I had begun to think that I was going to get to have another crack at the Duetto I’d viewed back in January; I should have known better. At the time, you may recall, I was a little concerned by the fact that the Duetto was on offer for the same price as the 1976 Spider. It LOOKED clean. it SEEMED good. But in the end, I felt I would need a test drive as well as a PPI to give me the confidence to make an offer. I had been keeping an eye on the dealer’s website and up until recently, it was still there.

Then, a week or two ago, I saw it on ebay. In fairness, ebay was the manner in which I discovered 76 Spider at the same dealership, so I thought that maybe it would sit. It didn’t though. Last time I checked it was sold.

I’m not too disappointed. Were I an Alfa expert I could buy with more confidence having knowledge of the cars, how they drive, what I should expect, etc. Given that I’ve driven very few Alfas, and none for any length of time or “in anger” (as the saying goes) I felt that I really needed a test drive before putting cash on the barrelhead. Someone beat me to it though. C’est la vie.