[alfa] No such thing as a 1750 Duetto?

[alfacybersite <acs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard Ballantine wrote: With all the talk about D. Hoffman's ride, I 
thought that someone would have quickly said that only the initial year 
or so of the body style, with the 1600, is a Duetto. Anyone agree? 
Willie R.?

******

Richard, on 12/1 I wrote (among other things) - (While not technically 
correct, I consider any Series 1, non '69 Round-Tail, to be a Duetto).

I certainly can't say I haven't been guilty of doing the same, but often 
people email in a question or comment which has just been answered.

A recent one was the "outcry" as to what year The Graduate was released. 
> From the beginning of the discussion (not by me) it was established it 
was released in '67. Believe this is what happened: Kevin Trent said CBS 
couldn't get its facts straight claiming the car Dustin Hoffman was 
driving on the recent 60 Minutes broadcast was a '69. (I replied and am 
still waiting in turn for a reply from him).

However after that there was a small buzz as to when the movie came out 
- was it in '69 or just exactly when?

Along with my (admittedly incorrect) calling All 1600 Series 1 Spiders 
Duettos, I felt, until recently I was doing the same with the Alfetta. 
After all on later "Alfetta GT's" it clearly says GTV on the rear vents. 
After recently purchasing a soft cover perfect bound 1980 USA edition 
(though printed in Italy) of the parts manual, it says Alfetta at the 
top of the cover. It shows the 2000 (I assume the sedan) dash having the 
Alfetta script on it. They also show the GTV dash but again there is the 
Alfetta script at the top of the page - which tells me the factory (at 
least for the US) considered all of them and at least up to the GTV6 to 
be Alfettas.

I'm sure there are those out there which can give specific examples, but 
it is not unusual for cars, often fairly rare ones, to be what I'll call 
"affectionately known" by another name rather than the one with which 
the factory christened them. Okay..."Bugeye" for an example.

I'm sure the name Duetto would have been applied to all of the 
Round-Tails had there not been (I'm quoting from the book "Alfa Romeo 
Duetto Spider" by Giancenzo Madaro):  "Soon after (mid 1966) it (Duetto) 
had been adopted by Alfa Romeo (after holding a contest) a problem 
arose. A large confectionery firm, Pavesi, politely informed Alfa that 
among their various products was one based on two components, biscuit 
and filling, and that it had been named Duetto."

The author considered it a rather dull name and simply states that Alfa 
quietly dropped the name after it had been used for a year or less. 
Again quoting: "The spider 1600 therefore assumed a nickname given to it 
in the factory (as happened at Fiat with the name Topolino) "Osso di 
Sepia" or Cuttlefish Bone" after the round-tailed styling of its coachwork."

Richard, bet by now you're sorry you even brought it up. Of course you 
refer to all mid '67 Spiders and beyond as Osso di Sepia's?

See how many items show up when you plug in Osso di Sepia on eBay. Then 
try Duetto.

Biba
Irwindale, CA USA
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