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Alfa Romeo: what to do with the 3 Series Spider?

Alfa Romeo: what to do with the 3 Series Spider?

Can you be proud to drive an Alfa Romeo Spider Series 3 Aerodinamica? The answer is contained in the question, the most caustic will doubtless quibble, but since the author of these lines is not one of them, we will allow ourselves the luxury of examining the machine in depth in order to determine, once and for all, whether it really deserves the opprobrium it is subjected to. The reasons for this are well known: since its presentation in 1982, die-hard Alfa Romeo fans have vilified the car, guilty in their eyes of having given in to the easy way out by sinking into a vulgar modernity made up of superfluous modifications and accessories, distorting the original design. Result: nowadays, the Spider Series 3, built for nine years, is the least highly rated version of the most widespread convertible from the Milanese firm. Which perhaps makes it the smartest choice. 


An engine, a name and nicknames

As a preamble, it is worth recalling that the first public appearance of the Spider Alfa tipo 105 dates back to the Geneva Motor Show 1966. The name Duetto, for trivial reasons of industrial property, was never used officially by the firm; the name of the model, in the great tradition of the house, simply states the engine capacity and it is with the already glorious 1600 cm3 double camshaft that the car begins a career whose exceptional longevity no one, at the time, suspected – during its twenty-seven years in the catalog, the Spider would not receive any other engine. Depending on the vintage and the market, customers only had the choice between four engine capacities, whose power levels peacefully varied from 89 to 128 hp. It was the 2-litre, introduced in 1971, which had the greatest success (70% of the 124,000 Spiders built) but, in truth, even the least powerful engines guaranteed you a joy of living and driving which marked the car's membership in the brotherhood of "real" Alfas. 


Happiness is as simple as a convertible Alfa

That is to say, relatively light machines, equipped with characterful mechanics that do not necessarily need a frenzied surge of horsepower to put a smile on their driver's face - in a recent comparison organized by the German magazine Youngtimer (an offshoot of the famous magazine Motor Klassik), an Alfa Spider 2000 was not to be outdone by the six-cylinder engine of a contemporary Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, which says a lot about the resources of the machine. In any case, fans of the model do not drive with a stopwatch instead of their heart: a bit – in other genres – like a Volvo 240 estate or a Citroën 2 CV, the Alfa Spider is above all an eloquent testimony to a lifestyle, a way of understanding existence and the road and, in this case, a stubborn refusal to give up elegance, the simple and eternal joys of driving with the wind in your hair in its most gratifying sense: a hood that is easy to handle – a far cry from certain British perversions in this area – and which disappears completely from view once folded, while providing a trunk with a comprehensive volume. 


Ex-fan of the sixties

And then, of course, there is this style, this design – due mainly to the great Aldo Brovarone on behalf of Pininfarina – which, until 1982, had been preserved from the worst, the most notable evolution having occurred in 1970 with the abandonment of the characteristic stern of the first models (which enthusiasts nicknamed Osso di Seppia, that is to say “cuttlefish bone”) in favor of a cut-off rear (Coda Tronca) aesthetically more orthodox and allowing to improve the roominess of the trunk. It was in this guise that the Spider would cross the 70s, with this design whose serene obsolescence structured its appeal, like other survivors that escaped from the sixties – we are thinking, for example, of the Porsche 911, Saab 99, Fiat 124 Spider or Daimler DS 420. As one might expect, the long immutability of the Alfa was less a deliberate choice by the Milanese management than financial imperatives compromising the renewal of the model – but after all, didn’t the Mercedes SL R107, the Jaguar XJ-S or the Ford Capri also have unusually long careers? However, the older a model is, the more difficult its restyling can be (if you doubt it, take a look at the funny evolutions of the FSO Polonez or the tragic Bristol Blenheim) and this is the reason why, if the means are lacking, it is better to proceed only with minor modifications - it is the best way to avoid stupidities. An axiom whose relevance has unfortunately not reached the management offices of the Arese firm.

 

How to spoil a way of life

For the 1983 model year, the Alfa Spider was modernized, and the most visible consequence of this first bastardization was the grafting of a front spoiler and a rear spoiler as appropriate on this body as a Diesel engine under the hood of a Porsche (yes, I know). At the time, we can't say that the certified Alfa fans were jumping for joy, but the worst was yet to come with the final modifications made to the "Quadrifoglio Verde" version for 1986, including odious side skirts and "aerodynamic" appendages (the quotation marks are intentional) even more pathetic than their predecessors. It would take until 1990 for the Spider to be reincarnated one last time in the form of a 4 Series that was once again watchable, even if the car never regained the admirable finesse of its beginnings. By general opinion, this 4 series is the most recommended for those who want to be able to drive as frequently as possible, and can even be suitable for daily use.


A hidden treasure

“Just like the Spider Series 3, in short,” will laugh fans of ugly ducklings and cars generally reviled by collectors who are keen to respect conventions and, above all, not to provoke general hilarity by turning up at a gathering of vintage cars. However – don’t tell anyone – the Spider Alfa Series 3 does not only have faults and, if your imagination is wilder than average, it can even have the ambiguous charm of lost creatures. “What you are criticized for, cultivate it: it is you,” said Jean Cocteau… So yes, it’s true, there are these incongruous skirts, these vulgar spoilers and this rear spoiler that you would think was hastily recovered from the shelves of a low-level accessory maker. There is also, inside, this black plastic, as invasive as it is poorly constructed, which recalls the dark hours of the Italian firm. But the essentials are there: the four-cylinder roars with undiminished enthusiasm, the driving position and the layout of the controls remain delightfully vintage and then, above all, the car still has an extremely competitive price/pleasure ratio, the most beautiful examples rarely exceeding 20,000 euros. And it is not at all certain that this will last much longer.

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