Alfa Unseen

“I must admit, when the kind folks at the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo proposed that I shoot their Pininfarina Alfetta Spider and Eagle prototypes for a story on Classic Driver, I had never even heard of the peculiar pairing that’s now stood in front of me, gleaming in the Milanese sunshine. Based on the humble underpinnings of the Alfa Romeo Alfetta and revealed in 1972 and 1975, respectively, the chiselled convertibles were Pininfarina’s proposals for a replacement to the dainty Spider. See, the soft soap-bar styling of the 1960s ‘Duetto’, as it was commonly known, might have been pretty, but ever-tightening legislation meant that Alfa needed to change tack if it wanted to retain a commercially successful convertible. At least that was Pininfarina’s thinking. Alas, they never did become a reality and the duo has resided, largely overlooked, in a corner of the museum for the last four decades. In fact, there are very few photographs of either the Alfetta Spider or the Eagle at all on the Internet. It was therefore an honour to capture both cars together out in the open for the very first time and, hopefully, enlighten thousands of enthusiasts around the world about these forgotten footnotes in the illustrious histories of Alfa Romeo and Pininfarina.”

Rémi Dargegen
Contributor