Alfa Romeo celebrates 70 years of the Giulietta and 50 years of the Alfetta GT.
17-01-2024 19:27 - EVENTS
The celebrations of the Alfa Romeo Museum
On Sunday 5 May the spotlight will be on the Alfetta GT, while on 2 June it will be the Giulietta's turn. They will be hosted at the conference in the Giulia room of the Museum, and will be preceded by a parade in which the owners of that specific Alfa Romeo model are invited to participate. The complete backstage calendar is available on the web at museoalfaromeo.com. To ensure the celebrations are held, the third edition of the Tribe Days is presented. A unique event, in which all 4-wheel enthusiasts, Alfisti and otherwise, took part, clubs, collectors, enthusiasts, many curious people united by a passion for the brand.
The history of the two cars:
Giulietta Sprint (1954) In 1952 Alfa Romeo production was only made in 1900, which means it has a very modern and inferior cylinder. The original version is a 350 cc or high - front-wheel drive - 750 cc vet (with the code 750, also identified in later designs), from 1952 and was released in 1952 traditional with front engine, rear wheel drive. Less than a year later, the first prototype took to the streets, a compact coupé, designed by Ivo Colucci's body shop, equipped with a 1100 cc four-cylinder twin-cam light alloy engine. Displacement then increased to 1300 (1290 cc). With a single-barrel carburettor it delivers 65 HP, with a maximum speed of 165 km/h, all good in the roof rack, with the latest evolution of 1958 and double-barrel carburetor, the power sells 79 HP for 170 km/h. New gearbox and differential, also in aluminium. I use a drum, with helical fins, they are derived from those of 1900.
At the dawn of 1954 the mechanics were on the home stretch, but only the sketches and some rudimentary prototypes of the body existed. However, Finmeccanica announces the delivery of some examples to a selection of shareholders. To resolve Rudolf Hruska's impasse, Giuseppe Luraghi brought it to him and reorganized the stabilization in production 50 years before the Giulietta: an external body shop would assemble a small series of coupé versions to be delivered to shareholders while waiting for the sedan to be ready. After the initial distrust, the IRI, to which Alfa Roma belongs, accepts the proposal: the sketches are presented by Boneschi, Boano and Bertone. The latter, making use of the pencil of Franco Scaglione, will propose a compact and proportional car, with essential, refined and sporty lines. This is the Giulietta Sprint. The car was presented at the Turin Motor Show on 21 April 1954, when it was set for the first time, the hatch courtyard was a first step for the readers and for the author: a helicopter had descended due to the Shakespearean costumes of Romeo and … Juliet. The Giulietta was on the market at the time of its presentation. Two days later there was always the right amount for stabilization saturation. The reason for the success, as well as the sporty and successful line, consisted in the performance, which saw the car at an unknown level for the category and which threatened competitors of a much higher class. For Alfa Romeo it is power, the birth of a great industrial car. The production of the Giulietta, in the different versions, lasted 11 years and for a total of 177,513 examples of 24084 Sprints.
Alfetta GT (1974) From the current year of the Alfetta, source of a version of the coupé, with the task – very arduous – and are part of the legendary and best-selling model, namely the Bertone coupé, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro in 1963 came the sports version of the Giulia. The Alfetta GT 1.8 has the mechanical gearbox of the Berliner with the addition of a diameter of 110 mm and a very sporty rear end. The bodywork was again designed by Giugiaro - now "on his own" with Italdesign - according to very modern canons, which was first anticipated with a prototype created a few years earlier based on the 1750 GTV: two volumes with fastback tail ending very high with a spoiler accent. The line is therefore low and pointed, the front a little lower and more aggressive. In reality, the contribution of the Alfa Romeo Style Center in Arese is in a marked phase of definition. The driving seat also reflects a sporty tone: the seat is low, the position of the display and the front part of the pilot only and the large instrument with contact. The speedometer and second instruments are also located in the center of the dashboard. The Alfetta GT now has a very high level of sportswear, with great attention to all practical aspects: the interiors and space for four people are also discreet, the rear windows and the boot lamp easily accessible from the tailgate are also discreet. In 1975 the Alfetta GT also had a mechanical modification with 122 HP at 5500 rpm, and then 118 HP at 5300 rpm. Successful debut of a new version, with a 1.6 engine and 109 HP (used in production in 1980) and all the same, like the GTV (GTS on the English market) with a two-litre engine. The production line will be stopped in 1986, with a production of 136,275 examples, in different versions.