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Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Veloce
When Alfa Romeo introduced the Giulietta series in 1954 it was as part of a strategy of entering a larger market sector than they had hitherto tackled. Nevertheless Alfa stood by their traditions of engineering design excellence and transferring to their road cars the technologies they developed on the race-track and as a consequence, they produced a car that was not so much a direct counterpart of small British sports cars like the Triumph TR3 or MGA, but something more along the lines of a miniature Ferrari.
Nothing exemplified this more than its engine. An all aluminum, twin overhead camshaft , wet-liner design with features including hemispherical combustion chambers, a five-bearing crankshaft and in Veloce specification such as our example, an oil cooling radiator built into the alloy sump, 4-2-1 exhaust headers and twin side-draft Weber carburetors. All this produced more than enough power compared to its rivals, despite its nominally modest 1.3 litres. Coupled with a sophisticated chassis that delivered excellent road-holding and handling, it resulted in a car that maintained Alfa Romeo’s record of success in various forms of motorsport.
The Spider variant, added in 1955 (the first Giulietta launched was the "standard" coupe, a saloon, various series of "special bodied" coupes and even station wagons were produced), had its bodywork both designed and built by Pininfarina (the standard coupe body was produced by Bertone, the saloon and Sprint Speciale coupe being created in house, and Zagato developed a lightweight aluminum bodied coupe that was particularly successful in various forms of motorsport).
Our Giulietta is a 1960 Spider Veloce, originally exported to an English ex-pat in Nigeria, he subsequently brought the car to the UK in 1965. It is fitted with a 5 speed gearbox (the factory produced a 4 to 5 speed conversion kit at the time) and a lower ratio final drive than usual on a Veloce (you could order your Giullietta from the factory with one of three final drive ratios!).
The car is left hand drive, but do not let this deter you from experiencing this little jewel. If you have not driven a LHD before you will become comfortable with it in just a few minutes. It's a very easy car to drive and I have never experienced an issue with driving it in the UK. For the past 6 years we have taken the Giuleitta on a "European tour" each summer, travelling to Milan, The South of France, the Low Countries and even the Highlands of Scotland. It has proved to be a superb all round tourer, as equally at home keeping up with modern traffic on autoroutes as it is tackling the most challenging of alpine passes.
Finished in its original body colour of Pinifarina Red with black interior trim with red piping, the car has both a folding soft top and an optional hard top should you wish it. The specification also includes a period “His Master’s Voice” radio (converted to receive FM), inertia reel seatbelts and a boot rack for additional luggage capacity.
Car Specification:
- 2 door convertible (folding hood and optional hard top
- 2 seats
- Left hand drive
- Pinifarina Red, black interior with red piping
- 5 speed manual gear box
- Seat belts (Inertia reel)
- Radio (AM/FM)
- Medium sized boot – soft bags recommended
- Boot rack
Please contact us to hire this car.
