1290cc Inline 4 Cylinder
4 speed Manual
Front Engined Rear Wheel Drive
4 Wheel Drum Brakes
89 bhp 80 lb-ft
Exterior Grigio Medio Interior Maroon
When the Giulietta was introduced in 1954, it marked a significant shift for Alfa Romeo, which had built a reputation for building very high quality luxury and high performance cars, including purpose built cars which dominated pre-war racing worldwide. The Giulietta in contrast was a 1.3 liter small displacement car on a unibody chassis, originally introduced as the Bertone designed Sprint coupe, followed by the 4 door berlina and finally the Pininfarina Spider. The engine design was a work of art and formed the foundation for almost all of Alfa Romeo’s small displacement engines for the next 40 years. Along with the standard versions of the Sprint and Spider, there was also the higher performance Veloce model, which had side draft Weber DCO3 (later DCOE) carburetors, a tubular exhaust header, and higher compression and upgraded camshaft, producing 10 more horsepower than the “normale” engine. Despite the small displacement, the Giuliettas were capable of exceeding 100 miles per hour and with their excellent handling, they proved to be wonderful sports cars. This example was purchased as a
restored car, but on closer inspection it was found that there were a lot of details of the restoration that had not been sorted out properly, making it look like the restoration started out very well with excellent paint and bodywork, but ended in a rush. Although the car presented well, several issues had to be sorted to make it reliable as a driver, including repair and rebuilding the original carburettors, fixing the side window installation, sorting out oil leaks, fixing some electrical problems, refitting the soft top, and properly retuning the engine. After all the work was done, however, I was left with a fantastic car to drive. Alfa Romeos of this era are all fantastic drivers cars, with excellent handling, smooth acceleration, and good performance. When the engine was rebuilt on this car it was oversized to 1410cc giving a bit more power than stock, but it still runs smoothly. I particularly like using this car for windy roads and long distance rallys, as it is very predictable to drive has good road holding, allowing for fast cornering, and is easy to drive consistently, making it an excellent choice for Time/Speed/Distance rallys.
