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By
DAVID PIKE
The Alfa Romeo Sprint Coupe came onto the market in 1954 as a
replacement for Alfa's first postwar production design, the 1900, which
had been released in 1950. Prior to the 1950s, cars were a relatively
small part of Alfa Romeo's business, its main business being the
manufacture of aircraft engines. In the 1920s and 1930s Alfa Romeo
competed in many car races and were successful in Grands Prix, Mille
Miglia and Le Mans on a number of occasions, soon gaining a reputation
as the outstanding marque for the inter-war period. After World War II
Alfa Romeo re-entered motor racing with its 1938 Tipo, which continued
to be successful until mid-1951 when a new Ferrari finally beat Alfa's
13-year-old design.
The Giulietta - Italian for Juliet, to go with the Romeo part
of its name - was similar in size to the 1900. Construction and
suspension were also similar, but it was powered by a new
four-cylinder in line, twin-cam 1290cc engine developing 60kW and
had a top speed of 175km/h. At that time this was a powerful
engine when you consider that the Porsche 356, 1300cc engine only
produced 52kW. The Giulietta two-seater coupe had a body designed
and supplied by Bertone, as was normal Italian practice and,
rather surprisingly, this model was launched before the four-door
model which was running behind schedule due to delays at the Alfa
factory.
A convertible version of the Sprint, designed and built by
Pininfarina and known as the Guilietta Spyder, became available in
1954, although no right hand drive version was produced until
1961. This was an unusual state of affairs when one realises that
prior to 1950 no Alfa Romeo had left hand drive! All the Guilietta
models were very successful cars. Handling was excellent, the
engine performed well and they were keenly sought after, mainly
because of competitive pricing and good looks.
In 1956 Alfa carried out modifications to the engine and
produced another power plant with an extra 7.5kW and this was
fitted to a new model, the Sprint Veloce. In its various forms the
Giulietta production reached almost 50,000 vehicles. Later models
from Alfa did not have the same market acceptance. Alfa Romeo was
plagued with quality and engineering problems, which saw the
company plunged into deep crisis. This continued until the 1980s
and, in 1987 when the company was taken over by Fiat, it started
on the way to regaining its lost reputation and market. Currently
in Australia Alfa has successfully launched new models and is
planning to expand its range after a period where the marque had
disappeared completely from our market.
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