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Spider Without Venom
A car people will buy with their hearts, not their heads
Global warming means different things to different people. For some of us Brits, the warmest May in over 300 years represents the extremity of human folly. For others it was bloody marvellous! – An opportunity to rediscover the joys of ice-cream; drown some cider and murder some steaks on the trusty rusty bbq.
Some issues are less divisive. Take the age-old sight of plonkers swanning around in sporty convertibles. A sight so ridiculous and common on these isles, that derision and giggles will soon be replaced by envy related stone throwing.
Now conjure if you will a potential riposte to these two words: Alfa Romeo. What images flicker? La Dolce Vita, perhaps? The open road? Tuscan Gelateria at sunset? For others it is simpler – one word in fact: Spider.
The four words ‘Spider is Alfa Romeo', an advertising slogan in use nearly 30 years ago, neatly sum up 50 odd years of Alfa Romeo Spider convertible production. When Italians go topless, the world looks on in awe. Alfa Romeo has built its name, if not a fortune, producing knockout cabriolets, and it has just launched its latest sun-seeking Spider. So, how does this object of beauty sit so comfortably with our British miserabilism. Can our reticence towards these isles climes extend so resolutely to the motoring equivalent of a Petrarchan sonnet?
The Spider convertible has an important place in Alfa Romeo tradition. It all began in the 1950s with the Giulietta Spider. Alfa's Giulietta shifted our idea of what a car should be, signaling an abrupt farewell to bland functionality, replacing it with an instant fix, cappuccino like machismo. In short, the Spider offers a different way of life.
Some issues are less divisive. Take the age-old sight of plonkers swanning around in sporty convertibles. A sight so ridiculous and common on these isles, that derision and giggles will soon be replaced by envy related stone throwing.
Now conjure if you will a potential riposte to these two words: Alfa Romeo. What images flicker? La Dolce Vita, perhaps? The open road? Tuscan Gelateria at sunset? For others it is simpler – one word in fact: Spider.
The four words ‘Spider is Alfa Romeo', an advertising slogan in use nearly 30 years ago, neatly sum up 50 odd years of Alfa Romeo Spider convertible production. When Italians go topless, the world looks on in awe. Alfa Romeo has built its name, if not a fortune, producing knockout cabriolets, and it has just launched its latest sun-seeking Spider. So, how does this object of beauty sit so comfortably with our British miserabilism. Can our reticence towards these isles climes extend so resolutely to the motoring equivalent of a Petrarchan sonnet?
The Spider convertible has an important place in Alfa Romeo tradition. It all began in the 1950s with the Giulietta Spider. Alfa's Giulietta shifted our idea of what a car should be, signaling an abrupt farewell to bland functionality, replacing it with an instant fix, cappuccino like machismo. In short, the Spider offers a different way of life.
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