Junkyard Find: 1981 Alfa Romeo Spider

by Murilee Martin

July 1st, 2014 12:32 AM

Prices for (non- 164) Alfa Romeos have been getting somewhat crazy in recent years, but it’s still possible to get a restorable 1970s or 1980s Spider for non-insane bucks. The proof of this is that rougher examples still show up now and then at the self-service wrecking yards I frequent. In this series so far, we’ve seen this ’74, this ’78, and now today’s ’81.

The interior is ugly, but it doesn’t show the atomic-testing-grade obliteration that Colorado convertibles get when left outside for years with no top.

Alfa Spiders love to rust, even in single-digit-humidity Colorado.

Not worth restoring, but a good parts car.

Its final parking place is next to a Mazda RX-7.

#1980s #1981 #1981AlfaRomeoSpider #Alfa #AlfaRomeo #AlfaRomeoSpider #DownOnTheJunkyard #ItalianCars #ItalianSportsCars #Junkyard #Spider #JunkyardFind #Malaise #MalaiseEra

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Cc-rider on Jul 02, 2014

The 1981 cars had the worst power of the Spica injection. The 1982 got Bosch injection that carried over for a number of years. I love the shape of the 91-94 spiders but dislike the dash changes that went along with the re-skin. The dual binnacle dash like in this one are super cool.

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-Nate on Jul 02, 2014

Kinda sad IMO ; I'm no Alfa lover but I grew up thinking they were special in a very good way . Oddly these from the late 1960's through mid 1970's are perennials in the So. Cal. self - service junkyards , rust & dent free , just sun baked In the first few years of the ' Charity Car Auction ' craze (when YOU got to write in the donated vehicles $ value) there were scads and scads of these from inside storage , they ran O.K. but rarely fetched over $125 at the auctions . Not worth the cosmetics needed I guess . -Nate

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