Start with what the Alfa Romeo Spider is: a 2-door roadster, built from 1966 to 1993, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Aldo Brovarone and Battista Pininfarina at Pininfarina. 110,128 were built.
Where it came from
The Alfa Romeo Spider (105/115 series) is a two-seater, front-engined, rear-drive roadster manufactured and marketed by Alfa Romeo from 1966 to 1994 in four distinct generations, or "series", each with modifications ranging from modest to extensive. As successor to the Giulia Spider, the Spider remained in production for almost three decades. The first three series were assembled by Pininfarina in Grugliasco and the fourth series in San Giorgio Canavese.
The last Spider of that series was manufactured in April 1993—the last rear-wheel drive Alfa Romeo before the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione of 2007. In 2012, FCA Italy and Mazda studied the possibility of jointly developing a new Spider for 2015 based on the Mazda MX-5 platform. Ultimately, FCA and Mazda chose to manufacture a modern interpretation of the Fiat 124 Sport Spider rather than reviving the Alfa Romeo Spider.
Under the skin
The record carries the shape — a 2-door roadster — and the layout: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The engine, output and weight have not yet reached the open record, and MotorJury does not guess at them.
In context
In the Alfa Romeo line-up the Alfa Romeo Spider has a clear place: it replaced the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider; it handed the line to the Alfa Romeo Spider (916); the factory was Grugliasco, Turin. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Lamborghini Miura, the Dodge Charger, the Toyota Corolla. Nearby in the Alfa Romeo catalogue sit the A.L.F.A 12 HP and the A.L.F.A 15 HP.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Alfa Romeo Spider has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.