Sheer pedantry

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-568 Robin Boyar writes that "Alfa never really designated a name for
the 1966-67 Spider, equipped with the 1600 engine and carburetors.  The
company held a contest to name the car and although the name "Duetto" won, it
never became
official due to some legal use of name issues.  Because of its rounded shape,
the car was often referred to as a boattail, roundtail, or "osso di sepia",
the Italian word for cuttlefish (which it resembles)."

It may be true that there were copyright conflicts, but Luigi Fusi (who will
serve as The Authority in MY book) lists (in his "Numerazione" section on
serial numbers) a "Giulia 1600 Spider" in 1963, '64, and '65, and a "Giulia
Spider Duetto" in 1966 and 1967. In 1968 we find both the "1750 Spider Veloce"
and the equally round-tailed "Giulia Spider 1300 Junior". The "Giulia 1600
Spider" in the table was the 101, so a distinct name was called-for for the
105 Spider. 

In the text section Fusi tells of the naming competition but says that
enthusiasts preferred to call it the "1600 Spider" ("L'Alfa Romeo bandi un
concorso per dargli un nome da cui sorti quello di "Duetto", ma gli
appassionati preferiono chiamarlo "1600 Spider")

And the car does NOT resemble a cuttlefish. Osso di Seppia is the bone of the
cuttlefish, not the rather, uh, unatractive beast itself.

Robin continues "In 1968-69 (in the US), most of the cars were equipped with
the larger 1750 engine and SPICA.  For some reason (I'm not sure why), those
cars are generally referred to as boattails and roundtails, but not Duettos.
Unfortunately, the later model cars are often erroneously referred to as
Duettos."

The "boattail" confused me when I first heard it, as most of the boats I was
familiar with had transoms, like the later body, while those sailboats which
did not have transoms were called double-enders. Since there was no 101 1750,
it was quite reasonable to call the 1750 Spider just that, rather than Duetto
1750. Then the 1750 spider production slurped into the transom-tail body, and
the roundtail, or osso, differentiation became useful, while the transom-tail
became the Kamm-tail, although it almost certainly had no Kamm-effect
advantage.

Cordially, 

John H. 
Raleigh, N.C.

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