At $4,300, Is This 1991 Alfa Romeo 164S Worth The Effort?

Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Alfa has a beautiful Busso V6 and elegant Pininfarina styling. There’s some ugliness about the details, and that means we’re going to have to look smartly at its price.

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Beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder. In the case of yesterday’s 1983 Mercedes-Benz 380 SL, someone thought its looks could be improved through the liberal application of bed liner coating on the wheel arches and bumpers. The result was not universally lauded in the comments. One thing most of us could agree on, however, was the $6,750 price tag. That earned the crinkle finish convertible a solid 60 percent Nice Price win.

Now, when it comes to its design, today’s 1991 Alfa Romeo 164S is a bit unusual. The saloon’s styling is the work of Pininfarina, and while it’s not unusual for Italian automakers to lean on design houses for the heavy lifting when it comes to styling, that work is usually reserved for coupes and convertibles. Historically, sedans by makers such as Fiat, Alfa, and Lancia have been handled in-house. The 164 is a saloon that Alfa apparently felt was worthy of wearing fancy designer duds. It is all the better for it. That’s all the more important since the big Alfa’s design is somewhat limited by being based on a common architecture shared with the contemporary Fiat Croma, Saab 9000, and Lancia Thema. Of the quartet, only the Alfa got its own door skins and benefitted from Pininfarina’s penmanship.

It was perhaps all for naught, as the 164 would be the last Alfa to hit the U.S. market before the company packed up its Vino Rosso and Grana Padano and left the States back in 1995. Alfa would lick its wounds back in Italy until its not-so-triumphant reappearance more than two decades later. This was also notably one of the very first Alfas to enjoy corrosion protection right on the assembly line rather than the more traditional factory-installed rust.

Our car is presented in black over a biscuit leather interior. Beneath all that, it wears aftermarket O.Z. wheels and — befitting an old Alfa — a number of issues. The paint seems to hold a decent shine, and this being the hot shoe ’S,’ it sports rocker panel extensions and a spoiler on the deck lid.

The engine here is a 3-liter edition of the legendary Giuseppe Busso-designed Arese V6. That sits sideways and looks pretty badass with its chrome intakes and Alfa Romeo script cam cover. In the S, the engine makes a laudable 230 horsepower and 202 lb-ft of torque. Perhaps even more laudably, that works its magic through a five-speed manual gearbox driving the front wheels.

There are 134,000 miles on the car, which isn’t a high number for many cars, but remember, this is an Alfa. The ad notes that while the car’s bones are good — no rust, great gearbox, etc. — the car does have its gremlins. Those include what the seller claims to be the need of a valve adjustment, which demands special tools and a working knowledge of voodoo, as well as a vacuum leak that needs to be tracked down and some bad front struts requiring replacement. A new set of struts comes with the car, but installation is apparently up to the new owner.

Other issues include a cracked windscreen and the question of what to do with the boxes upon boxes of parts and paperwork accompanying the car in the purchase. On the plus side, the car appears to be in pretty nice shape aside from the problems noted. There are no electrical issues nor any major aesthetic gripes.

The cabin, like the exterior, is a design tour de force featuring a button-heavy console dominating an otherwise clean dashboard that hugs the windscreen base. The only issues here are some peeling of the stitched trim around the instrument binnacle and an aftermarket stereo that looks a bit out of place. The seats have been re-dyed, and while the driver’s throne appears a bit tired, it’s not worn through or nasty-looking.

According to the ad, the Alfa has a clean title and comes with a $4,300 price tag. What’s your take on this mildly problematic 164S and that asking? Does that seem like a deal for a car with such a history? Or does that price make this an Alfa with a dim future?

You decide!

Washington DC Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to RevUnlimiter for the hookup!

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