Alfa Romeo's 1995 Speedster

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In 2018 while touring north-central Italy, I came across this car during a lunch break.  A little Googling allowed me to identify it and refresh my memory of it when the design was new.

As the title of this post states, it is an Alfa Romeo Spider, likely a 1995 or 1996 model.  Wikipedia indicates that the stylist was Enrico Fumia who was working at Pininfarina.  This Spider (pronounced like the English word "speeder") series was marketed model years 1995-2006 and experienced a minor grille facelift during that period.  There also was a coupé version, the GTV.

The Spider has a 100-inch (2540 mm) wheelbase, but its overall length is 168.7 inches (4285 mm), the latter dimension similar to that of the early, classic Porsche 911.  This suggests that the car potentially had reasonable proportions.  But the styling makes it seem stubby, rather than graceful or purposeful.

Gallery

German publicity photo.

Probably a factory image of a 1995 model.  The grille has the traditional Alfa triangular shape that blends into hoodtop character lines.  The hood cut line is atop the front bumper / air intake ensemble and continues along the side abaft of the front wheel opening.  I like the small headlights -- they minimize the "quad" format that I greatly dislike.

Now for several photos of a for-sale 1996 Spider for a walk-around experience.

The side hood cut line is continued upwards as a character line and wraps across the upper part of the car.  It's echoed by the rear bumper assembly's side cut line angle.  Such echoing can be good styling practice, but those angles give the car that stubby look I mentioned above.  The wheels/tires are too small, in my opinion.  If they more closely matched the wheel openings the car might not seem so tall.

This shows the character line wrapping around the retractible top's cover.

The Spider has a nice, high trunk, which makes for practicality.  Rear detailing is simple by today's standards.  The tight radius atop the rear fender is a nice touch.  Not so nice is the relationship of the side cut line of the bumper assembly to the tail light / reflector panel.

Another high view.

A UK Spider.  Even though the aft fender line is defined by the tight-radius fold, the convex side panelling below it gives the car a puffy, sort of bloated look that the wraparound character line reinforces.

Conclusion: the 2005 vintage Alfa Romeo Spider merits the criticism given above.  That said, it was a good enough sports car that British car commentator Jeremy Clarkson really liked the GTV version, according to Wikipedia.  And the odd, distinctive styling did set Speeders and GTVs apart from more conventional designs, perhaps being useful from a marketing/sales standpoint.

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