Here’s Why This Alfa Romeo 4C Is Worth Twice As Much As A Normal One

You know when you’re poking around car listing and suddenly grow wide-eyed at just how much a particular car’s worth? This is one of those times. Although modern Alfa Romeo models are usually known to experience typical luxury car depreciation, one special edition is bucking the trend. In fact, it’s appreciated so hard that it’s now worth about double what a standard version goes for, and roughly $60,000 more than its MSRP.

Crazier still, it actually came to America, which rules out the awesome Giulia GTAm. See, today’s subject is the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider 33 Stradale Tributo, a rather long-named limited edition of just 33 cars that marked the end of the line for Alfa’s lightweight two-seat sports car. With 237 horsepower and 258 lb.-ft. of torque, it’s no quicker than the standard model, but with a zero-to-60 mph time of around four seconds, a feathery sub-2,500-pound curb weight helps ensure it properly moves.

Made exclusively for the 2020 model year, only 33 of these special editions were ever built, with a starting MSRP of $79,995 before freight, and number 10 recently traded on Cars & Bids for an astonishing $145,000. No, that’s not a typo. Sure, it may have just 2,400 miles on the clock and a clean Carfax, but the most astonishing part of it is that it isn’t an anomaly.

The last one of these special editions to come up for auction hammered on Bring A Trailer back in 2023 for $140,000. It had even fewer miles on it — 241 to be precise — which means that despite the collector car market on the whole cooling off over the past year, demand for this particular vehicle remained steady.

For the sake of comparison, a white 2020 4C Spider with the coveted Akrapovič exhaust and just 3,800 miles on the clock hammered for $72,500 on Bring A Trailer back in September. It’s a clean-looking car, but it’s also worth almost half as much as the special edition. So what makes that particular version so coveted? Well, let’s take a closer look.

It starts with a unique paint color, Rosso Villa d’Este. It’s a three-stage color, similar to the methods used for Mazda’s Soul Red Crystal, and it has some delightful depth to it, appearing more dynamic than Alfa’s other tri-coat red, Rosso Competizione. Of course, bronze wheels can look awesome against red paint, so Alfa blessed the 4C Spider 33 Stradale Tributo with a “gray-gold” wheel finish, or in other words, bronze. Carrying a little bit of the outside in, saddle-colored seats (“Tobacco” in Alfa-speak) with black sueded inserts perk up the interior, a finish less cold than black upholstery and less rambunctious than red leather.

In addition to the unique paint, wheel finish, and upholstery, the 33 Stradale Tributo also came with basically every option available on the 4C. An Akrapovič exhaust? Sports suspension? Extra carbon trim? Check, check, and check. It even included a trickle charger and a car cover, which means Alfa Romeo really knew its target audience. So that’s it? A value option package, special paint, and gold wheels? Not quite, because the fundamental chassis of each of these 33 cars is a little bit different than you’d find on a regular 4C.

See, this Alfa Romeo’s claim to fame is its carbon fiber monocoque, where instead of steel or aluminum, the bones of the car consist of one massive carbon fiber piece. It’s usually extremely light and stiff, but also extraordinarily expensive, which is why you typically see it on high-end exotica like McLarens and limited-run Ferraris. In the regular 4C, its signature carbon weave is visible from the driver’s seat to remind you that you’re driving something truly special. In the 4C Spider 33 Stradale Tributo, it comes in a translucent red finish. That sort of thing isn’t just usually reserved for the Paganis and Koenigseggs of the world, it’s also something difficult to replicate.

In addition, the 33 Stradale Edition also came with a coffee table book on the development and production of the 4C, along with the history of Alfa Romeo’s 33 Stradale sports car of the 1960s. Or at least, that’s what the press release says and the cover shown in another Bring A Trailer listing seems to suggest. Consider it a super secret collection of mid-engined Alfa details for the few able to get their hands on it, value defined largely by rarity.

With only 33 made, buyers are now paying essentially a 100 percent premium over a standard Alfa Romeo 4C for special finishes and a few accessories, because those are the only things you just couldn’t get on a regular 4C. Is that crazy? Perhaps, but it’s unlikely that the people buying these are owning them as their only toys. It’s the sort of car that complements an existing collection of Italian machinery, so the better part of $150,000 on an Alfa 4C might be justifiable in this context. For the rest of us, the regular 4C is still a bundle of fun, so it’s nice to know cheaper examples aren’t missing anything hugely important.

(Photo credits: Cars & Bids, Bring A Trailer)

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