We have two themes going this week: Alfa Romeo and longevity. Pretty ironic? So now that we’re at the end of the week, we need to merge the two. How better than with the Alfa Spider, a vehicle whose gestation alone ran a decade, and then was built for almost three decades. Longevity indeed; well, of some sort. In sports car years, the Spider’s life-span is almost an eternity, and the only competition was the Porsche 911, which went through more substantial changes. Whether the Spider’s longevity was a good thing or not, is subject to debate. But let’s just say not everything gets better with age.
Let’s start with a quick look at the Spider’s predecessor, the Giulietta Spider, which had a more typical lifespan of ten years, from 1955 to 1965. Designed and built by Pininfarina, it was a gem in every sense of the word, and a hard act to follow.
Pininfarina got an early start on what would end up its successor. The 1956 3500 Super Flow was the first of a number of design exercises that led to the production car ten years later. Here, the front end first takes shape. Not easy to see in this picture are the plexiglass fairings over the headlights and those “exposed” front wheels.
The second edition of the Super Flow was a bit closer to earth, but 1957 was still in the fin era.
By 1959, the Spider Super Sport already had the major design elements down, including the scalloped sides and the rounded tail.
The 1960 Coupe Speciale shows the tail here quite clearly.
The Giulietta Spider Speciale from 1961 might as well be the “concept” for the the final Duetto Spider.
The production Spider arrived in 1966, and was named Duetto, from a write-in contest. And who better to show off its handsome lines than Dustin Hoffman, in the 1967 mega-hit, The Graduate. And how much did Alfa reap from that fortuitous appearance? Perhaps it’s the biggest single reason for the Spider’s longevity.
The original Duetto was only built for two years, 1966 and 1967, with its plexiglass headlight covers and 109 hp 1570cc engine.
For 1968, the Duetto was replaced by the Spider Veloce 1750, which had a number of improvements including of course the larger 118hp 1779 engine, which even received a SPICA fuel injection system for the US. But the plexiglass headlight covers had to give way in the US, as the result of new 1968 regulations.
The biggest single change in the Spider Veloce’s long life happened in 1970, when the long tapered tail was chopped and filled in. It certainly looked more contemporary, but count me in as one of those that has ever since lamented that tailectomy. By 1971, engine size reached its final 1962 cc size, which was rated at a healthy 132 hp, at least in Europe. Needless to say, US emission regs began to take their toll about this time, and it’s probably too depressing to dig up the actual ever-shrinking hp numbers. By the mid-late seventies, the Alfa was increasingly more about style and tradition than leading-edge performance.
The Series Three Spider covers the years 1982 – 1990, and our CC car falls somewhere in there, but I’m not sure exactly where. The most blatantly obvious change was a black rubber spoiler, and that name is very aptly applied here. It was very painful to see Pininfarina’s brilliant original design be sullied like this, but, hey, it was the eighties!
Here’s a closer look, if you can bear it. I can’t. Next shot please!
Compared to the back, the front is almost bearable, if one doesn’t look below the front edge of the sheet metal. All things considered, and compared to abominations like the final MGBs, the integration of the front 5 mph bumper really isn’t all that bad.
Pinin, who died shortly after the Duetto appeared, was probably spinning in his grave when he saw how the last car he still had a hand in its design, ended up.
And in case you’ve ever wondered about the origins of the word Spider, just look closely at this picture. No. it’s not photoshopped, and I didn’t notice it until just now.
The Spider’s interior also evolved, but I’m not going to show all the steps. Well, except the first, because as usual, it was the best.
Isn’t that pretty much always the case? Maybe not, but I’ll take body-colored painted steel over cheap plastic any day.
At the time, I assumed that the Series Three Spider Veloce, including the rather bizarre hard-topped Spider Veloce Quadrifoglio had to be the final blow-out. Good riddance! I’m such a carmudgeon.
But no, in 1990, a fourth series appeared, with a concerted effort to leave the eighties’ gauche black plastic behind, and try to recapture a bit of the original Duetto’s clean lines. Or I assume thta’s what it was trying to do.
The rear was in for a more serious redo, and although it’s of course drastically cleaner, it also lacks any character. Dull, generic, anodyne. I’d long given up looking at them by this time anyway, unless it was an early one. At least the fourth series was a short ine; by 1993 the end finally arrived. I’m sure Pinin could never have imagined it lasting this long anyway, but it did keep a line in his factory going for almost thirty years until it finally graduated.
Paul,
The subject car of this CC is most likely a 1986. That was the first year with the redesigned interior – I can always tell ’86-’90 Series 3 Spiders from ’83-’85s because of the instrument cluster and the design of the shifter.
Thanks; then we shall call it an 1986.
An 86 would have the highmounted taillight integrated into the rubber spoiler. More likely a very late ’85…The license plate supports this as well, I had an early ’86 GTI with CA blueplate 1RSU678, the issue date of the plate on the subject car is several months prior to this. In CA the plate travels with the car upon sale even though it can be replaced for a fee. Most cars travel through life with the same plate as long as the stay in CA.
I was also under the impression that the new dash was a 1985 intro not 1986. I had an 84 with the older dash, much nicer with the twin nacelles..
The 86 has a rubberized rear spoiler that was changed in 84 for a hard plastic piece that looks much better.
The car on the photos is an1986, with steel wheels, competition style. The veloce did not come with Steel wheels but with Cromadora alloy wheels.
The graduate was a base car of the Veloce, which included Power Windows A/C and power mirrors.
This is my 1983 Upgraded Spider veloce, includes modified suspension, Engine, Headers, advance timing, 10.9.1 piston, 175HP, Cross drilled rotors, adjustable shocks, super sports springs, Euro headlights. 16 inch Dinamic wheels power door locks, power antena and much more.
There was one of these in my neighborhood, moldering under a tarp for a long time. Red, of course, and likely from the 70s. It went away some time in the last year.
I have to confess that this is one car that never caught my fancy. Particularly after the tail was flattened, there just seemed something “off” in the styling. Looking at that rear photo of the red 71, I wonder why they did not continue the side scallop around the rear corners to transition into the taillights, which are exactly the same height. As it was, the scallop starts out bold in the front, then kind of forgets why it is there and just meanders off.
The Giulietta Spider that was replaced by this car makes me drool.
And I believe that they, in an absolute desperate marketing measure, called the car the “Graduate” for a couple of years? I cringed when I saw that.
Yes, it was a low-priced low-content version near the end. I cringed too!
Actually, they always had 2 models, the graduate, which was the base model and the Spider Veloce the upgraded version.
Below is my 75, 2.7Ltr 275 HP. Above is my Spider Veloce 1983 Updated
ugh.
I remember seeing the fourth series cars at the Chicago Auto Show when they were new, circa 1990-92. I think they were sharp looking cars, and much cleaner than the previous black plastic-trimmed versions. I also liked the 164s of that era. Subtle, but with nice lines.
mmmm… I thought so too… and the 164 I drove was the prettiest car I’ve owned.
A beautiful car but thet really should have ended production by the early 70s before the bumper stupidity began and the US performance restrictions kicked in.
If I remember my Wikipedia prowl on these cars 2-3 months ago, the early 80′s Spiders had the same spoiler, but body colored and were made black sometime after 1983, perhaps for the ’84 model year.
That said, these 80′s variants seem to be the ones most represented as I saw several of these from the 80′s this summer, a couple from before the black spoiler (a creamy yellow one), the rest, had the black rubber spoiler. No post 89 Spiders though I’ve seen them a couple of times over the years in the past and a couple of years ago, saw a red early 70′s I think spider, mostly all original, non restored still being driven and looked much like the red ’70 you show – virtually all of these in the Seattle area or out in Bellevue where I work.
Otherwise, I hardly see any other Alfa Romeo on the road outside of a vintage late 60′s or early 70′s GT coupe I think a year or 2 ago on my way to Tacoma and several FIAT 124 Spiders over the summer too.
I really like the 1990s Spider, I think it is a beautiful redesign, especially compared to the 1980s monstrosity. They seem to be getting very cheap, and one day I’d like to get one as a weekend car (after all, as they say on Top Gear, you aren’t a true car nut until you’ve owned an Alfa).
Be different.
Instead of shoving the ubiquitous Chevy small block into the critter for propulsive power slide a slant-6 in.
Wheeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for another brilliant write-up Paul – as so often happens you’ve shed light on something I’d never thought of before, but I suspect much of my MG antipathy stems from the contrast of this similarly long-lived design’s handling of 70s-80s safety bumpers. The Alfa manages to stay looking sleek and elegant while the MGs of my youth all looked like they’d had their snouts in the liquorice jar.
Incidentally, still eagerly awaiting that Automotive History piece on 5mph bumpers
My dad bought a ’74 Spider new and commuted in it until it was totaled in the late ’90s. In retrospect it was a great car. Not as reliable as modern cars, but no more problematic than the US cars of the ’70s and ’80s that we had. I think it made it to about 250,000 miles before its demise, although the engine was rebuilt along the way. I think having a specialist Alfa mechanic was the key to its longevity.
Learning to drive in the ’90s, that thing was a blast compared to my other options at the time. I remember in particular the beautiful sound of the engine, the fancy wooden wheel, the lack of functioning seat belts, the oddly placed shifter, and the weird throttle knob that could be pulled out to set the engine RPMs at a certain level, sort of like a rudimentary cruise control. And the rust hole in the floorpan under the driver’s foot, through which you could feel the pressure of water spraying on the underside of the floor mat when you drove through a puddle. Also, it had the coolest feature – a foot-switch operated windshield washer/wiper – enabling you to keep both hands on the wheel at all times. I also remember its aggressive tendency to oversteer on even slightly wet pavement, and even at lower RPMs in 3rd or 4th.
I think the late ’70s Spiders were less appealing due to the rubber bumpers, and because the 1975 and onward mandatory catalytic converter robbed performance and caused them to run poorly. Supposedly the bespoilered 1980s models had regained the performance of the pre-1975 cars, but I’ve never driven one. I didn’t hate the rubber spoiler though; it seemed appropriate for the time. I never really liked the early boat tail versions though, but I suppose I’m in the minority for preferring the Kamm tail.
In my family the Spider’s duties as daily driver were taken over by a series of German cars from the latter half of the ’80s: a 4000 Quattro, an 8-valve A2 GTI, a 911, and an R107 SL. All but the Audi are still in use, with the VW serving as the daily. Of those cars, I prefer the GTI for the same reasons I liked the Spider. Both offer a combination of light weight, peppy I-4, and agile chassis, and both offer an engaging and entertaining driving experience that is greater than the sum of their specs.
I remember seeing them with the ‘Graduate’ badge and thinking “oh how subtle” or “oh how desperate”….
I had a silver 1978 Spider. Funnest car I’ve ever owned, compared to a MK I GTI and MK II GTI 16V. I remember that it was the first rwd car I owned and I was astonished how easy and nonchalant it was to hang out the tail. I felt like I could sip from my cup of tea, fiddle with the radio and steer with the rear end without breaking a sweat. And this was coming from a fwd guy!
Drove a 1986 for a while when my cousin’s first wife got very sick for a time and couldn’t drive hers. Gods, going back to my high school in that thing was epic! Top down, slow cruise…so much nicer than my ’78 Arrow. The car wasn’t fast, but it was RED…and a manual tranny…with leather! I didn’t care! Nevermind that not long after my time with her (the car…not the ex-wife), the tranny completely gave up the ghost. Around that time, my cousin bought his 1st gen CRX Si, and never looked back (at his wife, or the Alfa). Still…good times…