AutoItalia – August 2019

82 auto italia

WRITE TO THE EDITOR AT: AUTO ITALIA, GINGER BEER PROMOTIONS LTD,

ENTERPRISE HOUSE, BUILDING 52, WREST PARK, SILSOE, BEDFORDSHIRE, MK45 4HS

OR EMAIL [email protected]

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FIAT FAN

I’ve been catching up with
my Auto Italiareading
after wintering in Spain
and as usual enjoyed your
publication immensely –
particularly as two of my
all time favourites have
been featured, namely
Fiat's 128 range and the
Coupe Fiat turbo, to give
it its correct title.
I’ve owned four 128s
and that’s what started
my love of Italian cars. As
you rightly say, the Fiat
was so advanced and
sophisticated compared
with what BMC was
offering back in the day. I
had two of the four-door
saloons, a treportecoupe
and an SL coupe, all great
to drive.
When the pre-publicity
arrived for the Coupe Fiat,
I lusted after one and
eventually managed to
acquire a virtually new
one in 2000. It was an LE
and had the double-spoke

wheels you mention in

your article, but I don’t

recollect them being split

rims. I’ve since owned

another two and enjoyed

them all. Pininfarina built

the cars, hence the

beautifully clean lines

with hardly any visible

seams, as they were

mostly lead-filled by

hand. There’s even a

hidden joint on each rear

wing where the rear lights

are mounted.

Gordon Heaton

SPIDER OR

SPYDER?

As a bit of a pedant, I’m

confused by the spelling

of the Italian name for

sports convertibles,

‘Spider’. Is it Spider or

Spyder? No one seems to

be able to make their

mind up. In fact, where

does the name even

come from?

Giles Francis

The word ‘spider’ actually

dates from the age of

horse-drawn carriages,

when light high-wheeled

traps were known as

‘spyder phaetons’. The

name was coined by a

coachbuilder called

Holmes in Dublin in the

19th century because the

wheels were so large in

comparison to the very

light body suspended

between them. Why Italian

car makers in particular

should have adopted this

description for their open-

topped sports cars is a

mystery, although we have

heard some Italians say it

derives from the word

‘speed’. A 1924 decree by

the National Federation of

Coachbuilders in Milan said

it should be spelt Spider,

not Spyder, since the

letter ‘y’ doesn’t exist in

the Italian alphabet. Not

everyone adopted this

view. Ferrari always says

‘Spider’; Maserati always

‘Spyder’; and Fiat can’t

make its mind up – check

out these two US market

brochures for Fiat

1200s. – Editor

ALFASUD VAN!

I’ve stumbled across this

picture of what appears to

be a ‘Panel Van’

commercial version of the

Alfasud. I’ve never heard of

such a thing before. Any

ideas if it’s a factory effort,

or just a conversion?

Lance Humbold

We’ve never seen it

before, either! Judging

from the numberplate,

it’s a South African

vehicle. We know that

Alfas were built under

licence at South Africa’s

lAlfa Romeo subsidiary,

which assembled the

Alfasud in the regular

body style (at one stage

called the Export GTA), as

well as in estate form

(called Sportwagon). We

suspect that the latter

was used as a basis for

the Alfasud Van, probably

in the early 1980s judging

by the look of it. Do any

readers know any

more? – Editor

STUB THE

TOENAIL

I think David Stone is

missing the point with his

comments on the Alfa

Romeo Tonale (“toenail”).

I believe that these days

people are more receptive

of foreign languages than

they used to be, and are

prepared to pronounce

the words as they should

be. Tonale is correctly

pronounced ‘Toh Nah Leh’

• ‘Toh’ as in Tom, and ‘Leh’
  as in let.
  Dante Diaferia