Just what she wanted, almost

[Pottree@domain.elided]

For some time now, my BW has been lamenting my stupidity about 8 years ago in 
selling the 71 spider after spending the best years of our lives together, so 
I'm trying to make it up to her and last night bought her a 91 spider.  She's 
delighted with the power steering (now a must for her) and she'll be happier 
still when we get the A/C working (now, it has no freon so I guess there's no 
way to assess its condition until it's recharged).  And she's graciously 
accepted the fact that the car has 2 major differences from what she had in 
mind: it is white, not red, and it has the first automatic transmission we 
have ever owned, weird as that sounds in a spider.  But, there are some 
positive aspects to that even though I feel we are risking excommunication or 
humiliation. 

The main systems (engine/motor, transmission, brakes) all check out in very 
good + condition, the seats have recently been reupholstered in all 
solid-leather (no dirt-catching suede strips), the car has very recently been 
resprayed in its original bianco freddo (a sloppy job, though) and has a 
brand new top (however vinyl, not canvas, and black, not the tan that would 
match the interior and avoid the police car look with the white coachwork).  
It's got newish 14" Performance 5 point star wheels (not so bad!) with brand 
new P6s (wonder what happened to the original wheels).  

All in all, it seems basically sound and doesn't have too many miles on the 
clock.  As far as I know, it is the non-Veloce (normale?) version, but as it 
has the aftermarket wheels, and has the A/C, I think the only other 
difference in the versions was the fanciness of the vanity mirror in the 
passenger visor, definitely a lowest priority, especially as she will be in 
the driver's seat most of the time.

Naturally, there are a few things that need fixing/replacing and a few things 
missing.

Therefore, I am looking for the following lightweight items FOB Los Angeles:

* boot for convertible top, preferably tan
* glove box door to replace heat-deformed one
* one center and one outboard fresh air system air deflector 
* manual or facsimile for radio operation
* grease-stained shop manual
* gooseneck map light (to mate w/ glove box connector)

If you have any of the above F/S, contact me by e-mail.

When I was examining the car before I decided to buy it, the tach wasn't 
working, but as I took it to my mechanic's for some motor mounts, fluids, and 
TLC, and with only a very modest amount of spirited driving on the way, 
whatever was stuck got unstuck and now the tach works fine and reveals an 
idle of aprox 800 RPM.  I'm assuming this is OK and that there's little or no 
difference in proper idle between a regular 5 speed USA version 2L and an 
automatic.  If anyone knows different, please step forward.  Also, if my BW 
asks, tell her it was my Alfa savvy and mechanical genius that fixed her 
tach; don't let on it was "self-fixing."

The electric door mirrors, clock, and brake lights aren't working -- and 
possibly some other convenience lights currently w/o lamps or w/ broken 
connectors (glove box, trunk, engine bay, courtesy light above passenger's 
feet) don't work either.  I am assuming these are all on the same hot 
circuit.  Haven't had much time to look into it yet (and have no wiring 
diagram), but the fuses seem OK.  I heard there is a multi-connector that 
serves at least some of these devices located just above the shifter.  In an 
automatic, it's easy to get to by pulling out the ash tray with your bare 
hands, which I did.  It seems NOTHING is connected at this block (like a 
roach motel, electrons go in but never come out), which seems suspiciously 
like an explanation to me.  Anyone know if all these things are routed 
through this multi-connector, please don't be shy.  Strangely, the air blower 
works; on my 71 it was on the hot circuit and it was possible to accidentally 
leave it on in the low setting and come back to a dead battery (I myself 
never outright killed a battery this way in the old spider, but did in a Saab 
99E I used to have when I lived in a frozen climate).  Could it be that in 20 
years the factory decided to take the blower off the hot circuit?

Looking forward to getting the details cleaned up and the car on the road.  
So far in very limited transportation-type driving it's put a smile on both 
our faces.

Now the big dilemma: we can have only 2 cars, so we have to decide which will 
be less traumatic to part with, the GTV6 or the 75 (Milano).  Until then, we 
appear patriotic:

Charlie, AROSC, LA, CA, USA
84 GTV6 (red)
91 spider (white)
87 75 (blue)


 

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End of alfa-digest V7 #1136
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