On Apr 17, 2005, at 9:52 AM, Cotty wrote:
A custom-built Alfa Romeo Spider is my other car ... ;-) http://homepage.mac.com/ramarren/vehicles/fs-3468.htm
Lovely. Who built it?
I had it built from a wrecked '78, a rusted out '82, and a good '79 chassis that was abandoned in a parking lot for two years. It has a lot of subtle development changes under the skin.
I had the inspiration, ideas for modification, and did a lot of the parts acquisition/coordination/detailing work to get the job done, only a little of the actual wrenching (I'm more comfortable building motorcycles). A local Ferrari/Alfa shop where one friend was the service manager and another the principal mechanic did a lot of the heavy lifting: dismantling all three cars, picking the mix of the best components, overhauling and upgrading the engine, and reassembling everything back into a running car.
Since the major work was completed in 1999, the principal mechanic friend and I have continued to develop and finesse the FrankenSpider project independent of the other shops. It's quite a nice little bugger to drive now and darn reliable. I've put about 30,000 miles on it since it rolled in 1999. It's definitely a smooth road car, however ... about 3" of ground clearance under the engine guard and exhaust system means you only go down a rough road with great care.
Godfrey
