Hi Folks, There is something driving me up the wall, I don't know why, but it does. It is my understanding that in 1957? due to U.S. request to Ferrari spa., the 250 Daytona SPYDER was created . A truly beautiful model production for about 5 years. It was spelled with a "Y" To my knowledge no other convertible Ferrari has been spelled this way. Can anyone add detail or correct my statement? I know that my 360 Spider has the same badge on the dash as the others. Sooo..... could we pleeeeease call them Spiders ?
My perspective is only as an owner of an Alfa spider, and same issue......I understand the Y is strictly from the usage in the German language, and the I is of course, English. Somewhere, along the line the German Y crept into the Ferrari as an adoption?? Just a guess. Needs more research.
Ferrari has spelled it BOTH ways over the years... Use whatever the chrome logo badge on the particular car says, IMO........
I believe the earlier cars spelled it with a Y, and the 348 and later cars went with an I. There was a pretty big time lapse between the Daytona Spyder (last of the vintage ragtops) and the 348 Spider (first of the modern ragtops). Maybe one of the vintage guys -- er, one of the guys into vintage Ferraris, that is -- can clear things up.
If you do a search, you'll find that this topic has been covered many times before. Here are some quick answers to your questions: 1. There has never been a "250 Daytona SPYDER." You're most likely referring to the 250 GT Spyder California. 2. The car that we refer to as a "Daytona Spyder" today (not a 250 and not built in 1957) can be (somewhat more correctly) called the "365 GTS/4," though the cars themselves are stamped simply as "365 GTB4." "Daytona" and "Spyder did not appear on the cars themselves or in any sales literature. 3. Yes, it's true that the 348 was the first Ferrari to be officially designated as a "Spider" and that subsequent models have used this spelling. Even so, this spelling was used in sales literature to describe earlier models such as the 246 GTS and 308 GTS. 4. While it's true that there is no Y in the Italian alphabet, it was most likely used because "spider" would have been mispronounced by Italians as "speeder."
Y in German would be spelled like the Ü in Über. It would sound crap. In Germany spyder is always spelled English (and like "spider").
...which was renamed "Spyder" at the request of U.S. importer Max Hoffman because he determined that this would be more appealing to American buyers (and easier to say) than the official name "550/1500RS."
As Wayne pointed out, it was the 250 California Spyder back in 1957. And, as the name suggests, America was on their minds back in Maranello courtesy of Luigi Chinetti. "Spider" as in the insect probably wouldn't have been the image they were looking for. One slight correction, the European "Daytona Spyders" I've seen stated 365 GTS/4 on the chassis plate. And, the first USA "Daytona Spyder" also was called a 365 GTS/4. After that, all the USA "Daytona Spyders" were stamped 365 GTB/4. I always wondered if this was some sort of "hip fake" for the USA government. Steve
