Year 1980

Beige color with black interior, carbed by Pininfarina. A classic of other times, for a dynamic couple outside the box.

Rental without driver.

It is possible to use the “Courtesy Service”, which consists of:

  • Delivery and collection of the car on site.
  • Our assistance staff for the entire duration of the rental.
  • Fuel consumption.
  • The use of a substitute car of the type Sedan (car not closed Spider) in case of adverse weather forecasts.

Rental Requirements:

  • At least 25 years
  • 5 years of driving license
  • Credit card guarantee (pre-authorization) and / or check at the discretion of the Charterer

A bit of history of this car: 

The Alfa Romeo Spider, commonly known as “Duetto”, is an open car produced by Alfa Romeo between 1966 and 1994. It is one of the best known models and is the longest-lived in the history of the Milanese house, with 28 uninterrupted years of production, divided into 4 successive series.

The huge sales success achieved by the 1962 “Giulia” model, replicated by the coupe version in the following year, prompted the Alfa Romeo management to quickly complete the range with the spider version, in order to make the most of the favorable commercial moment.

In 1964 the task of outlining the spider version was entrusted to Bertone who prepared the prototype of the “GTC” model, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, then produced in series by the Touring Carrozzeria and put on sale in 1965.

The lukewarm welcome from the market to the new “GTC” convinced the House of Arese to find an alternative solution. The change of course was drastic, also determined by the fact that the production potential of Carrozzeria Bertone was almost completely absorbed by the order obtained by FIAT for the construction of the “850 Spider” model and that the Carrozzeria Touring sailed in bad waters and it was easy to predict the imminent closure.

In 1965 Pininfarina was commissioned to dress the new spider. In the previous decade, it had created a series of interesting stylistic proposals on the “6C 3000 CM” chassis, in order to give a production outlet to the famous “Disco Volante” prototype.

These proposals had begun with the dream car “Super Flow”, presented at the 1956 Turin Motor Show, followed by the “Super Flow II” version and subsequent developments, commonly dubbed “Super Flow III” and “Super Flow IV”, until the “Super Flow V” of 1961.

Starting from that stylistic base, a group of Pininfarina designers, led by Aldo Brovarone and supervised by Franco Martinengo, created the sketch that obtained the immediate prior approval of the Alfa Romeo management.

The evolutionary path of three-dimensional refinement, from the maquette to the definitive prototype, passing through the construction of the bodywork mask, was constantly followed by Battista Pininfarina who made, and in some cases, personally made, dozens of small changes that were decisive for reaching the formal masterpiece represented by the “Duetto”.

It was the last car born under the aegis of the great Turin coachbuilder who died a few weeks after the public presentation of the “Duetto”, which took place on March 10, 1966 at the 36th Geneva Motor Show.

For the launch of the “Duetto” the president Giuseppe Luraghi and the team of “creatives” who at the time constituted the public relations office of Alfa Romeo, concerted an intelligent advertising campaign aimed at creating public events also outside the motor context . After the debut at the Geneva Motor Show, where the press devoted ample space, the car was presented on various occasions and approached politicians and entrepreneurs, but also the show as Gino Bramieri. It was also called a week of tests on the roads of Lake Garda, reserved for journalists.

As an introduction to the USA, a cruise was organized with an Atlantic crossing from Genoa to New York, with a stop in Cannes, on the occasion of the film festival of the same name. On board the Raffaello turbo-ship, with 1300 guests from the world of fashion, entertainment, music and sport – including Vittorio Gassman, Rossella Falk, Anna Moffo and Marie Laforêt – three specimens of the “Duetto” were embarked, one green , one white and one red, to represent the Italian flag. During the cruise there was a lottery, with drawing by lot among the participants, that awarded a “Duetto” prize: the wearer Heidi Gover won, at the time top model of Oleg Cassini.

But the great international popularity came in 1967, when the “Duet” became a sort of movie star with the film The Graduate, played with Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman. From that first appearance the “Duetto” was used as a stage car in about 300 cinematographic or television works.

For the choice of the name, the competition entitled «Spider 1600: the name was given. It will become famous »with up for grabs a specimen of the new spider. Following a wide distribution of special cards for the proposal of the name in all dealers in Europe, 140,501 cards were sent to Arese, of which about 15,000 from abroad. The most popular names were “Pininfarina” and “Pinin”, in honor of the great coachbuilder who just passed away. However, the commission judged those names unsuitable and opted for the third classified “Duetto”, a name that “will mean double harmony, in the sense that this machine achieves a harmony between grace and strength and at the same time harmony in pairs”, as the poet Leonardo Sinisgalli, president of the jury, motivated.

Among the proponents the denomination “Duetto” was drawn by lot the winner of the car put up for grabs, such Guidobaldo Trionfi of Brescia, who withdrew his white spider on June 17, 1966, personally delivered by President Luraghi in the historical site of Portello.

Starting from June 1966, the appellation was officially joined to the 1st series of the “1600 Spider”, but could only be used for the first 190 copies, due to the homonymy with a chocolate snack of the time, whose manufacturer claimed the right to commercial use of the name “Duetto”, obtaining exclusive use by the Court of Milan.

The denomination “Duetto”, therefore, was eliminated, but remained so rooted in the common language that all the subsequent evolutions of the Alfa Romeo spider, descendants of that first model, are normally (even if improperly) identified as “Duetto”.

In 1994 the name “Duetto” officially reappeared on the body of the “Spider Veloce CE” which is the last memorial set up of the 4th series, produced in 190 copies for the US market alone.