Alfa Romeo GTV 1996
Tamiya Alfa Romeo GTV

The Alfa Romeo GTV and the Alfa Romeo Spider (Type 916) were two sports cars produced by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1993 to 2004. The GTV is a 2+2 coupé, and the Spider is a two-seater roadster version of the GTV. Around 39,000 Spiders and 41,700 GTVs were built.

The GTV's name (Gran Turismo Veloce—English: Fast Grand Touring) placed it as the successor to the long-discontinued Alfetta GTV coupé, whereas the Spider was effectively the replacement for the then 30-year-old 105-series Giulia Spider. The GTV was available until the launch of the Brera in 2005, while the Spider lasted another year until the launch of its Brera-based successor in 2006.

The Alfa Romeo GTV was described as "one of the best sport cars of its time" by Jeremy Clarkson in 1998 and is listed at no. 29 in Top 100 Cars from 2001.

Both cars were designed by Enrico Fumia at Pininfarina. The GTV was planned to re-establish the sporty coupe tradition of Alfa Romeo for the 1990s. The design dates back to initial renderings of September 1987 and first clay models to complete 1:1 scale model in July 1988. After Vittorio Ghidella (Fiat CEO) accepted the design, Centro Stile Alfa Romeo under Walter de Silva was responsible for the completion of the detail work and also for the design of the interiors, as Pininfarina's proposal was not accepted. The Spider and GTV were based on the then-current Fiat Group compact car platform, called "Tipo Due" (or Type 2), in this case a heavily modified version with an all new multilink rear suspension. The front suspension and drivetrain was based on the 1992 Alfa Romeo 155 saloon. Chief engineer at that time was Bruno Cena. Drag coefficient was 0.33 for the GTV and 0.38 for the Spider.

It is a typical Italian design, with the Alfa Romeo grille with dual round headlights (motif later used on Alfa Romeo Proteo), it is low-slung, wedge-shaped with a low nose and high kicked up tail. The back of the car is "cut-off" with a "Kamm tail" giving improved aerodynamics. The Spider shares these traits with the GTV except that the rear is rounded. The Spider featured a folding soft-top with five hoop frame, which completely disappears from sight under a flush fitting cover. An electric folding mechanism was fitted as an option.

Details included a one-piece rear lamp/foglamp/indicator strip across the rear of the body, the minor instruments in the centre console angled towards the driver. At its launch, many journalists commented that Alfa had improved overall build quality considerably and that it came very close to equalling its German rivals.

from en.wikipedia.org/wik..Romeo_GTV_and_Spider