Anybody have any info on original interior and convertible top colors that were available for 850 Spiders? I want to do both in tan or some shade of brown but I don't know if that's original or not. I looked online but didn't find much.
According to my factory parts books, early Spiders had interiors available in black, red, ivory (tan/beige) or brown. My experience shows black as being used on a major portion of our cars, followed by red. Not many ivory or brown interiors made it to the USA.
Later Spiders had interiors of black, red or tan, with black interiors being the most common, then red & a few tan. The red or tan interiors sometimes had door panels with a black accent strip along the upper 1/5 edge.
Dashboards were always black for Spiders. Very early non-USA Spiders could have different dashboard & interior colors selected if the car was purchased directly from Carrozzeria Bertone - particularly on the 850 CL, which was pre-USA-importation & never offered here. For the 850 CL, the dash was usually black or tan, with a padded & hand-stitched covering (this dash was later used on the 850 Racer variants in black).
Convertible tops were normally black leather-grain vinyl from the factory (though again on the 850CL's it could be custom-ordered). Higher-quality canvas & alternate-color tops have been available in the aftermarket since the '70's (Amco, Haartz, etc.), for owners wishing to upgrade or customize their Spider.
I do have to say that (IMO), unless you're repainting your Lime Green car a different color, changing it to tan/brown would REALLY be an eyesore. (ie: keep it black)
