1962 Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider
Coachwork by Carrozzeria Touring
Registration no. not UK registered
Chassis no. 1020402002

'The 2000 Roadster, made for high-speed touring, was fitted with an engine having remarkable reserves of power and torque in order to offer the sport customer the possibility of making fast journeys with the maximum safety.' ? Luigi Fusi, 'Alfa Romeo, All Cars From 1910'.

The famous Carrozzeria Touring's associations with Alfa Romeo reached back to the late 1920s and this liaison was perpetuated into the post-war era. Replacement for the 1900 line, the 102-Series 2000 cars first appeared in 1958 and were unusual in so far as production of the stylish Touring-bodied Spider version outstripped that of the Berlina, with 3,443 examples of the soft-top produced compared with only 2,804 of the saloon. As Anderloni and Anselmi remark in their book, 'Touring Superleggera': 'An order which was important to Touring in quantitative terms was that for... supplying the Alfa Romeo 2000 convertible.'

Touring's renowned Superleggera (Superlight) method of body construction was employed, though now the panels were machine-pressed rather than hand-beaten, greatly speeding up production. This departure marked a turning point for Touring, enabling them to manufacture bodies in greatly increased volume, though this was still far from mass production.

Beneath the skin the 2000 remained much as the last of the 1900s, with independent front suspension, live rear axle, five-speed gearbox, and drum brakes all round. Nowadays referred to as the 'old' 2-litre, the twin-cam 2000 engine combined elements of the superseded 1900 and new Giulietta, retaining the former's cast-iron block and separate cam covers but featuring the latter's bucket-and-shim method of valve adjustment. Spider and Sprint versions came with 115bhp on tap, good enough for a top speed in excess of 110mph. Despite a relaxed high-speed cruising ability and excellent smoothness, the 2000 in its day tended to be overshadowed by the smaller and cheaper Giulietta, and only now is the model beginning to receive the attention it deserves.

Few Alfa Romeo 2000 Spiders came to this country as new cars, which makes this UK-delivered right-hand drive example quite a rarity. This Alfa was first registered as '696 HYW' in London N2 on the 28th June 1962 and comes with its original green logbook. Recorded in photographs on file, the car has had a full restoration involving stripping the body of all components, attending to all corrosion, and carrying out a high quality re-spray in Alfa Romeo Red. The engine has been rebuilt also, while the interior's black seats with matching black carpets are all in excellent order.

More recently, the Alfa has benefited from expenditure on fitting power steering in addition to new suspension components, new shock absorbers, and a new (dynamo look-alike) alternator (the original dynamo still works fine and comes with the car). One of just a few UK cars remaining, this 2000 Spider is offered from a prominent Brussels collection, which is now being thinned out.