Two liter spider back seat?
Franco, the parts book does indeed show a back seat for a spider. But I have only seen two of them that I believed had come from the factory in the thirteen spiders I have owned. One that came in a 1962 European version from Switzerland that I sold years ago is still in my favorite car. I kept it as well as the Nardi wheel, the metal fairings at the bottom of the engine compartment, and the hard top. That seat, however, looks very similar to what you show in your first photo, the black "jump seat". It is of foam rubber (typical italian type that rotted and was replaced when recovered) but consisted mainly of a flat piece with a piece area cut down to fit the center hump. I used that seat early on as a place to let a couple of my earliest kids sleep (I have nine), but for the most part consider any back seat entirely impractical. To use it a normal sized human being must sit sideways. There is NO LEG ROOM unless the driver is a midget. I consiuder the back seat pad a something merely to cover the carpeting on what I call the package shelf. I scoured the country to find my two liter sedan because I wanted to be able to take more than my Honeymom and a kid or two to Alfa functions of the NW Alfa Romeo Club. Finally the older ones started driving Alfa cars themselves so we could all get there. A couple turned into really good race car drivers, but a couple others had their cars taken away and had to drive corvairs (one even a corvair station wagon with automatic transmission that had a truth telling sign "zero to sixty in ten minutes") to prevent tickets. Use the seat you have. Embellish it as you wish yourself. Whatever you do would be an improvement, but still worthless as a back seat. The 2600, however, was able to get the back of the back seat further back by hanging the seat edge on the back of the "well" pushing against the folded up top. Still, even the 2600 back seat only works if the driver is a midget. No one actually buys a spider to haul more than two people. The name -- spider -- comes from a type of sporty light horse carriage made for only two people. If you want a back seat, buy a sedan. Otherwise call it what it is, a parcel shelf. You can carry a couple spare cases of oil, for example, that you buy on a special sale. I even was able to stuff a 10 speed bicycle back there with the top up once I took the wheels off. My earliest memory of a two liter included riding with a fellow ski patroller as he "trolled" up and down Bertesgarden streets until he could get a "strike" from a couple Frauleins (always in pairs) which would thereafter require me to sit in back sideways while he drove around shifting their knees. When finally he would find an appropriate gasthaus he would go in with them (Old Vat 69, he said, was the fastest way to really get to know girls), and he would throw me the keys and tell me to drive around for a while. That is how I became an Alfaholic. The car had been the factory demonstrator car, and had a special factory prepared engine (weber carbs, dry sump, etc because Alfa salesmen wanted to demonstrate a hot car even if the final version was neutered for mass production and sale). I could pass any car on the autobahn, even ones passing other cars. But, for your information, I still recall how the back seat made my posterior hurt.
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[B]JAY NUXOLL [/B][EMAIL="jay@alfanut.com"], seriously Alfa diseased and ancient OLD Two Liter Lover, put together Seattle area's Northwest Alfa Romeo Club in 1965, and still feebly tries to tend a teeny sacred flame to his serpent mistress in the [B]ALFA G'RAJ MAHAL[/B], a home garage temple with more Alfa cars and parts than he dare list because of the disapproval of his shamed and chagrined family. (425) 641-2600.
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