1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale

James Davis June 25, 2022June 25, 2022

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale (Tipo 750 SS/101.20, Italian for “Type 750 SS/101.20”) and Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint Speciale (Tipo 101.21), also known as Giulietta SS and Giulia SS, are small sports cars manufactured by Alfa Romeo from 1959 to 1966.

With the introduction of the Giulietta in 1954, Alfa Romeo established the ‘small car, big performance’ formula which would characterise the Milanese marque’s finest offerings from then on. Alfa’s classic twin-cam four was downsized to 1,290ccc for the Giulietta, gaining an alloy cylinder block in the process. The original Bertone-styled Sprint Coupé was soon joined by Berlina (saloon) and Spider (open) versions, and then in 1957 came the model now recognised as the ultimate Giulietta – the Sprint Speciale – which was the first of the new 101-Series cars. Built on a slightly shorter wheelbase than the standard Sprint, and again the work of Bertone, the mouth-wateringly curvaceous ‘SS’ came with 100bhp on tap, a five-speed gearbox and a top speed of 125mph. Compact, aerodynamically efficient and very powerful for its size, the SS proved highly successful in 1,300cc class racing the world over. A mere 1,366 had been produced by the time the model was superseded in 1963, and today this rare Giulietta variant is highly prized by Alfa Romeo connoisseurs.

This 1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale powered the 1290cc DOHC inline-four in Veloce-spec and is backed by a 5-speed manual gearbox. Induction is through a pair of Weber DCOE carburetors with a factory aluminum airbox and F.I.S.P.A air cleaner.

The plexiglass wind deflector in front of the windscreen is a factory item and shows its age with visible crazing. A set of bumper-mounted Marchal driving lamps come fitted. A few cosmetic issues are present in the current Alfa Red finish, including some bubbling around the top of the doors, imperfections around the nose, and a few scratches from the windshield wipers.