1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider

With the Giulietta, Alfa Romeo embarked upon a new path of vehicle production, abandoning its reputation for large and luxurious performance cars to embrace small and nimble sports car production. Although a risky venture, it was proven unexpectedly successful, and Alfa would build on the Giulietta and its successor, the Giulia, for decades.

Alfa Romeo unveiled its Giulietta in 1954 at the Turin Motor Show. It was a 2+2 Coupe known as the Giulietta Sprint wearing a design by Franco Scaglione at Bertone and produced at the coachbuilder's Grugliasco plant near Turin. Its small yet effective chassis measured 156.7 inches in length and had a wheelbase of 93.7 inches. It had unibody construction, a front suspension with control arms, hydraulic dampers, and coaxial coil springs, and a rear suspension of coil springs, hydraulic dampers, and a solid axle. The axle was located by a longitudinal link on each side and by a wishbone-shaped arm linking the top of the aluminum differential housing to the chassis. Hydraulic drum brakes at all four corners provided the stopping power.

Initially, the bodywork was made at Bertone, the interior and electrical components by Ghia, and the hand assembly was performed by Alfa Romeo. As few as two hundred and as many as one thousand of these 'pre-production' cars were built in this fashion, while later production examples were built at Grugliasco.

A four-door saloon Berlina body style followed in April 1955, making its introduction at the Turin Motor Show, and quickly followed by an open two-seat Giulietta Spider with coachwork by Pinin Farina. The convertible variant was built at the request of U.S. importer Max Hoffman and was based on the Sprint, utilizing a variant of the 1.3-liter, four-cylinder engine, which delivered 74 horsepower. Weighing 1,896 pounds, it was 121 pounds lighter than its coupe sibling and had a top speed of nearly 100 mph. The Giulietta Spider is considered the Turin coachbuilder's first volume-produced car. The Giulietta T.I. (Turismo Internazionale) arrived in 1957 equipped with a more potent engine and wearing minor cosmetic changes, including to the rear lamps, dial lights, and hood.

The engine was a Twin Cam four-cylinder, 1,290cc unit with cast iron inserted sleeves, an aluminum alloy engine block, and an aluminum alloy cylinder head of a crossflow design with hemispherical combustion chambers. The bore measured 2.91 inches, and the stroke of 2.95 inches. With a compression ratio of 7.5:1 and one downdraught single chock carburetor, the engine delivered 52 horsepower at 5,500 RPM. Output rose to 61 horsepower at 6,000 RPM in 1961. The engine in the Giulietta T.I. had 8.5:1 compression and a downdraught twin-choke carburetor, allowing it to produce 64 horsepower initially before increasing in 1961 to 73 horsepower. The Giulietta Sprint also had 8.5:1 compression and a downdraught twin-choke but produced 79 horsepower at 6,300 RPM. Giulietta Sprint Veloce had 9.1:1 compression, two side-draught twin-choke carbs, and 89 bhp at 6,500 RPM. The Giulietta Sprint Speciale and the Giulietta Sprint Zagato also had two side-draught twin-choke carbs but with higher compression (9.7:1) and produced 99 horsepower at 6,500 RPM.

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta was renowned for its responsiveness and performance. They had attractive styling and were as rewarding to drive as many more expensive or larger automobiles of the era. They offered a level of refinement and mechanical sophistication in a small sports car package that quickly made the opposition look dated. They became mainland Europe's best-selling small sports car, and its success surprised Alfa themselves, who upwardly revised production targets to satisfy demands. Requests for increased performance were answered with the upgraded 'Veloce' specification of the Sprint Coupe and Spider convertible in 1956. The Veloce engine came equipped with twin Weber carburetors, replacing the lesser models' single Solex. Among the accolades achieved during the Giulietta Sprint Veloce's racing career was a class victory in the 23rd Mille Miglia and finishing 11th overall. They won their class in the Coppa Dolimiti, Tour de France, and Mille Miglia, and the Alpine Rally won outright.

Production continued through 1965, although it was succeeded in 1962 by the Giulia. The original Tipo 750 and Tipo 753 were replaced by a new designation in 1961, the Type 101. The Giulietta T.I. was the highest-produced body style with 92,728 examples built, followed by 39,057 of the Berlina, 24,084 of the Sprint, 14,300 of the Spider, 3,058 of the Sprint Veloce, and 2,796 of the Spider Veloce. The Giulietta Promiscua was a station wagon built by Carrozzeria Colli, and a mere ninety-one examples of this exclusive version were built. Carrozzeria Boneschi also made a few station wagons dubbed the Weekendina.

The Giulietta received a restyling in 1959 and 1961, with the 1961 update corresponding with the mechanical improvements to the engine. Updates to the mechanical components were minimal in 1959, limited to repositioning the fuel pump from the cylinder head to below the distributor. The previously exposed fuel filler cap was moved from the tail to the right rear wing and now resided under a flag. Changes to the bodywork included recessed headlights, new grilles with chrome frames and two horizontal bars, and more rounded wings. Larger tail lights on vestigial fins were added to the back. The interior received new cloth material and a redesigned dashboard, with the speedometer residing between two round bezels. On the T.I. model, these bezels contained a tachometer and oil and water temperature gauges.

Styling updates to the Giulietta in 1961 included square mesh side grilles incorporating a center shield and larger tail lights at the rear. The T.I. version gained its bench seat replaced with individual seats with storage nets on the seatbacks.

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale, also known as the Giulietta SS (Tipo 101.20), was a two-seat coupe designed by Franco Scaglione at Bertone and built in limited quantities. Just 1,366 examples were built from 1957 to 1962. They used the short-wheelbase of the Giulietta (slightly shorter than the Sprint), had steel coachwork, and were equipped with a 1.3-liter four-cylinder engine with double twin-choke carburetors and delivering nearly 100 horsepower. The engine was paired with a five-speed gearbox, and the top speed was in the neighborhood of 125 mph. They were aerodynamically efficient, compact, and powerful for their size. This model was superseded in 1963 by the 1,600cc Giulia version, which was the only car in the new range to retain an existing Giulietta body style. Minor exterior differences were the identifying tail script, different sidelights, and a revised dashboard. The Giulia also used front disc brakes and the more powerful Veloce-specification engine with 129 horsepower. 1,399 examples of the Bertone-bodied Giulia Sprint Speciales were built between 1963 and 1965, making the total for both types 2,765.

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato

Zagato built a special version of the Giulietta, known as the SZ, for competition. Its two-seater Berlinetta body was formed from lightweight aluminum, and its mechanical components and chassis were sourced from the Sprint Speciale.

by Daniel Vaughan | May 2022