SOLD

• Engine: 1962cc twin-cam four cylinder

• Transmission: 5 Speed Manual

• Year: 1976

• Registration: HDN 180S

• Mileage: 7,400

• Exterior colour: Farina red

• Interior colour and material: Black vinyl

- According to the Alfa Romeo Museum archives this 2000 Spider was manufactured on July 13th 1976 and was promptly despatched to Alfa Romeo South Africa in Johannesburg.
- In the late 1970’s when factory production of right hand drive Alfa Romeo 2000 Spiders had ceased, there was still a demand for these wonderful cars in England.  With several remaining unsold in South Africa, a quantity (believed to be about 200) were imported into England from South Africa by Alfa Romeo England.
- One such Spider arrived at the York Alfa Romeo dealership of Alwyn Kershaw.  Mr Kershaw telephoned a client of his who had purchased a Dutch blue 2000 GTV SE from him in 1975 to ask if the Spider would be of interest.  The Gentleman replied positively as his wife liked convertible cars and he loved the shape of the Spider.
- On April 1st 1978 HDN-180S was first registered in England to the Gentleman’s company in Wetherby, West Yorkshire.  Sadly his wife did not enjoy driving the car as she found the steering too heavy.  Unable to part with his much loved recent purchase, the Gentleman kept the Spider at his company where he had a brace of heated garages.  Not long afterwards, the necessity of a four seater family car caused the GTV to be semi-retired to the garage neighbouring the one housing the Spider.
- The Gentleman’s Nephew pestered him to let him have the GTV as it was not being used much, and when the Nephew turned 25 years old, the Gentleman gave in and sold it to him.  After many years of fun the arrival of a company car eventually saw to the Nephew selling the GTV.
- The Spider however, remained in the company garage and saw little use, but although it was rarely driven, the car was serviced, MOT’d and taxed most years.  Initially the servicing was carried out by the Alwyn Kershaw Alfa Romeo dealership, but when Mr Kershaw left the company the Gentleman took the car to a garage in the village of Dunnington, just to the east of York.  The Gentleman informed us that one of Alwyn Kershaw’s mechanics went to work there and he was obviously familiar with working on the wonderful products of the Alfa Romeo marque.
- Sadly, the Gentleman never thought he would sell the car so didn’t make a conscious effort to retain any paperwork, although fortunately there are eighteen expired tax discs in the history file confirming its regular activity (a valid MOT certificate would have been required to obtain the tax disc).
- As well as the tax discs, the history folder contains the original tax disc holder, service and voucher books, the hand book, and an August 1977 dealer guide.  The car also retains its original number plates.
- The history folder commences with a Ziebart guarantee certificate dated March 22nd 1978 which is followed by a November 1988 issued V5 registration document.
- Filling the gap of these dates is the service book which states that Alwyn Kershaw Alfa Romeo carried out services on May 3rd 1978 at 524 miles, August 25th 1978 at 1,853 miles, and July 24th 1979 at 5,464 miles.  Clearly the majority of the car’s current odometer reading was covered in its first year or two.
- An invoice from Alwyn Kershaw from June 1995 states that the dealership carried out a service and MOT as well as fitting a new clutch.  Apparently the Gentleman’s wife had a habit of slipping the clutch on the rare occasion that she drove it.  Frustratingly the Alwyn Kershaw service department did not note the mileage on their invoice, but a selection of photographs that were taken outside the Gentleman’s factory within a few months of the service, show the odometer displaying 6,921 miles and the six month tax disc expiring in January 1996.
- In May 2000 the Gentleman had his chauffer take the car to Reg Vardy, the Alfa Romeo dealer in Harrogate.  They carried out an MOT test and replaced a failed near-side half-shaft oil seal, as well as replacing the wheel bearing and the contaminated brake pads.  The odometer displayed 6,991 miles at this time.
- In 2002 the Gentleman sold his company but remained working there until 2003, at which time the Spider was moved from the factory garage to the garage at his home.  In 2005 his Daughter ended up with some space in her garage so the car was moved there.  As his Daughter lived in a different village the car was not so accessible for spontaneous drives so the Gentleman sadly never drove it.  This explains why the last of the almost consecutive tax discs on file expired in December 2005.
- The Gentleman apparently never drove the car with the roof folded down as he did not enjoy being blow about by the wind.  It is his wife who is fond of convertible cars (he loves the Spider shape) and she has owned a succession of Mercedes-Benz SL cars for the past twenty or so years, finding them much easier to drive than the Spider with their power steering and automatic gearbox.
- After almost eight years of inactivity the Spider was collected from the Daughter’s garage by a Mr Bill Lumb, a mechanic who the Gentleman knew from Mr Lumb’s days as a company director of the Alwyn Kershaw dealership.  Mr Lumb carried out a full service and MOT on the car and freed off and replaced many of the braking components.  The odometer displayed 7,202 miles at this time, and soon afterwards the car also had new tyres and a water pump fitted.
- The Spider eventually found its way to us via a client of ours who is a friend of the Gentleman, and at this time the odometer displayed only 7,339 miles.
- This is an exceptionally special motor car with its one owner and low mileage history, and must surely be one of the most original Spider Series 2 examples that remain.  The Gentleman did confirm to us that the recorded mileage is genuine and even the folding roof is the original.  He never had the need to have any paintwork repairs carried out on the car either.  A very special car indeed.