Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Alfa has an exquisite Busso V6 and stylish Pininfarina styling. There’s some ugliness in regards to the particulars, and meaning we’re going to must look well at its worth.
Beauty, in fact, is within the eye of the beholder. In the case of yesterday’s 1983 Mercedes-Benz 380 SL, somebody thought its appears may very well be improved by the liberal software of mattress liner coating on the wheel arches and bumpers. The outcome was not universally lauded within the feedback. One factor most of us might agree on, nonetheless, was the $6,750 price ticket. That earned the crinkle end convertible a strong 60 % Nice Price win.
Now, in relation to its design, as we speak’s 1991 Alfa Romeo 164S is a bit uncommon. The saloon’s styling is the work of Pininfarina, and whereas it’s common for Italian automakers to lean on design homes for the heavy lifting in relation to styling, that work is often reserved for coupes and convertibles. Historically, sedans by makers reminiscent of Fiat, Alfa, and Lancia have been dealt with in-house. The 164 is a saloon that Alfa apparently felt was worthy of carrying fancy designer duds. It is all the higher for it. That’s all of the extra vital since the large Alfa’s design is considerably restricted by being primarily based on a typical structure shared with the up to date Fiat Croma, Saab 9000, and Lancia Thema. Of the quartet, solely the Alfa bought its personal door skins and benefitted from Pininfarina’s penmanship.
It was maybe all for naught, because the 164 can be the final Alfa to hit the U.S. market earlier than the corporate packed up its Vino Rosso and Grana Padano and left the States again in 1995. Alfa would lick its wounds again in Italy till its not-so-triumphant reappearance greater than 20 years later. This was additionally notably one of many very first Alfas to take pleasure in corrosion safety proper on the meeting line moderately than the extra conventional factory-installed rust.
Our automotive is offered in black over a biscuit leather-based inside. Beneath all that, it wears aftermarket O.Z. wheels and — befitting an previous Alfa — quite a lot of points. The paint appears to carry an honest shine, and this being the sizzling shoe ’S,’ it sports activities rocker panel extensions and a spoiler on the deck lid.
The engine here’s a 3-liter version of the legendary Giuseppe Busso-designed Arese V6. That sits sideways and appears fairly badass with its chrome intakes and Alfa Romeo script cam cowl. In the S, the engine makes a laudable 230 horsepower and 202 lb-ft of torque. Perhaps much more laudably, that works its magic by a five-speed handbook gearbox driving the entrance wheels.
There are 134,000 miles on the automotive, which isn’t a excessive quantity for a lot of automobiles, however bear in mind, that is an Alfa. The advert notes that whereas the automotive’s bones are good — no rust, nice gearbox, and so forth. — the automotive does have its gremlins. Those embody what the vendor claims to be the necessity of a valve adjustment, which calls for particular instruments and a working information of voodoo, in addition to a vacuum leak that must be tracked down and some dangerous entrance struts requiring substitute. A brand new set of struts comes with the automotive, however set up is outwardly as much as the brand new proprietor.
Other points embody a cracked windscreen and the query of what to do with the packing containers upon packing containers of elements and paperwork accompanying the automotive within the buy. On the plus facet, the automotive seems to be in fairly good form apart from the issues famous. There are not any electrical points nor any main aesthetic gripes.
The cabin, like the outside, is a design tour de power that includes a button-heavy console dominating an in any other case clear dashboard that hugs the windscreen base. The solely points listed below are some peeling of the stitched trim across the instrument binnacle and an aftermarket stereo that appears a bit misplaced. The seats have been re-dyed, and whereas the driving force’s throne seems a bit drained, it’s not worn by or nasty-looking.
According to the advert, the Alfa has a clear title and comes with a $4,300 price ticket. What’s your tackle this mildly problematic 164S and that asking? Does that appear like a deal for a automotive with such a historical past? Or does that worth make this an Alfa with a dim future?
You determine!
Washington DC Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
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Source: jalopnik.com