Hi,
I'm looking at buying a Spider (Phase 2 or 3), and have come across a "2003 Blackline Limited Edition" spider and can not find any other reference to this Edition anywhere. Does anyone know anything about this edition?
Hi,
The 'Cup' is the only special addition that I am aware of - not sold in Australia.
Redstyle and Bluestyle were interior colour options - black was standard.
Cheers, Al.
No such creature exists in the 916 model range Jim. Sounds like some poetic licence has been taken in aftermarket badging of the vehicle. I have seen a blackline version in another model line up, even then I don't believe it was a factory version, but a version created by an aftermarket business/garage of sorts.
As far as I'm aware the Oz market had two special edition spiders in 2000 & 2001, these were the 'Millenium' and the 'Duetto' which sticks out like dogs balls as its yellow.
Heres a link to an avid enthusiast who ahs researched this model extensively
http://www.bozhdynsky.com/ (http://www.bozhdynsky.com/)
2003 is also the time when, as you point out, the phase 2 and 3 stopped and started. Its an easy tell, the phase 2 alfa grill is just a small one on the bonnet, the phase 3 alfa grills were larger and went from the bonnet through the front bumper like the GTs, 147s, 159s.
Thanks for the information, I had started to wonder if it was a dealer edition. I must admit the price doesn't reflect it being too special so will see what the seller knows of the designation. There are badge blackline on the rear of the car. The car in qurstion is a phase 2, would love a phase 3, but there doesn't appear to be many early ones that fit the budget.
G'day,
I think they were UK only.
Checkout the 916 section of the Alfaowner site in the UK.
The only references I can find there is to the Blackline wheels, and it looks like there may have been a Blackline edition in the later GT's. Will explore further with the owner.
So I'm heading over to have a look at it tomorrow morning, thought I'd share the ad in case anyone has any thoughts. Talking to the owner he believes the edition added the leather interior (it's a manual roof), extra body kits, possible an uprated engine (??) and bigger wheels. I've previously dealt with the seller on a non-car purchase and seems like he knows his stuff and hasn't spared any expense on the car. Black is not my ideal colour but if it's as well sorted as it seems it will be hard to argue.
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/carindale/cars-vans-utes/2003-alfa-romeo-spider-beautiful-condition-only-119-000-kms/1071277713 (http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/carindale/cars-vans-utes/2003-alfa-romeo-spider-beautiful-condition-only-119-000-kms/1071277713)
Jim, THERE IS NO SUCH MODEL/EDITION OR OTHERWISE Tipo 916 in Australia or anywhere I'd go so far as saying. If you have the chassis number, punch it into ePer and it will give you the details and trim style of the spider. All spiders came with leather seats, yes their was an upgrade to MOMO leather also which give you MOMO embossed seats, red stitched gear knob, hand brake, each gaiter and steering wheel. The Spider you are looking at has been modified by the current owner (or previous) with add on bits. If he is sooo adamant about the edition, it will be noted on the dealership papers, Oh wait, he won't have those I bet...
Don't get sucked in, its just a tricked up spider and for me it looks terrible, but thats a subjective opinion mate. Jim, it has a steering wheel cover on it! Anyhow, timing belts have been done, that's a big plus. Verify when, they need doing every 3 yrs and is the pricier service item on alfas. 12 mnths rego too if your in Qld. If it lives up to all the puffery its not too ridiculous in price if it has auto roof.
O hell, jump junipers robin, I just noticed you can actually send up teh bat signal with the rear tail lights !!!
Jim, its just a standard 916 with a possible upgrade to MOMO interior. Certainly sounds like its been loved. Just makes sure there's paperwork to back up the claims
Quote from: Cool Jesus on August 16, 2015, 06:45:51 PM
All spiders came with leather seats
Not all. Most did get leather, but a few owners must have preferred cloth.
Just looked at the photos. :o I'd be very very surprised if that was an official dealer special.
No disrespect Jim, but the prior owner must have had a Hot Wheels fixation with that errm ... striking ... graphic on the bonnet.
I suggest you use it to your bargaining advantage and tell him that he needs to knock at least $1000 off the price to cover the cost of having tacky aftermarket decals removed!
Certainly doesn't look the sort of thing that an "elderly classic car owner" would go for as a rule.
Thanks guy. Yeah not sure what the thinking is with the limited edition, as I mentioned the owner isn't using that to inflate the price, even he admitted that he had tried to Google it and had no luck. He's only had the car a year and is the third owner, it was originally delivered down the Gold Coast. It does have a bunch of papers (better then some others that I've looked at) so will have a look through those.
I'm getting an inspection done on Wednesday, so will confirm all the mechanicals. As I'm sure everyone is aware, the spider market is a bit of a landmine. Prices all over the place (I can see the people asking $15k to be holding on to their cars for a while), so if the mechanics on this check out, I can work out getting rid of the decals (I've found out that the bird decal is in regards to the Tiesto tie in, but god only knows what a DJ has to do with an Alfa spider).
This website has a pretty detailed list of special edition 916 Alfas.
http://www.bozhdynsky.com/alfa-romeo-gtv-spider-history/
plus loads of other information.
Quote from: BBRT on August 17, 2015, 12:25:58 PM
This website has a pretty detailed list of special edition 916 Alfas.
http://www.bozhdynsky.com/alfa-romeo-gtv-spider-history/
plus loads of other information.
Funny enough, that website believes that the 2 Australian special editions were nothing other then a plaque on a certain colour....
In regards to the leather interior, I believe that was only on the Lusso model, with the electric roof. The car I'm looking at is a manual roof so has an upgraded Momo interior.
I'm interested to hear what everyone thinks is a far price as the $7k mark seems to be the bottom end of the market, with a lot around the $9/10k mark and a few more at the $13/14k mark.
Good luck Jim. Irrespective of the questionable graphics, it does on paper sound like it's been looked after, so if it all checks out, it should be a great, good fun, pick-up. In the long run, I also reckon good examples of the 916 will prove to be a decent investment.
The CF2 engine is pretty much trouble free. If his claims are supported by paperwork, I'd push for sub $6K or lower, it is a manual roof, big, big, big minus in my book, and itys detailing is as everyone is pointing out 'UNIQUE' so that alone will put a lot of buyers off.
- Check for oil leaks under tha car after the test drive. Check oil level and smell (Shouldnt smell burnt or be milky)
- It should idle fairly quietly too, if not thats just a noisy variator or sticky valve which isnt a deal breaker but certainly a negotiating point. Anyhting louder than a little tick I'd be concerned about
- Ask the owner to red line it (watch for their reaction ;D) or see if he will give you permission to push the revs, its should have some get up and go, and not be sluggish. If not then engine hasn't been looked after properly (3 owners on)
- Decals are easily removed with a hair drier, so see if you can use the choice add ons as a bargaining chip too
- Check the paperwork, recent tinming belts and registration are good so be mindful of that when your hammering the owner on price (don't get too silly as that's a $3k-$4k save just there)
- If its a manual roof, that means the seats weren't original, they've been installed buy one of the owners as I do believe I was corrected about cloth seats in the 916 range
- Drive the car with the roof on and off. Have the owner do the roof to see how difficult or awkward it is after their year of ownership
Whats key with alfas is service history, if this does have it, you should be OK. I'm cautious here as I've had owners state the same and produced a log book with no entry in it for the past 8 years??? and no receipts or invoices for work claimed to have been performed... but you say you';ev had dealings with this seller which adds some security.
Putting a few bits together. The car was sold via Rick Damelian's in Sydney (not sure where I got Gold Coast from), and there is an extended warranty from Blackman & Sons for the leather. I found on another forum a guy who bought a same vintage 147 at Rick's and Blackman had installed his interior as well. So I'm thinking they were bringing them in with cloth interior and getting the leather done locally to save on costs.
In regards to the roof, I'm more inclined towards a manual as my family and I have never had good luck with roof motors, so more then happy to have 1 less thing to worry about packing it in.
True dat about the auto roof, they can have their issues. As I type I'm diagnosing a parasitic current drain from the roof electrics on mine and also notice a hydraulic ram is leaking feck! They are convenient though.
If these cars are worth around the $6-7k mark, there a lot of people that are going to be advertising their cars for a while! I've come across a 98 model with more kms for $14k....
That's only my perssonal opinion Jim, havent looked at the market for a while so I was only depreciating my spider. I'd love for it to be up in that range, but some sellers do over value their pride and joy, or maybe they are still up in that range.
So the inspection came back pretty good overall. Only 2 things that really jumped out. The major one is that the bump stops are missing, now I see that this is fairly common so does anyone have a rough estimate of costs or effort involved with that? Going to make some calls tomorrow to see what I can find out.