Alfa Romeo Spider
The previous instalment of my nine-year life with the Spider ended with a vague promise that I would finally address its need for improvement in the carpet department. The current tawdry and tatty set rather lower the tone in the cockpit and have been served notice on more occasions than I care to admit. I have a sneaking suspicion that they were bought many years ago from one of those
Exchange & Mart small ads that are so full of exclamation marks that there’s no room to mention quality. Yet every time I threaten to whip the seats out and buy something more fitting – in both senses – life intervenes in some way.
I regret to say it has happened again, this time in the shape of a shoulder injury that I’m told quite commonly occurs to gentlemen of mature years when reversing in and out of garages. In my case it was backing onto the drive, but the pain is the same, as is the ridiculous length of time it takes to heal – so far two months and counting. Lifting and spannering is out of bounds for my left arm, and I can only drive cars where the gear lever is in a safe position for right-handed shifting.
Luckily that includes the Alfa, as I confirmed after some tentative practice in the garage, because we had an important invitation. Our sister title Practical Classics was holding a bash to celebrate the magazine’s 40th birthday – in a large, airy barn at Peterborough Showground with promised supplies of disposable gloves and hand-sanitiser. I’m a long-time contributor and the Spider used to appear in PC’S version of Our Cars before becoming a
Classic Cars regular six years ago. The Alfa seemed as enthusiastic as I was about the trip, for once starting without issue despite a two-month winter lay-up, and snarled its way happily up the A14 from Cambridge, reminding me once again why the novelty has yet to wear off after nine years of ownership.
I’m glad we made the effort. The party was great, heightened by the knowledge that such gatherings were about to become impossible for some time. Most had made the effort to bring their classics, and it was good to meet up with some old colleagues I’d not seen for more than 20 years.
But the best bit was meeting ‘Zoey’, a Pat Moss-driven Austin A40 that appeared on the first issue’s cover, was restored as a long-running early project by PC, and was the reason (because my first two cars were A40s) that I bought my first-ever classic car magazine, back in 1980. I seem to recall it was from the open-air news stand in Leadenhall Market. Look where that led.
Even better, I was handed Zoey’s keys and took the noisy and very lively 1275cc-engined Austin for a spin around the showground’s roads. It was an experience I’ll not forget, but I was still glad to slip back in to the Spider and bomb back home down the A14 at the end of it.