Alfa Spider
Alfa Romeo, an Italian manufacturer had made a great judgment when they assembled their first Spider (Alfa Romeo Spider) in 1966. It had became the most popular car during its era with no other manufacturer could ever compete with. The prestige and success of their products had reached all the corners of the world. Their popularity is beyond anyone could ever imagine when talking about cars. Suddenly, Alfa Romeo had become an overnight success. This was the very first step of their success which lasted more than three decades.
The name Alfa Spider does not only denote one car model but there are other models named after this name due to its popularity since then. Although the first appearance of Spider was during the 1961 at the Turin Motor Show, it was still a prototype that was presented to the audience. And since Italy was experiencing economic crises that time, the production of Spider was halted until they made another significant appearance in the last months of 1965. By then, the cars are attributed to the persons who assembled them and it was Pininfarina who produced the first ever-famous Spider.
By the year 1966, during the 36th Geneva Motor Show, Pininfarina’s unnamed car presentation made its highlight, first recognition and acceptance. Since it was unnamed during the presentation, the name “Duetto” was given just to give emphasis on the beautiful car. Amazingly, the price during the launch was 2,195,000 lire. Italy’s Economic crises just ended 2 years before the motor show. Therefore, a lot of the noble in Italy wanted to own one.
Alfa Spiders were released in the following years and still providing the prestige that the first Spider acquired. There were 4 Alfa Romeo Spider Series that followed the footsteps of the original Spider:
* 1966-1969 – Series 1 Spider
* 1970-1982/83 – Series 2 Spider
* 1982/83-1989/90 – Series 3 Spider
* 1990/91-1993 – Series 4 Spider
Alfa Spiders based their chassis assembly on the 105 series of Giulia chassis. Pininfarina, who was believed to have produced “Duetto” as his last masterpiece, made little changes in the chassis of all spiders to fit all the necessity of the engine. Alfa Romeo Spider’s first engine was really huge that they found it hard to fit into the hood. But as a founder, Pininfarina always had his own way to make things fit beautifully.
It was the Alfa Romeo Spider who marked the first introduction of the luxury cars. From then on, nobility of Italy as wheel as the rich people all over the world wanted to have one of the luxury cars that only few people can afford to buy. Perhaps, without Alfa Romeo Spider, the latest luxury cars nowadays may cease to exist.
The style of the “design classic”, as what Alfa Spider is known for, has never faded since then, although, there has been a great evolution on the physical features of the Spiders in its last production on 1993. Until now, such robust, simple and direct design costs too much for a car.
