Spyder badge

[Baz]

Does anyone remember a few years back a guy had produced the word Spyder out of metal ....it would fit just forward of the front door. He was in the middle of moving and would repost when settled.I think he was Canadian. I believe he worked in the plastics industry and had developed a process to product this item. I would think he would sell many. He did post a picture and it was very professional not unlike the Pinninfarina motif.
Baz

[ORFORD2004]

CHECK THIS ONE
http://fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php ... DGE#p60949

[TX82FIAT]

There is a guy that has Spider in nice cursive writing in a sticker form. Mayby Gritracing? can't recall but i purchased two of them at FFO this year. look real good on car in same position you are asking about.

[opus10583]

Hi,

...Why "Spyder"?

Thanks,
Mark

[124JOE]

yes these are crome stickers
and grittracing is the MAN

[grittracing]

I still have them for sale in set email if interested grittracing@gmail.com and thanks for the add and kind words Joe

[KidDingo]

Hi,

...Why "Spyder"?

Thanks,
Mark

Hi Mark,

I read somewhere that 'spyder' is pronounced in Italian as 'speeder', and translates to English as speedster or roadster.

When it was read in English, it was confused with our word 'spider'.

That's how I understand the etymology, but someone else might have a different explanation.

[grittracing]

You may be correct. All I know about it is Toyota has a syder fiat has a spider I can get them however you would like them to read

[opus10583]

Hi,

...Why "Spyder"?

Thanks,
Mark

Hi Mark,

I read somewhere that 'spyder' is pronounced in Italian as 'speeder', and translates to English as speedster or roadster.

When it was read in English, it was confused with our word 'spider'.

That's how I understand the etymology, but someone else might have a different explanation.

Hi,

I'm actually quite confused and vexed by this...

Spider is an American English word, describing a small light open carriage, Spider Phaeton.

Easy enough to see how the Italians picked it up.

The best speculation I've come across for 'spyder' refers to the early US importer of Porsches Max Hoffman using the German spelling on the 550.

But, as their alphabet has no y, I can't for the life of me figure out why people, even Ferrari for a long time, refer to Italian cars as Spyders. Alfa didn't, FIAT didn't.

Thanks,
Mark

[grittracing]

Well you know us Americans have that effect on people. Y because they all want to be like us. Even if it is just the letter Y

[KidDingo]

Hey Mark, you have made me curious. So I went looking for more info and here's something I found:

Link:http://english.turkcebilgi.com/Spyder

Origin
As with other automotive terms, the term derives from horse-drawn carriages. A "spider" was a lighter version of a phaeton, having narrower, spindly wheels and two-seat accommodation. The name implied an extremely rudimentary top mechanism originating from a small two-seat horse-cart with a folding sunshade made of four bows; with its black cloth top and exposed sides for air circulation it resembled an eight-legged spider. This term was subsequently applied to automobiles.

Alternatively, a native Italian who has had no English influence in the pronunciation would pronounce "spyder" or "spider" as speeder. Thus a car labeled by an Italian car manufacturer as "Spyder" or "Spider" is intended to be simply a "speeder" or a sports car. (Aston Martin used to have a car labeled "spyder" but now have a model labeled "Volante", an Italian word that translates into English as "speeder".) The Italian word "volante" translates into English, in this context, as "flying". There are, in Italy, police patrols called "volante", the term referring to their ability of rapid deployment. In the world of cars, "volante" means, also, the steering wheel.

Porsche
Contrary to popular belief, the first car to be officially called a "spyder" was not the Porsche 550 Spyder. Aston Martin produced a spyder in the same year. Spyder is found on a wide assortment of car names since the advent of the automobile—for example, the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Spyder that won the Mille Miglia in 1938, before Porsche existed, by Biondetti of the Scuderia Ferrari team—but arguably did not receive particular notoriety or significance until the popularity of James Dean's 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, "Lil Bastard", which he was driving when he crashed and died.

Later years
Other later spyders include Mitsubishi, numerous Ferraris and later Porsches. However, the most significant and known model to wear this name was the Fiat 124 Spider/Pininfarina Spider, of which approximately 200,000 were manufactured, of which 75% were sold in United States.

Spyders
The following cars are examples of Spyder models:

Toyota MR2
Porsche 550 Spyder
Fiat 850
Fiat 124 Sport Spider / Pininfarina Spider Europa / Spider America
Chevrolet Corvair
Triumph TR7
Aston Martin DB2 Spyder

Spyder in name only
In more recent times, the term has been erroneously used by many automakers as a synonym for convertible. The following cars' names include Spyder or Spider but do not meet the basic Spyder criteria as illustrated above:

Mitsubishi Eclipse (only the convertible version is dubbed Spyder)
Lamborghini Gallardo
Mitsubishi 3000GT
Maserati Spyder
Alfa Romeo Spider
Porsche RS Spyder

[opus10583]

Hey Mark, you have made me curious. So I went looking for more info and here's something I found:

Link:http://english.turkcebilgi.com/Spyder

Hello Michael,

"This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org -" An article that no longer exists in Wikipedia, probably for good reason: As copied it's full of fanciful claims and allusions that are both unreferenced and unverifiable.

Regardless of Aston* (1956) or Porsche's (1953) claim to primacy (PCA cites Hoffman) or Ferrari's incomprehensible adoption of the German spelling:

"Spider" is unarguably an American English word, that has direct connection to the automotive idiom without need of spurious phonetic conjectures, of which I've found no use of the German spelling by FIAT, or Alfa Romeo, in their factory materials or advertisements. Particularly in light of the absence of the "Y" in the Italian alphabet, the alternate spelling in reference to Italian cars is quite puzzling.

Thanks,
Mark

* I don't find any actual use of the German spelling by Aston or Touring either, despite what a google search returns.

[adrians]

Spyder is not originally Italian, because there is no 'y' in the Italian alphabet - 'y' is always written as an 'i'.

[KidDingo]

No argument here. I agree that it can't be verified... and the URL is kind of suspicious. I just found it kind of funny that the article referenced both of the responses offered earlier in the thread.

However, I am curious so I'm going to do some more research tomorrow.

[opus10583]

No argument here. I agree that it can't be verified... and the URL is kind of suspicious. I just found it kind of funny that the article referenced both of the responses offered earlier in the thread.

However, I am curious so I'm going to do some more research tomorrow.

Hi Michael,

There's an element in the 'Ferrari owner's guild' that refuses to admit they've got it wrong; Wikipedia was an easy "media-buy" in the self-authorizing stew of the internet.

I'd not ever come across the Aston before, and find it odd that a UK company would prefer a German locution over the American so soon after WWII, and Touring never did. Along with the internet rebadging the Alfa 8C I suspect this to be the work of striving modern owners and aspiring e-journalists.

I look forward to your findings.

Thanks,
Mark