Re: Couple of questions about 1974 spider

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- "Gregory S. Youngblood" <greg@domain.elided> wrote:
> I went down and looked at (and basically purchased)
> a 74 spider 2000 this afternoon. 

Congratulations, and welcome!  I'll answer what I can.

> 2. The car has the SPICA FI (and Bosche plugs). I
> recall reading about
> converting from the SPICA to carbs. How difficult is
> that conversion? I'm
> thinking of future projects or if I start to have
> problems from the SPICA.

This is a religious issue well documented in the
archives, the literature, and the oral history of
Alfas.  Pat Braden's book "Weber Carburetors" (HP
Books) has a lengthy section on installing Webers on
an Alfa 2-liter, if you want to look at what's
involved.  

People will give you what they genuinely believe to be
logical reasons for choosing Webers or Spica.  They
will be mistaken.  There ARE no logical reasons for
choosing Webers or Spica, just as there are no logical
reasons for choosing an Alfa in the first place.  Go
with the one that makes you grin the most.

I can personally take very, very little credit for the
basically faultless performance of my Spica over the
past three years: I've changed the oil and filters and
otherwise left it the hell alone.  It was good when I
got it, and it hasn't deteriorated much in some 30,000
miles.  This, I am convinced, is the True Path to
Happiness in old cars for me: get the best one you can
find, and try not to screw it up too badly in a
misguided attempt to "improve" it.

> 3. Any advice/tips/tricks for a new spider owner? :)

Join an Alfa club -- and as you're in the San
Francisco area, I say "an" instead of "the" as you
have a choice of the Alfa Romeo Association or the
Alfa Romeo Owner's Club.  ARA has a great magazine,
The Overheard Cams, and a small core of dedicated
Alfisti who know and genuinely love the marque.

AROC is the national organization, with chapters
pretty much everywhere in the U.S. except San
Francisco.  AROC has a beautiful monthly magazine,
Alfa Owner, and tremendous breadth and depth of
technical resources through the main office -- you can
get reprints of technical articles from the club or
from the factory.  

If you REALLY want to enjoy your Alfa, though... come
to Oregon and join AROO (our local chapter of AROC). 
An average club get-together up here is roughly
comparable in scope, attendance, and fun to the
Monterey Historics.  Joe, you understated what it's
like up here, and I wasn't able to make half the
events I wanted to in 2001.  AROO has radically
transformed my standards for what constitutes a great
marque club.

Final tip/trick: the Italian Tune-Up is not a myth. 
Ignore the 5700-rpm red segment on your car's tach,
run the car up to 7000 RPM every chance you get (but
only after it's fully warmed up, of course).

> 4. Is 74 a good year for Spiders?

'74 is the best -- it's so good that Alfa made 1974
Spiders till sometime in 1976. :-)  Seriously --
because Alfa couldn't get the performance they wanted
and meet the California smog requirements for 1975,
they only sold 1974 Spiders in California until the
1977 model year introduction, by which time they
worked it out.  While the official story is that
California dealers sold existing stock for the
intervening two years, there is some suggestion that
some of the "1974" Spiders sold in California were
actually produced in 1975 and early 1976; my own '74
Spider, for example, has a build date of September
1974 stamped on the door jamb, but was first sold
(according to the California registration in the car
when I bought it) in May of 1976.  Yes, I suppose it
COULD have sat on a loading dock for 20 months... and
Pininfarina COULD have produced nearly 6000 Spiders in
1974, after producing barely 2000 a year for the
previous half-decade... and pigs COULD fly, if you
stuck 'em in a trebuchet.

The "best year" issue is at least as emotionally
charged an issue as whether to go with Spica or
Webers, and as personal.  First, '72-'74 Spiders are
all identical in specification (except the '74 has
little rubber pyramids on the bumpers), and while
every series of Spider has its partisans, the '72-'74
have the best power-to-weight ratio and gearing for
the performance-oriented driver.  The earlier cars
have the very pretty rounded "Duetto" style rear ends
and the 1600 or 1750 engine, while the later cars feel
more solid on rough roads and have more amenities --
it's possible to get an '80s Spider with air
conditioning and power windows, for example -- plus
taller gearing and other refinements that make them
noticeably more comfortable.  You have to decide what
you want in a car; for me, I have driven more Alfa
Spiders (five: a '77, a '94, an '86, and an '88, then
this one) than I have any other model of vehicle, and
my '74 is the first one that I wanted to own.  

The point, however, is that this says as much (or
more) about me and what I like as it does about
Spiders.  The '74 still feels like a Sixties-era
sports car, and I like that -- simpler trim, lighter
feel, less insulation psychologically as well as
physically from the world around you, and a
perceptible boost in seat-of-the-pants oomph compared
to the '88 I drove over the same roads immediately
before driving this '74 for the first time.  

I'm convinced, though, that the only truth is that the
best Alfa is the one whose wheel you hold in your
hands while you drive it.

Well, if I don't get a "message too long" response
from the Digest mail server, I'll be surprised... in
any event, congratulations again and welcome to the
ranks of Alfisti!

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
Send your FREE holiday greetings online!
http://greetings.yahoo.com

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