The Source for the Alfa Spider Used in “The Graduate”
SOME TIME AGO, there was talk in the Alfa community about where the movie company got the Alfa that was the star of the movie “The Graduate” (along with co-star Dustin Hoffman). There was speculation that possibly Dustin was related to the famous Max Hoffman, and that was the source of the car used in the movie. I have been meaning to write this for quite a while, but, as it is snowing heavily today (absolutely beautiful as I look out the window), I decided to stop procrastinating and get it done.
As many of you know, Max Hoffman started importing Alfa Romeos to the U.S. in the mid 1950s along with some less-exciting German cars. I do know that Dustin and Max are not related. This was confirmed in an excellent article about Max in Hagerty News a few months ago. I also know that the Spider did not come from Max —it came from Mario Silvi. This is the story as he described it to me.
I met Mario a number of years ago when he walked into a previous business I owned to inquire about having some work done. He saw my Alfa in the parking lot and asked my secretary if I was interested in Alfa Romeos. She answered that it could be described more as an obsession, but yes, he was interested. He handed her an envelope containing an assortment of Alfa emblems, pins, stickers, etc. and she brought them back to my office. This got my attention and I immediately dropped the project I was working on and came out to meet Mario. This was the beginning of a long professional and personal relationship with Mario, but on with this story.
Mario Silvi was the head of Alfa Romeo distribution and dealer support for all of the area in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River starting in the early 1960s. When they started filming the 1967 movie “The Graduate”, they wanted a small open sports car for Dustin Hoffman’s role as the new graduate Benjamin Braddock. The request came to Mario and he wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but he reluctantly agreed to provide them with a brand new Spider. However, as is common in movies, they don’t have just one car — they wanted three identical cars! Even more reluctant, Mario agreed, providing that all three were returned in like-new condition so they could still be sold to the general public. Alfa has never had a big advertising budget, but maybe they could get a little good advertising from this deal?
The cars were provided and the filming commenced, but some time passed and Mario was getting concerned about when he would get his cars back. After a few calls and more time had passed, Mario’s secretary came into his office one day and said, “Mr. Silvi, the three cars have just been delivered but you might want to come out and take a look at them.” One of the cars was returned in new condition (the one seen from outside of the car in the movie) but the other two were modified to be used as camera cars! One of the modified cars had a camera mounted on the trunk for a view out the windshield looking over Dustin’s shoulder. The other had a camera mounted on the front looking back through the windshield at Dustin’s face. One of these had a lot of holes drilled in the car for mounting brackets, and the other had a lot of its sheet metal cut out (I think he said that the entire nose was cut off the car)! Movie cameras were much bigger and heavier back in the 1960s.
Mario was understandably quite upset to see two of his shiny new Alfas butchered, and he immediately called the film studio to tell them he was billing them for the cost of the two modified cars. After they tried to calm him down (he is a real Italian), they told him that they were sending a pre-release copy of the movie to him, and he was to watch it before they would discuss it further.
The Spider had a major role in the film and the rest, as they say, is history. The film was a major critical and box office success, and has become a movie classic. It put the name and beautiful style of Alfa Romeo in front of millions of people worldwide. Alfa’s sales went up, and to further capitalize on it they later created the “Graduate” edition of the Spider (a decontented, lower-priced model with vinyl seats instead of leather, steel wheels instead of alloy, etc.). This would be a more affordable Spider suitable for a recent graduate like Benjamin (although I believe it was a graduation present in the movie).
Oh, and Mario didn’t bill the film company for the cars.
Here's one of the Velocissima mailing labels:
So that's my "small world" Alfa story. Pretty neat that I was standing in the driveway that Tuesday afternoon, having no clue that I was talking with the guy who'd owned and driven the very GTV6 that we'd bought new over 41 years before, until I looked at the newsletters after he'd left!
Got a “small world” Alfa story of your own? Write it up and send it along to webmaster.aone@gmail.com, and we’ll share it with your fellow members.