Alfa Romeo Duetto white

Year 1972

Our brand new model, but always vintage, the white Alfa Romeo Duetto with burgundy interior, bodywork by Pininfarina.
A classic from the past, for a dynamic couple outside the box.

Rental without driver

It is possible to take advantage of 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 replacement car of the Berlina type  (closed car, not Spider) in the event of adverse weather forecasts.

Rental Requirements:

• At least 25 years old
• 5 years of driving licence
• Credit card as guarantee (pre-authorisation) and/or check at the discretion of the Lessor

A bit of history of this car:

The Alfa Romeo Spider, commonly known as the “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 company, with 28 uninterrupted years of production, divided into 4 successive series.

The enormous sales success achieved by the 1962 “Giulia” model, replicated by the coupé version 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 momentum.

In 1964 the task of designing the spider version was entrusted to Bertone who prepared the prototype of the “GTC” model, based on a design by Giorgetto Giugiaro, which was then mass-produced by Carrozzeria Touring and put on sale in 1965.

The lukewarm reception given by the market to the new “GTC” convinced the Arese-based company 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 from FIAT for the construction of the “850 Spider” model and that Carrozzeria Touring was sailing in bad waters and it was easy to predict its outcome. imminent closure.

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

These proposals had begun with the “Super Flow” dream car, presented at the Turin Motor Show in 1956, followed by the “Super Flow II” version and subsequent evolutions, commonly nicknamed “Super Flow III” and “Super Flow IV”. up to 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 which obtained the immediate preliminary consent 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 had dozens of small modifications made and, in some cases, personally made, which proved to be decisive for reaching the formal masterpiece represented by the “Duet”.

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 10 March 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 made up the Alfa Romeo public relations office, devised an intelligent advertising campaign aimed at creating public events also outside the motoring context . After its debut at the Geneva Motor Show, to which the press devoted ample space, the car was presented on various occasions and compared to personalities from politics and business, but also from show business such as Gino Bramieri. A week of tests on the roads of Lake Garda was also announced, reserved for journalists.

As a precursor to the presentation in the USA, a cruise was organized with an Atlantic crossing from Genoa to New York, stopping in Cannes, on the occasion of the homonymous film festival. On board the turboship Raffaello, with 1300 guests from the world of fashion, entertainment, music and sport – including Vittorio Gassman, Rossella Falk, Anna Moffo and Marie Laforêt – three examples of the “Duetto” were embarked, one green , one white and one red, to represent the Italian flag. During the cruise, a lottery was scheduled, with a drawing of lots among the participants, which awarded a “Duet” as a prize: the winner was the model Heidi Gover, Oleg Cassini’s top model at the time.

But the great international popularity came in 1967, when the “Duet” became a kind of movie star with the film The Graduate, starring 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: give it the name. He will become famous »with an example of the new spider up for grabs. Following a large distribution of special forms for the proposal of the denomination in all the dealers in Europe, 140,501 forms were sent to Arese, of which about 15,000 from abroad. The most popular names turned out to be “Pininfarina” and “Pinin”, in honor of the great coachbuilder who had just passed away. However, the commission judged those denominations unsuitable and opted for the third classified “Duetto”, a name that “will mean double harmony, in the sense that this machine creates a harmony between grace and strength and at the same time harmony in pairs”. as motivated by the poet Leonardo Sinisgalli, president of the jury in charge.

Among the proponents of the denomination “Duetto” the winner of the car up for grabs, a certain Guidobaldo Trionfi from Brescia, was drawn by lot, who collected his white spider on 17 June 1966, personally delivered to him by president Luraghi in the historic headquarters of the Portello.

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

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

In 1994 the name “Duetto” officially reappeared on the bodywork of the “Spider Veloce CE” which represents the last commemorative setup of the 4th series, built in 190 units for the US market alone.