Vehicle Description
By now, we've probably all heard the famous quip that tells us
"every car enthusiast should own at least one Alfa Romeo", and most
likely, our minds wander to thoughts of the exotic pre-war 8C, or
maybe the rough-and-ready Giulia GTAm or the iconic, open-topped
Duetto and Graduate spyders. But particularly in the post-war
period, Alfa Romeo made their bread and butter by selling
mass-produced berlinas (that's a much more pleasing way to say
"sedan") built on a unibody platform and powered by the family of
twin-cam engines. Prior to WWII, Alfa was building high-end
sporting cars and competition cars, often with coachbuilt bodies
and complex supercharged engines. In the post-war recovery period,
the old designs were dusted off and polished up with new bodies,
but the 6C2500 was a very expensive car to build and few buyers
were able to afford such an exclusive automobile. Alfa Romeo needed
a car they could produce in much larger numbers, and they achieved
that with the unitary-construction 1900. While certainly a much
more efficient car to produce, the 1900 was still comfortably a
mid-market car, available in a variety of expensive coachbuilt
variations, and what Alfa Romeo needed was more volume. The 1900
paved the way for Alfa to move further into the volume market with
a four-cylinder coupe and sedan. This came in the form of the
Giulietta; a 1300-cc class family car that was cheap to build yet
still retained Alfa's sporting character thanks to its twin-cam
engine and well-tuned suspension. �Designed from the onset to be a
flexible platform, the Giulietta debuted as the beautiful
Bertone-designed coupe, which was soon joined by spyder, berlina,
estate and eventually coachbuilt specials such as the Sprint
Speciale and Sprint Zagato. This inherent sportiness, combined with
four-door practicality helped the Berlina model become the sales
leader of the line. Of the 177,600 Giuliettas built, over 130,000
were Berlinas or the hotter four-door T.I. The Giulietta proved
that practicality did not have to come at the expense of driving
pleasure. This 1963 Giulietta Berlina T.I. is a fabulous little gem
that is very well-sorted and ready for fun. Starting life as a
proper T.I. floor shift car, it was built as an historic rally car
by the previous owner back in 2001. After achieving some admirable
results in several events over the past several years, it has since
traded the rigors of rallying for fast-road duty. In the early
2000's the shell was restored, strengthened and the car prepped for
rally duty with upgraded fuel tank, a rebuilt engine, 5-speed
gearbox, and many other trick parts - yet it manages to retain a
period correct look and feel. The body was repainted in correct
Alfa Sky Blue in 2003 and much of the chrome was restored at the
same time. The paint remains in excellent condition, as does the
delicate brightwork. Panel fit is similarly well executed, and the
whole car possesses a high quality, well-constructed feel. At just
1290cc, the jewel-like Alfa twin-cam punches well above its weight.
This engine was built by marque expert Jim Evans to be tough and
reliable but still deliver good grunt. As part of the rebuild, the
block was fitted with new liners along with Sprint Veloce
high-compression pistons. The head was ported and polished with a
45 degree valve job done and custom Jim Evans cams fitted. Before
going back on the block, the head was skimmed to give a further
boost in compression to 10.3:1. It breathes through a single
downdraught Weber carburetor and is fitted with a tubular exhaust
header to give a great sound. The engine presents beautifully in
the engine bay, with period correct detailing that barely even
hints at the hotted up internals. The addition of a five-speed
gearbox lends additional flexibility to these famously revvy
engines and allows for more relaxed high-speed runs. This car is an
absolute delight. The chassis has been suitably uprated to match
the increased power, and again, extremely high quality components
were incorporated into the build. Adjustable AVO shock absorbers,
uprated springs and sway bars and reinforced trailing arm brackets
keep things under control. Brakes are the original yet highly
effective finned drums, but are supplanted with high-performance
liners and Aeroquip lines for better fade resistance and pedal
feel. Again, all of the modifications are subtle and the car has a
purposeful and sporty stance without appearing heavily altered,
especially riding on the fabulous D-slot steel wheels that fill the
arches just so. The understated and tidy cabin looks great,
maintaining the original simplistic feel with black leather seats
and door cards, excellent black carpeting and clean, restored
original instrumentation. It all appears fairly standard down to
the original style steering wheel and switchgear. Alfa Romeos of
all types are not the meant for static collections. Whether it is
an 8C 2900 or a humble Giulietta Berlina, an Alfa is a car meant to
provide joy to the driver. Thanks to the careful but comprehensive
modifications that have been done to this wonderful example, the
driving experience has been enhanced exponentially. While it was
built for the rigors of historic rallying, it presents in
remarkably good condition and does not appear abused, and it is far
from being a tired old race car. As a testament to the quality of
the build, it remains tight and well sorted, very attractive, and
above all, fabulous fun to drive.