Spider vs Miata

["Paul Irvine" <pi@domain.elided>]

In my opinion everything has it's own frame of reference. I've always loved
the old Alfas, the way they sound and feel and how they communicate to the
driver. These are all things that lie in that single frame of reference.
They aren't aspects that need to be compared to another vehicle one on one
(at least not for me) Now the guys that write the articles for the car
magazines, they hop in a car, drive it around for a few days and give an
opinion. These guys have their own personal cars and they drive a different
car every few weeks for evaluation. They are in a totally different frame of
reference from me in respect to what an old Alfa Spider is or isn't.

As far as Alfa's problems with marketing, I've never had much concern for
that. I never wanted to see my neighbor have one or have a problem figuring
out which one in the supermarket parking lot was mine. I've always been very
happy to see people look at it and not have a clue as to which end the
engine is at let alone what it is.

Times change and although the Spider was sold into the early 90's it didn't
change significantly. I think we all know that. It was right up there with
the Porsche 911 as contender for the longest running production line car
available but the '66 911 and the '94 911 were two absolutely different
cars - something we can't say about the Spider. So if you want to take it
out and race it against newer technology you should be aware that you are
missing all of what that new technology has to offer. But then, are you
racing for yourself or to prove you have a better car?

Another example of how times change: one of the last articles that featured
the Spider, compared against the Miata and a few others including that
horrid looking Capri thing that was around for awhile, had a very
interesting aspect - In every single photo all of the tops were buttoned up,
the windows rolled up and the air conditioners on. I think somebody was
missing the point.

Paul Irvine - Antioch CA
Project Alfa - http://home.pcmagic.net/pi
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