Normales and Super Spiders

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-585 Sid Gage writes, of Super Spiders:

"Wasn't this term a result of Max Hoffman's marketing strategy for a faster
Giulietta spider for the (his) U.S. market? I recall some lore about how
the Italians were more interested in faster Sprints, and he persuaded them
to build a "Veloce" spider, which he sold here as the "Super Spider."

There have been other discussion, both on and off digest, about the legitimacy
of "Super" in place of "Veloce" on the early Spiders in this country and also
about the legitimacy of the term "Normale" retroactively to identify the
Spiders and Sprints which were neither Veloces nor Supers. 
 
It is certainly true that the Italians were more interested in faster Sprints,
as any cursory inspection of the voluminous competition record of the Alfa
1900s and Giuliettas will show. Spiders simply do not show up in the extensive
competition record of the fifties and sixties outside of the USA. There are
reasons why the Sprint Veloces and Sprint Zagatos and Sprint Speciales had
roofs. In the Italian view, and more generally in the continental European
view, if you wanted to compete in motorsports you bought a light, aerodynamic
coupe. Convertibles were for more social pleasures, going to the beach or
cruising the boulevards seeking companionship.

The incursion of coupes had been growing from the early thirties, when three
lightweight Touring-bodied 6C 2300 Berlinas took 1,2,3 in the 24 hours of
Pescara. The real watershed event, though, was probably the 1940 Mille Miglia,
a shortened race with nine laps of a 103 mile circuit rather than the usual
intercity race. Alfa entered four 6C 2500Bs, three of them open cars and the
fourth a berlinetta which proved to be 7 mph faster than the open versions.
BMW entered five smaller-engined Touring-bodied cars, three of them open cars
and two of them coupes which were by far the fastest cars in the race. For
political reasons the Germans allowed the Italians to take second and fourth
place, but there was no question about the relative suitability of open cars
and closed cars for the types of competition which were most popular in
Europe.

On the question of why Max Hoffman and/or Alfa Romeo initially called the
Spider Veloce a Super Spider, history is instructive. The RL, Merosi's last
and greatest car, was built in five versions; Normale, Turismo, Sport, Super
Sport, and Targa Florio. The 6C 1500, Jano's first road car for Alfa, was
built in three versions; Normale, Sport, and Super Sport. The 6C 1750 came as
Turismo, Gran Turismo, Gran Sport, and Super Sport. The 6C 2500, immediately
prewar, came as Turismo, Sport, or Super Sport. The 1900, Alfa's first real
volume production car, came as the Berlina, Berlina Super, T.I., T.I. Super,
Sprint (the first time Alfa had used that name) and Super Sprint. Now Hoffman
was going to be selling a Spider- also the first time Alfa had used that name-
and the relatively few people in the United States who owned, or were
otherwise familiar with, Alfas were most likely to have had familiarity with
1900 Super Sprints, 2500 Super Sports, 1750 Super Sports, possibly 1500 Super
Sports, or (less likely) RL Super Sports, and Alfa was hanging the never-used-
before name "Veloce" on the enhanced tune-level Giuliettas in the home market.
It seems hardly surprising that Hoffman (who was effectively running the show
as far as Spiders were concerned) would chose the "Super" which was the well-
established name for the hottest version of a basic model.

While Alfa never used the "Normale" term (as far as I know) on the Giuliettas,
they had used either "Normale" or "Turismo" for the base versions of various
cars for thirty years, and it is likely that at least a few of the cognoscente
had met the terms. And once the American alfisti picked up the "Veloce" for
their Supers Alfa, and ARI, reasonably accepted it as the model name for this
country also.

Cordially, 

John H.
Raleigh, N.C.

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