15 Alfa Romeo Spider 2.0
Sold/no built 1982-’90/39,000 (inc 1.6) Engine dohc 1962cc ‘four’; 128bhp @ 5300rpm; 132Ib ft @ 4300rpm Transmission five-speed manual, RWD Suspension wishbones (f); live axle (r); coils, telescopics f/r Steering worm and roller Brakes discs 0-60mph 9 sec
Alfa lovers once decried these ‘soft-tail’ Aerodinámica Spiders as an ’80s travesty that sullied the memory of the ’60s original with their unsightly spoilers front and rear and a triangular blob of rubber where the front grille once sat. Thirty-six years on, with all the good chromebumper 105 Series Spiders at £20,000 (and the Duettos making £30-50,000), the market is about to take a kinder view of these onceunloved variants: at between £7000 and £14,000, they are beginning to look very cheap.
Those figures refer to one of the semi-official, Bell & Colvill-converted right-hand-drive cars (like this one) built from 1984. These were based on new 2.0s, privately imported from Europe to get around Type Approval issues. Left-hooker American-market ’80s Spiders, injected and well down on power, seem to come a lot cheaper.
The 1982 model year bodywork modifications were not the random ‘boy racer’ addenda they might appear to be, but were based on a Pininfarina Aerodinámica Spider displayed at the Barcelona motor show in 1974. It’s no use pretending that they enhance the Spider’s profile but, as a way of keeping the car marketable in its third decade, they did the job. The interior got an ’80s makeover, too, but – apart from the odd bits of veneer and powered windows – the basic architecture was the same. A Nardi wheel and gearknob brighten up this Spider, along with a drum-tight new hood from Classic Alfa – which can supply almost everything for these cars.
The Spider is not a car to be handled roughly but, rather, firmly coaxed. At the heart of its appeal is a torquey, carburetted engine that sings like no other in-line ‘four’, and a chassis set up to excel in high- and medium-speed curves where the understeer peels away to reveal a willingness to change direction – through sensitive, delightfully weighted steering – that is an absolute joy. With its steering box and live rear axle, it is a car that adds up to much more than the sum of its parts. In the ’80s it was something of an embarrassment to its creators, who were struggling to produce anything for its modern range with even a fraction of this 20-year-old design’s appeal.
The gearlever pokes out of the dash horizontally, like an abandoned brolly, but it’s an inspiring thing to handle: smooth and precise, but with long movements – and not to be rushed into third. You sit low in the usual arms stretched/knees up posture, foot hovering slightly awkwardly over a responsive throttle that gives you the means to urge the Alfa up the road. It pulls with real guts to 5500rpm, yet remains entirely civilised at low speeds.
The brakes are strong and easily modulated, the ride firm – in a way that shows up the wobbles inherent in an open-top monocoque – but far from uncomfortable. In short, you forgive the Spider its external lapses of taste because it’s every bit as good to drive as its older siblings. MB
‘At the heart of the Alfa’s appeal is a torquey engine and a chassis set up to excel in high-speed curves’