I've been lightly researching this one myself. Both the "y" or "i" issue, and
why calling it a spider at all.
The Y seems almost japanese. It shows up positively that way in the
Mitsubishi, and sorta with a few others. The italian stuff I've found always
spells it with an i.
Why convertables started getting called spiders seems possibly to be the fault
of Ferrari with their old Spider. A historical web page I came across had
Bertone's Alfa cabriolet sitting beside the spider model of the same car, and
they were markedly different, though they were both convertables.
I suspect the truth will never be known now, and will lie in speculation, like
the question of the name Jeep and such. I'll vote for Popeye on that one. But
where did the writer come up with it?
As for stealing from the Brits, who did the Brits steal that wagon design from?
:-)
|