1988 Alfa Romeo Spider Quadrifoglio

The 1988 Alfa Romeo Spider was available as a Veloce, Graduate, and Quadrifoglio. Pricing began at $15,400 for the Graduate and rose to $19,000 for the Veloce. The highest price option was the Quadrifoglio. Power was from a dual-overhead-cam four-cylinder engine displacing 119.7 cubic inches and offering 115 horsepower. A five-speed manual gearbox was standard and disc brakes were in the front and the rear.

The Spider Veloce added leather sport seats and power windows. Quadrifoglio models came with air conditioning and AM/FM stereo with a cassette player. They also had larger wheels and tires and could be purchased with or without a removable hardtop.

Alfa Romeo used the 'Quadrifoglio' name (Italian for four-leaf clover) to indicate their high-performance model. Quadrifoglio models usually wore a green cloverleaf logo with four leaves on the side panels of the car, above or behind the front wheels. Alfa Romeo initially used the four-leaf clover symbol in 1923 on one of four RL Targa Florio vehicles. Giuseppe Merosi drove it at the Targa Florio in Sicily, and to ward off bad luck, a white square with a green four-leaf clover was painted on the grille. This seemed to work, as an Alfa Romeo RL driven by Ugo Sivocci won the race, convincing the team that the charm was effective.

In the post-World War II era, Alfa Romeo used the quadrifoglio to distinguish sporty versions of their products, appearing for the first time in 1963 on the side of the Giulia TI Super. This version was devised for competition but often offered for sale, both to privateers and for road-going purposes.

Alfa Romeo Spider
The Alfa Romeo Spider, also known as the 'Duetto,' was produced from 1966 through 1993 and wore styling by Aldo Brovarone and Battista Pininfarina while working at Pininfarina. Power was initially sourced from a 1,570cc twin came engine breathing through dual Weber two-barrel side-draft carburetors and offering 108 horsepower. It was soon joined by the Giulia Sprint-based 1750 GT Veloce Coupe engine (1750 Spider Veloce) which had a 1,779cc displacement size and delivered 116 horsepower. In June of 1968, a lower-priced Spider, named the Spider 1300 Junior, joined the lineup and was powered by a 1,290cc twin came engine sourced from the GT 1300 Junior.

Numerous modifications, both cosmetically and mechanically, were made to the Spider during its production life span, lasting through four distinct generations, or Series. The Quadrifoglio Verde (Green Fourleaf Clover) model was introduced during the Series 3 production (Third Generation produced from 1982 - 1989) and distinguished by front and rear spoilers, ard rubber trunk mounted spoilers with integral third stoplight, sideskirts, mirrors, optional removable hardtop, and unique 15-inch alloy wheels. The interior also received unique features included blood red carpets and gray leather seats with red stitching. Exterior body colors were limited to red, silver, and black.

The Quadrifoglio Verde was mechanically similar to the Spider Veloce, with power supplied through a 1,962cc dual overhead camshaft, two valves per cylinder, four-cylinder engine with two-barrel 40DCOM4/5 Weber carburetors (for European models) and delivered 126 horsepower at 5,400 RPM and 131 lb-ft of torque. The North American market model was given the Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection introduced for the 1982 model year except that the VVT mechanism was now L-Jet activated.

Alfa Romeo produced 2,598 examples of the Series 3 Spider Quadrifoglio Verde. The total Series 3 production was 37,208, including 29,210 of the Spider 2000 and 5,400 of the Spider 1600.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2013