1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale

Alfa Romeo's formula for 'small car, big performance' was firmly established with the introduction of the Giulietta in 1954. At its center beat a twin-cam four-cylinder engine with an alloy cylinder block and a 1,290cc displacement size. The Sprint Coupe coachwork was bodied by Bertone and quickly followed by an open (Spider) version. In 1957 came the Sprint Speciale, the first of the new 101-Series cars. Its wheelbase was slightly shortened than the standard Sprint, its coachwork was by Bertone, and its design was extremely curvaceous. It was compact, aerodynamically efficient, and very powerful for its size, with its 100-horsepower engine endowing it with a top speed of 125 mph. The Sprint Speciale proved highly successful in 1,300cc class racing the world over. By the time the model was superseded in 1963 by the Giulia version, Alfa Romeo had produced 1,366 examples. The word Giulietta is the diminutive for Giulia in Italian, a wordplay suggesting that the new car was a grown-up evolution of its predecessor. A total of 1,400 examples of the Giulia Sprint Special were produced through 1966.

Francesco Vittorio Scaglione moved to Turin in 1951 in hopes of fulfilling his dreams to become a car stylist. A young Nuccio Bertone, who had recently established his own design studio and body shop, gave him a chance with the first project being the Abarth 1500. This was followed by the Siata 208CS and then the BAT 5. The BAT 5 (Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica) was the first of three radical design experiments created to measure the effects of streamlining and aerodynamics on a vehicle's performance. The frontal area was designed to eliminate airflow disruptions at high speeds, and the overall shape was perfected in a wind tunnel, sculpted to create the fewest possible air vortexes. The lightweight car had side windows slanted at a 45-degree angle and a large windscreen that blended perfectly into a nearly flat roof. The most dramatic styling feature was its two fins at the back which tapered upwards and slightly inwards, resulting in a highly aesthetic finish. Not only had Bertone created an attractive design, but they had also created an aerodynamically stable vehicle with an excellent index of penetration.

In 1956, Scaglione penned the Giulietta Sprint Speciale, bestowing it with a streamlined body that had a Coefficient of Drag of 0.28, scarcely troubling the surrounding air. This figure would not be bettered for two decades.

A pre-production prototype of the SS was introduced in 1957 at the Turin Motor Show and was followed by two further prototypes with minor styling tweaks to the design. The official press launch of the finalized design was held at Monza on June 24th of 1959. Beneath the graceful bonnet was an Alfa Romeo Twin Cam straight four-cylinder engine with a displacement size of 1,290cc. In keeping with the lightweight theme of the coachwork, the engine was formed from lightweight aluminum alloy and its inserted sleeves were made of cast iron. The 'crossflow' alloy head featured hemispherical combustion chambers and the double overhead camshafts were driven by two timing chains and acted on two valves per cylinder, angled at an 80-degree angle. With Twin Weber DCOE carburetors, the engine developed approximately 114 horsepower at 6,500 RPM and was paired with a five-speed manual gearbox. Four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes provided the stopping power, with three-shoe drum brakes at the front. The suspension was independent at the front with a live axle and coil springs all round. The wheelbase measured 88.6 inches, the overall length of 162.2-inches, a height of 49 inches, and a width of 65.4 inches. The overall weight was approximately 1,900 pounds.

To satisfy FIA homologation requirements, one-hundred examples were required to be built. The first 101 examples of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta SS wore a 'low nose' and were designated as the 750 SS. Some examples wore all-aluminum coachwork but the majority received steel bodies with an aluminum boot lid, engine bonnet, and doors. These first cars also received Weber 40 DCO3 carburetors while later examples used 40 DCOE2 carbs. Updates to the styling brought about a higher front nose, bumpers were added to the front and rear, minimal sound-proofing was added, and the Plexiglas windows were removed.

Designated as the Tipo 101.20, the export versions were designated 101.17. The Tipo 101.21 versions were the larger 1.6-liter Giulia series and were introduced in March of 1963 at the Geneva Motor Show. The 750 and 101 references the beginning digits used for part numbers associated with the vehicles.

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale was built at Bertone's Gruliasco factory.

by Daniel Vaughan | May 2022