Right Hand Drive Spiders

One local garage told me that Alfa Romeo never produced a RH drive version of the spider so all RH drive car are conversions, but another local garage said this was a load of rubbish!
Who is correct? How can I tell if my new (to me) s3 spider was converted and by whom?

According to Chris Rees, all S3s came in as LHD. The main converters were Bell & Colvill (who's work appears to have been done by Ellisons of Hull) their's would be missing the passenger side glove box. Lombarda carriage were another major convertor who still deal in Alfas perhaps they could help? no stickers in the door jamb etc

All S3&S4 spiders were originally LHD, Duetto's And S2's were made in both, any conversion to RHD should bear the companies name, SeaKing for instance use to place a plaque on the dash centre, there were factory authorised convertors but a lot were converted by others

Seaking and B+C were the main converters iirc.

wrinx

On my converted S4 the Seaking plaque is on the door jamb near the lock mechanism....

and I have seen some with a plaque on the centre console

Thanks for all your replies.
I can't see any stickers or bagdes anywhere but there is a a glove box on the passenger side which is open without a door.
At least it has been confirmed that all s3's were originally LHD.

Bell & Colville who are located near Leatherhead in Surrey had started importing the Series 3 in the mid 1980's and converted these cars to right hand drive before sale. I remember driving past their garage in the late 80's and early 90's and they always had a half dozen Spiders parked out front to drool over.

When Alfa started selling the Spider S4 in 1990 it was offered only in left hand drive through the Alfa dealerships. Bell & Colville continued to sell converted cars and sales were brisk. Sales of the S4 continued well until Alfa Romeo UK dropped a klanger of enormous proportions. They made the statement that having a Spider converted to right hand drive would invalidate the warranty. Existing owners were furious, buyers were turned off and Bell & Colville were angry to say the least. The threat of legal actions came from owners of the converted S4. The story got lots of coverage in the motoring press and everyone thought that Alfa UK would come to an arrangement with Bell & Colville who had supported the Spider since the 80's. Eventually after almost a year..Alfa UK offered the right hand drive conversion as an option to those purchasing through an Alfa dealership....this approved conversion being carried out by Seaking.
Alfa UK's poor marketing of the S4 and the warranty issue resulted in low sales for the model.

Hi,
I,ve just seen that you have a Seaking Plaque in your car. Does it have an address as I'm interested in converting my S4 to right hand drive. Thanks,
Ken

Originally Posted by alfaGJ

On my converted S4 the Seaking plaque is on the door jamb near the lock mechanism....

and I have seen some with a plaque on the centre console

Hi,
Is there an address on the plaque. I'd like to contact them with a view to converting my LHD S4. Thanks,
Ken

The Plaque does not carry any contact details I'm afraid.

To be honest the chances of them still being in the business of converting 1990's Spiders is very small.

I looked into converting my S3 to RHD but I hit a technical problem - I was outbid trying to buy a kit of parts on Ebay.......!

(I still have a set of dashboard converting parts if any one is interested though).

On a serious note, I was informed by two specialists that it is best to leave it as LHD. One of the reasons was that the floor is shaped differently on the one side, which could make it a bit uncomfortable for tall drivers like me.

I still haven't worked out who converted my S3 yet but I am 6' 2" tall and I find my Spider quite comfortable to drive but a little cramped ( my daily drive is a people carrier! )

does anyone know if the previously mentioned Ellisons of Hull (who did the work for Bell and Colvill) are still trading.or have a contact number.The car i have just bought was part converted by them, i was told.I am after parts to finish the conversion.
Thanks

When my engine had to come out a year ago (or three as my wife reminds me.....), I seriously looked into converting it to RHD. I did make contact with Bell & Colvill but was informed that they only did the conversion work on Spiders when they were new, and that they would be unable to help with any conversions or parts because it wasn't their policy.

Previously to my S3 purchase, I did own a converted 1984 model, and although I never found much about the history of the car, there was a suggestion that some RHD Spiders came out of South Africa. Wherever it was done, it was rather a mess - all wires had been neatly extended to reach to the right hand side, but all wires were the same colour! In addition, the LHD ZF steering box had been retained but that and the idler had been swapped over with the help of some suitably made spacers to allow mounting to the same holes. The dash had been recovered quite well, and from memory it did have a glove box with lid. I cannot recall whether the speedo was in MPH or KPH, but I think KPH. There were no badges anywhere. Bodges yes, but no badges.......

I have an S4 spider which is immaculate and is right hand drive. Came in from Germany in 1999 through Hull and was professionally converted but not sure by whom but has badge on the back "Hauser" and was converted after new. If no one told me that they didn't make these in right ahnd drive, which they didn't, I wouldn't have known by vehicle lay out as feels and drives like it was always right hand drive. So far had no problems with parts at decent prices form Alfaholics.

Silver S4 from Germany RHD conversion in 98
only problem I have with it is using original electric mirrors and they dont give decent coverage for right hand drive.

Hi,

I have a 1996 Spider V6 12v. I'm sure Alfa did not sell the V6 spider until 2001 and that was 24v. Mine is a right hand drive but the speedo is still in km/h. Does anyone reckon the car is a conversion or were some of these cars actually made for the UK market??

IBB.

YES YES YES!!!!!!!
Seaking appear to be still in business and they are in Kent. Try your friend Google.