Do you know why it is called "Spider"?

If this has been posted up before I apologise now but several searches turned up loads of threads containing the words!

Where does the term "Spider" originate?

Apparently it is a distant association with a light horse-drawn carriage which looked vaguely arachnid thanks to its spindly construction and many-legged folding roof.

So now you know.

The original round-tail was knicknamed "osso di sepia" in Italy meaning "Cuttlefish Bone" as all Budgie fanciers know looks a bit like the rear end shape.

I also read that the initial public response to naming it yielded 100,000 responses in two months ( no internet then so ) which included:

"Alfa Acapulco", "Al Capone" (is that where "Acapulco Al" took his name???), "Edelweiss" , Lollobrigida, Pizza, Shakespeare and Stalin.

Acknowledgement to an old issue of Practical Classics in my desk!

Cheers for that. Good stuff!

Originally Posted by 73GTVJim

I also read that the initial public response to naming it yielded 100,000 responses in two months

I think that's because the winner could win a car!!

Duetto was the winner. Spider is the generic Italian term for a convertible. And it doesn't have a "y" in it like many people insist!

I didn't know why it was called a Spider....


The Alfa version looks a darn sight better than the original ....

A "spider' or 'spyder' carriage was a lightly build carriage with disproportionately large slender wheels.

Supposedly two seater soft top cars became synonymous with spider (spyder) because of the Porche 550 Spyder

Intersting

Originally Posted by RicksAlfas

Spider is the generic Italian term for a convertible. And it doesn't have a "y" in it like many people insist!

I read this recently but can't remember where.

It's Spider in Italy as there is no 'y' in the Italian alphabet.

I also read an article saying that it was a misinterpretation of 'Speeder', but that sounds a bit spurious to me.

It was on one of the TV car programs last year that the word spider came from the American speeder, when after the war they hotted up the old V8 cars and chopped of the roof. What is the truth?????

Originally Posted by Filbyman

It was on one of the TV car programs last year that the word spider came from the American speeder, when after the war they hotted up the old V8 cars and chopped of the roof. What is the truth?????

Speeder

Might just be Americans trying to claim something else.....
They did of course come up with the American language and 'English' is a a dialect of American.....

Originally Posted by Stori

They did of course come up with the American language and 'English' is a a dialect of American.....

"English! Who needs that? I ain't never going to England" - Homer Simpson

Originally Posted by Cosmo

"English! Who needs that? I ain't never going to England" - Homer Simpson

LOL...well Homer knows Australian, so he does not need English

Thanks Stori, I had no idea about the origin of the term spider.

Im afraid you are all wrong.

The term comes from the spider-like look of the mechanism for the roof.

Originally Posted by Will

Im afraid you are all wrong.

The term comes from the spider-like look of the mechanism for the roof.

That's as I understood also.

The hood framework is supposed to resemble a Spider, depending on what you're smoking.


The competition was for naming the Duetto, with a Duetto as first prize. (Mirrored recently)

Either way, I'm pleased I don't drive around in an Alfa Pizza

It's called 'Spider' because some clever clairvoyant back in the sixties could foresee that the car would enjoy such a cult following that it would be a great topic of conversation on the web..............

The term "spider" was common in the early 30's, probably in the 1920's. In italy it would be pronounced "speeder".