Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider S4

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The volume markets in mainland Europe and the United States hoovered up the lion’s share of Alfa’s delightful Pininfarina built Spider.

Immortalised when Dustin Hoffman raced one to the church in the film ‘The Graduate’, the 105 series roadster had a perfectly proportioned exterior, sexy Veglia reverse sweep dials and a jewel of a twin-cam engine.

The unfortunate outcome of this Trans-Atlantic sales success was that there was little financial incentive for the Italian manufacturer to engineer RHD versions for the relatively small British, Japanese and South African markets. By 1977, factory built RHD production had come to an end, leaving the British buyer to put up with a left hooker, or pay a substantial sum to have it converted.

Bell and Colvill, one of the network’s more active dealers developed a RHD conversion which became quite popular for a while. Sadly, the slow overall volumes through Alfa GB at the time led the importer to de-list the Spider from the pricelist in the early ‘80s.

By 1989, a new company was handling the importation of Alfa Romeos into the UK. Part of the TKM group, Dover-based Alfa Romeo GB viewed the prospect of an updated Spider with some relish. The excellent Alfa Romeo 164 was winning many new customers and the dealer network had their tails in the air. The updated S4 Spider was hot-property when it arrived in early 1990.

Still only on manufactured in LHD form, an official extra-cost conversion was offered, not from Bell and Colvill this time but through the TKM owned Sea-King group. A specialist handling company that undertook pre-delivery inspections, vehicle logistics and conversions for a variety of manufacturers, their work was done to a good standard and nearly all of the UK registered cars underwent the change.

Sales were good, the last of the rear wheel drive cars leaving the factory in 1993 when they were replaced by the front-drive Spiders which shared their floorpan with the Fiat Tipo.

This 1990 RHD example presumably visited the Sea King Group for conversion prior to its delivery in February 1990. Purchased by the vendor just over a year ago, he confirms that the paintwork is in excellent condition with ‘no visible dents, dinks or rust spots’.

Bills on file show that it had a major service which included replacement wheel bearings and ball joints in July 2010 at a cost of £1,699 and shortly after an exchange gearbox was fitted costing an additional £1,428. It got a new hood the following November and the seats were retrimmed and new carpets fitted. It does not have a hard top. Sitting on refurbished alloy wheels, it has just had a new clutch kit and slave cylinder fitted and is MOTd until May 2015.

These final series cars were easy to live with, thanks to their modern fuel injection, air conditioning and electric windows yet retain much of the charm of the original.