1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint 2+2 Coupe was shown in 1954 at the Turin Motor Show. It wore a design by Franco Scaglione at Bertone, used unibody construction, and was powered by a straight-four Twin Cam engine displacing 1290cc. It had an aluminum alloy block and cast iron inserted sleeves and hemispherical combustion chambers. The double overhead camshafts were driven by two-timing chains and acted on two valves per cylinder. The front suspension used control arms, with coaxial coil springs and hydraulic dampers. The rear setup used a solid axle on coil springs with hydraulic dampers. Hydraulic drum brakes on all four corners provided the stopping power.

A four-door saloon Berlina joined the lineup in April of 1955. An open two-seat Giulietta Spider was added in mid-1955, with the convertible coachwork provided by Pinin Farina. It was built at the insistence of New York importer Max Hoffman, who had witnessed the popularity of the small British and German sports cars in America. With nearly a 100 mph top speed, the Giulietta Spider offered brisk performance from its all-alloy, free-revving, 1.3-liter twin-cam four-cylinder engine mounted in the steel unibody chassis and weighed less than 1900 lbs. During its production lifespan, approximately 14,300 examples of the Spider were built, along with 2,796 of the Spider Veloce.

The Giulietta T.I. (Turismo Internazionale) was added in 1957. An additional ninety-one examples were built by Carrozzeria Colli as station wagons. Carrozzeria Boneschi also made a few station wagon examples called Weekendina. The Giulietta Sprint Speciale wore sleek coupe coachwork designed by Franco Scaglione at Bertone. Between 1957 and 1962, a total of 1,366 examples were built. They had a steel body and were based on a short-wheelbase Giulietta chassis. The lightweight Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ had aluminum-bodied Berlinetta coachwork, built by Zagato for competition.

Alfa Romeo used the 1959 Frankfurt Motor Show to introduce a new version of the Giulietta Berlina. The previously exposed fuel filler cap was relocated from the tail to the right rear wing, under a flap. The fuel pump was also moved from the cylinder head to a lower position below the distributor. On the exterior, the front was revised with recessed headlights, more rounded wings, and a new grille design incorporating chrome frames and two horizontal bars. The back was also updated, with larger tail lights on the vestigial fins. The interior received new cloth material and a redesigned dashboard. With these changes, it was given a new type designation from 750 and 753 to 101.

Another restyling occurred in 1961. Production of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta (Tipo 750 and Tipo 101, meaning 'Type 750' and 'Type 101') was built from 1954 through 1965 with a total of 177,690 examples built. 39,057 were Berlina body styles, 92,728 were the T.I. models, and 24,084 were Sprints. 14,300 were Spiders and 3,058 were Sprint Veloce.

The popularity of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta helped establish it as a high-volume manufacturer. The Alfa Romeo Giulia was introduced in June of 1962 and would eventually replace the Giulietta. Production of the standard Berlina ended in 1963, with the T.I. continuing for another year. The Sprint, Sprint Special and Spider would continue with the larger 1.6-liter engine and were sold under the Giulia name until they were replaced by all-new Giulia-based models during 1965.

by Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2019