Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto

One of the most successful (in sales terms) 1960s sports cars was the Alfa Romeo Spider, also called the Duetto (Wikipedia entry here).  Some 124,104 were built over model years 1966-1994.

Its Pininfarina design was more than a decade in the making, as noted by Motor Trend here.  An Alfa 6C 3000 chassis was given four "Superflow" bodies from 1953 to 1960.

1956 Alfa Romeo Superflow II by Pinin Farina
This is the second iteration, noted for its transparent front fenders.

1960 Alfa Romeo Superflow IV by Pininfarina
The final Superflow features major details found on the production Spider.
This post's featured design is that of the first series Spider that was produced 1966-1969.  Later versions featured a chopped-off, vertical rear end.

Images below are of various 1966 Alfa Romeo Spiders.

Gallery

Publicity photo.  The basic shape is simple, tapering to a point at each end.  The side character line sculpting echoes the car's profile abaft of the front wheel opening.

The tapering is made more clear in this side publicity shot.

Front quarter view via Hyman Ltd.  The transparent headlight assembly covers improve aerodynamic efficiency.  However, they began to be eliminated a few years later.

The pinched-down rear design yielded reduced potential trunk space.

Now for three images from Bring a Trailer auctions.  The pointed-in-planview front with those thin bumpers make the car likely to receive damage when parallel-parked.

The rear is essentially a smooth shape with little else to disturb it -- a brave thing for a stylist to bring off successfully.  Pininfarina did this, though to my mind that end of the car seems vulnerable and fragile.

Here is a photo of a Spider with its headlights turned on.