I recently read somewhere that in the 1950's Italian
auto designers reinvoked the term "Spyder" which had
it's bassis in the days of horse and carriages.
Specifically a light-weight British two-seat buggy
with large wheels that looked gangley, like a spider
and the style was referred to as a "SPIDER".
The article gave the name of a specific carriage
maker, I believe. But I don't remember where I saw it.
I'll try to dig it up.
So technically, the Itialians Bastardized it first by
borrowing it from the British carriage makers and
changing the I to a Y.
-Terry
P.S. The narrators at the Barrett Jackson Auto Auction
2000 answered an Email from a viewer that wanted to
know the difference between a Carbiolet and a Spyder
(I was watching it about a week ago on Speedvision).
The men narrating stated that a Spyder is a
convertible two seat in the sports car class. And that
a Carbriolet/Cabrio is a convertible sedan that will
hold atleast 4 individuals including the driver. I've
read definitions that are contrary to this on the web,
including the Pebble Beach Glossery of Car Terms which
states that a Cabrio is a convertible with windows.
And can have an indeterminant number of doors and
windows.
--- Barry Schwartz <bschwart@pacbell.net> wrote:
>
> Yeah, I kinda had a feeling that it [spider] was an
> American bastardization
> of convertibles for the Italian term since it
> *mainly* referred to Italian
> cars -
>
> Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
>
> 72 PI, V6 Spitfire (daily driver)
> 70 GT6+ (when I don't drive the Spit)
> 70 Spitfire (long term project)
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