If you’re looking for affordable Italian fun, nothing beats the Spider, one of the marque’s longest-running models. And the one to own is probably this 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider Niki Lauda edition, one of 350 or so built that year to commemorate Brabham Alfa Romeo’s partnership with driver Niki Lauda in Formula One. Beautifully maintained, it is pure Italian magic with a very reasonable price tag. The Niki Lauda cars were all painted in Brabham F1 livery, bright red with white and blue stripes and wore a three piece fiberglass spoiler out back that would become standard equipment on later Spiders. This particular Spider was repainted in 2007 and they did a spectacular job, capturing the essential Italian look and exotic flavor of the car. Obviously, it helps to start with good base stock, and with just 50,606 miles on the clock, this car was obviously a fair-weather toy all its life. They decided to leave the stripes off when it was repainted (they were only decals anyway, so it would be easy to replace them) but all the special emblems remain, signifying this as one of the special Niki Lauda cars (#216 out of 350, to be precise). Finish quality is quite good and there were no liberties taken with the design, so the lovely covered headlights, big rubber bumpers, and offset tailpipe all remain intact. There’s not much chrome, but the lovely Alfa Romeo script on the tail, the stainless bumper inserts, and door handles remain in excellent shape.
Price: Auction
More info: Listing has ended. Click to search on eBay for similar 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider (Affiliate link)
Location: Fort Worth, Texas, United States
