That said I won't open to silly offers, so if you're thinking about sending me a message with a stupid offer or call asking me what I'll take for it don't bother.
As Andy, the previous owner of the car who I'm still in contact with said to me, "I'm looking for the right buyer for the car who will look after it" and so am I.
The car will come with a new set of tyres including a proper spare and a new MOT for the buyer.
I've tried to be as honest as I can about the car and am happy to chat with people with serious enquiries.
