Alfa Romeo was into making capable race cars and excellent engines after WW2 but also started making luxury cars with its signature design. The Alfa Romeo Giulia was a successful and good-looking car in the late 50s from the brand and it also had a convertible version.
The Spider Series 1 succeeded the Giulia Spider and its design was based on the concept car, the 1956 Alfa Romeo S3000 CM Superflow, that was showcased at the 1959 Geneva Motor Show. Designed and built at Pininfarina, the Spider Series 1 arrived with the brand’s then-popular twin-cam I-4 engines and featured the iconic boat tail design.
How did the design and development go?
Italian cars were, and still are, known for their powertrain and design. And the Alfa Romeo Spider Series 1 wasn’t an exception either. Two of the best automotive designers of all time, Aldo Brovarone and Battista Farina, were behind the design of the Spider Series 1. During its launch though, the Spider Series 1 did not manage to grab the attention it gets now, and its design was criticized heavily by numerous magazines and the car fraternity.
Then came Dustin Hoffman’s film, The Graduate in 1967 and it featured a red-colored Alfa Romeo Spider Series 1 which was driven by Hoffam himself. It was then that the Spider garnered the popularity it deserved right from the beginning. Like other Italian cars back then, the Spider also had a rounded and smooth-edged exterior design while the interior design was pretty straightforward.
How were the pricing and performance of the Alfa Romeo Spider Series 1?
Back in the day, owning a car from brands such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Maserati, the Italian marques mainly, required the buyers to be affluent. However, the Spider Series 1 did not cost a fortune and carried a base MSRP of $3,950. Due to its design and fun-to-drive nature, the car was often called “poor man’s Ferrari” too. At present, a well-maintained example of a car can cost anywhere from sixty grand to eighty grand.
Coming to the performance of the Series 1, the car was offered with three engines. The powertrain lineup started with a small twin-cam 1.3-liter I-4 motor but the most popular one was the 1.6-liter twin-cam I-4 motor. It produced around 108 horsepower along with 115 lb-ft of torque. The motor was mounted at the front in a longitudinal layout and drove the rear wheels of the car. While the coil spring and the De Dion suspension setup were comfortable for city and highway rides, the lack of anti-sway bars at the rear resulted in excessive oversteer. Irrespective of that, both the performance and the ride were quite sophisticated. In 1968, a less powerful version of the Spider, called Spider Junior was introduced which was powered by the aforementioned 1.3-liter I-4 motor. It was priced less than the rest of the lineup and the motor put out just 89 hp. The 1.6-liter motor allowed the Spider to go from a standstill to 60 mph in under 11 seconds, achieving a top speed of 115 mph while being mated to a 5-speed manual transmission.
