Recent & upcoming work on our house has put a 911 well out of reach for a couple years. I had been gunning for a nice "driver" quality SC for ~10-12k (something like
this) but it's just not gonna happen just now.
Hard part is, I spend more time in a car now than I ever have, and as the weather's been getting better I am really yearning for something fun to drive. I did ~35k miles last year in my business car (e300d), about 30% was with clients. A lot of my day is just driving around to appointments, picking stuff up, etc etc. My e300d is GREAT when I have to drive clients around, but I'd really like something fun to drive the rest of the time.
I've been looking at sports cars for <4k, and the most common are MGs and Alfas. I've owned an MGB and as much as I love them, I know I couldn't drive one daily. They are too uncomfortable and the ride is horrible.
Alfas are interesting though. Looking on Ebay and Alfabb.com I notice that you can get a solid, driver quality spider for ~3-4k. I've even seen some well-sorted cars in need of cosmetics for ~2k. They are substancially better to drive than an (IMO), and have a much more fun engine & transmission... plus there is a good market for them up here; a good clean spider is 9+k in these parts.
From what I can tell, parts aren't too expensive and they seem pretty straightforward to work on. Even the typical 2nd gear crunch can be DIY'd for <$500.
What do I need to know about these things? What problems should I look for, what years should be avoided, what do I not know that I should know?
A few examples:
For Sale 1985 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce for sale/trade - Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board & Forums
For Sale 1987 spider graduate - Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board & Forums
Alfa Romeo : Spider: eBay Motors (item 260617831277 end time Jun-17-10 13:00:53 PDT)
Alfa Romeo : Spider: eBay Motors (item 180519275900 end time Jun-18-10 11:27:03 PDT)
What say you, PPOT?