The Alfa Romeo Spider is a known quantity, for sure. It’s the most efficient way to capture the experience of ripping along a Pacific coastline like Cary Grant in the late 60s with some Hollywood coed next to him in the present day, and for a far smaller outlay of cash than you might expect. But if you want the ultimate Spider, you need to find an original boat tail Spider, otherwise known as a Duetto. And for that, you’ll have to spend some money – or you can step up to this project-grade example listed here on Barn Find Classifieds and eBay.

The seller provides a detailed account of their history with this particular Duetto. While the details are helpful, the most important selling feature of this Spider at the time was that it had a perfect, original nose. The seller points out that most of these cars have suffered from some level of nose damage at some point by now, so finding one that hasn’t been bashed is quite a find. The seller put the Alfa into storage at a colleague’s house after picking it up, only to have the car roll at some point into a small gully that damaged the driver’s side nose, bumper, and grill connector.

So yeah – that’s a bummer. If you dig into the gallery photos, you’ll see the results of the mishap. It’s far from the end of the world, but it obviously means that bodywork will be required and this will become yet another Duetto with a nose job. Of course, we can’t ignore the fact that this is a full-on restoration project, but there’s more good news despite this being a project. The seller notes that he was told the previous caretaker had an engine rebuild performed by Sperry Valve Works, one of the foremost names in Alfa engine repair.

The Alfa is said to be solid in all the common trouble spots as well. Jack points, trunk metal, and interior floors are all confirmed as being in good form. The current paint job is obviously not original, with the factory shade confirmed as being white. There are other tweaks as well that don’t meet factory specifications, like a a second ignition switch, but this is hardly a big deal. It’s an old sports car where the previous owners spent money on ensuring engine health was accounted for rather than worrying about every last detail being perfect. Bids are at $2,550 with no reserve, and that strikes me as a possible bargain.