1987 Alfa Romeo Spider Graduate
"Aurora" is named for the princess in the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty." Her second owner let her sit for a good year after she stopped running. A friend of ours in the local Alfa Club bought her but did not get her running either. Seeing that this was a solid car with all the parts there, we decided to take a gamble. We had AAA tow her to our favorite mechanic, Doug Mitchell at Crown Auto in Gaithersburg, Md. Doug worked his magic and diagnosed an ignition fault. Sleeping Beauty awoke!
Brewster then spent many late nights in the garage to get her looking like she does. A friend in the club and Alfa Parts Exchange helped us score the Turbina Campagnolo alloy wheels we love on these cars. Brew installed a performance air filter from International Auto Parts and has done a good bit of other mechanical and cosmetic work. It has gotten new brakes, a valve adjustment, thermostat, voltage regulator, and of course new battery. And, we charged the A/C and it blows cold! Very few Graduates even have A/C... The stereo has a 6-CD changer in the trunk, and four speakers. The cassette works too.
The car isn't going to win any concours events (it has a rough spot on its left front fender and some door dings, and the paint looks great but isn't perfect up close...), but it has garnered admiring glances at the regional Italian Car Tour and on our club's Backroads Ramble this spring. It drives great--happy to be awakened! The Graduate is the base Alfa Spider of this era, but mechanically like any other. Manual windows ain't so bad--they break less, and the car's so narrow anyway you can put the passenger's up while driving! The vinyl seats also may outlast leather... especially if neglected.
The mirrors are painted to reflect Italian flags Brew always wanted to do this, and after working too late one night just did it... as well as replacing the 'injection' badge on the rear with a genuine Alfa Romeo script so people know what kind of car it is!
The car had 76,060 miles when we got it, and is now around 78,600.
Here it is before the mirrors got painted... for purists!
Even with the spoiler, a Spider's tail is a neat design.
The interior is great! A new shift boot and sassy red floor mats helped it out. The vinyl seats are more durable than leather, especially in sun or rain! There is only one small seam split, in the back of the passenger's seat. There's also a small single crack in the dash, but it's dead center and at the windshield so it looks like it belongs.
The last owner installed a nice cloth top--quite an improvement from the Graduate's standard vinyl.
Aurora is a fun project. With many hours, she has become a most enjoyable drive. She is semi-officially for sale... we'd like to keep Aurora or her sister Blythe, but realistically will have to sell one this fall. (Aurora says, "Buy Blythe!") Offers in the $6200 range will be considered.
