1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce

Through successive decades, Alfa Romeo earned an enviable reputation as a manufacturer of stunning and successful road and racing cars. They earned victories on the world's most iconic road races, including the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, with legendary drivers that included Tazio Nuvolari, Giuseppe 'Nino' Farina, and Juan Manuel Fangio.

In 1954, Alfa Romeo introduced the Giulietta with its 1.3-liter engine, which helped establish its reputation for producing small cars with impressive performance. It also forced Alfa Romeo to change its ethos and become, for the first time, a high-volume manufacturer. The original Giulietta Sprint Coupé of 1954 was quickly joined by Berlina and Spider versions, with the spider wearing elegant coachwork designed and built by Pinin Farina. In 750 series form, the Veloce Spider came with an up-rated engine that was equipped with dual Weber carburetors, which helped produce 90 brake horsepower, which was an increase of 10 horsepower over the standard engine. The Giulietta Veloce was the best-performing and most developed an open variant of the 1300 line.

The Giulietta Spider had an all-alloy 1.3-liter twin-cam four-cylinder engine fitted into a robust unitized steel body/chassis, and a curb weight of fewer than 1,900 pounds. In 1956, the Giulietta Sprint and Spider Veloce variants were introduced, with higher-performance engines and modified bodywork. Modifications included raised engine compression to 9.1:1, plus a pair of twin-throat Weber carburetors and revised camshaft profiles. With these changes, power output rose about 15 percent, and top speed went from around 100 to 115 mph. Just 2,796 examples of the top-specification Giulietta Spider Veloce were produced.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2019