eBay Find: 1991 Alfa Romeo 164 – Craigslist? On my eBay?

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I’ve always preferred eBay to Craigslist. Call me paranoid, but there’s something about the unpolished, plain-site look of Craigslist that just make me look at absolutely anything within it with considerable doubt. Things like the “Personals” section and the horror stories that are a Google search away do nothing to reassure either; eBay could be an Apple store by comparison. But on this particular listing, with the blurry image you see above headlining it, I felt as though some of the soul from the list of Craig got lost and somehow ended up on the Bay of e.

CC P80 057 925(If these wretched pictures of this 164 are a bit off-putting, here’s one from Paul’s CC of this handsome car)

I’m not the only one feeling that, right? The blurry pictures of a beaten car with missing trim taken in what seems to be the parking lot of a local hospital, mixed with daytime pictures of an absolutely filthy interior apparently taken at an entirely different location, then combined with a description of less than one hundred words and therefore could fit on the back of a business card. Even if the seller is completely honest and simply has no idea of how to structure a good ad it just feels off, for lack of a better word.

1991 Alfa Romeo 164 with 102K , daily driver for the past year, owned it for about 6 years. Good running engine, body has no signs of rust or a major accident. Transmission switches gears a little fast, a common problem that can be corrected without dropping the transmission about $100 in parts. Selling it cheap. The low mileage engine alone is worth at least $1500. Sold As Is could use a little work here and there but it’s a daily user.

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I’m guessing that the huge dent and missing indicator are just a minor accident. Also point of note with used cars; if someone says that there’s something that needs fixing and that’s very easy and inexpensive to fix, it isn’t. If that was the case, they’d do it to increase the value of the sale. Also, there’s no picture of the odometer.

CC P80 059 925

The first time I saw an Alfa Romeo 164 was in the yellow pages. The year was 1998 and I was browsing through this fascinating gigantic yellow book that had arrived for no apparent reason but was filled with cool pictures and lots of phone numbers for many useful things. I spent a couple of hours looking before I arrived at the automotive section and was greeted by one of those. I was six, and the Internet hadn’t been popularized yet so all I knew from it was that it was very pretty and that the triangular grille looked weird and interesting. You can tell Alfas never sold all that well around my neck of the woods. It seems that was the case in America, too, with the 164 being the last Alfa Romeo officially imported to the United States until the 8C’s arrival in 2007.

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As I learned about Alfa Romeo’s storied run in the automotive world and all the amazing things they’d done over the years, my curiosity about them only increased; even today I’d love to own one. Not this one though– even if I wanted a fixer-upper, there are enough red flags to sew together and make a car cover for the Alfa. However, if parts support, reliability and a bit of light restoration doesn’t scare you, and you have a second car to move you about, the listing is here. It could be extremely enjoyable or go horribly sour in an instant. That’s what makes it exciting, isn’t it? Plus, he may actually have the title in hand.

More: CC 1993 Alfa Romeo 164 – Alfa’s American Farewell Present