The Graduate

This Alfa Romeo is spotted in Coconut Grove, near the Scotty's Landing restaurant. This is not quite a classic automobile, but close. Its year must be sometime between 1985 and 1990 and must be at least 20 year old. This is the third series of the famous Italian Spider cars, the first of which appeared in 1966, assembled by the fame Pininfarina in Grugliasco. The Spiders ceased production in 1993.

This car has a very interesting history, and it bears a very distinctive name "Graduate." If you are a movie fan, this name may ring a bell and you may remember the 1967 movie "The Graduate." In this movie, the main character Ben (played by Dustin Hoffman) drove the first series Alfa Romeo Spider. The first Spider car, the Duetto was designed by Battista "Pinin" Farina, founder of Pininfarina. In 1967, a Spider cost US $3,950! In the movie "The Graduate," Dustin Hoffman's Spider ran out of gas on the highway.

Fast forward to the 80's, in the US, a Spider model dubbed the Graduate was added in tribute to the car's famous appearance in the 1967 film, The Graduate. It is that car that you see here. The Graduate was intended as a less expensive "entry-level" Alfa Romeo in production 1985 - 1990.