This Week, We Wish We Were Commuting In.

Well, we'd like to tell you that we'll be running around in a lightweight sportster this week, but it's still raining here in SoCal... a lot. we've been watching the hills outside town fill with snow, and even been up in the mountains to see it close up. It's been great to have this kind of weather, but it does mean that at least half of last week's criteria still apply. So, in the spirit of the season, we're still wanting what is basically a GT. That said, we've gone in a different direction and looked for a car that might give us some of the lightweight sports car driving experience that last week's choice the, Lamborghini 350 GT, cannot hope to provide. So this week, we'll be dodging big-rigs in...

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale!


All right, so it may not be that lightweight, but at around 2000-2200lbs (depending on whom you trust), and a lot less of it composed of giant engine, this little coupe will almost certainly turn out to be more agile than any V12 engined continent-crusher, lighter to drive as well. The engine may never match the smooth-revving nature of a big inline-six or a V12, but it's wonderful motor none the less. It's the Veloce version of the first iteration of Alfa's classic "four." You know them already, but let's do the rundown on specs. This 1290cc gem has an alloy block and head, twin overhead-cams, two valves for every hemispherical combustion chamber, and dual, twin-choke Webber carburetors. All that produces around 100bhp and almost no torque at 6500rpm. Should be enough for getting on, and it'll be energizing on these cold mornings.

The suspension too will be a great help. Once again it's classic Alfa Romeo spec with unequal-length wishbones at the front, and a live axle out back running on trailing links and an A-bracket, all of it suspended by coils. The body is of unitary construction. The car is braked from its potential 125mph top speed by heavily vaned Alfin drums. The gearbox is novel for the time in being a five-speed.

We have no explanation for why some of the cars seem to have been supplied with no bumper and a different grill. They may simply be early cars, more closely related to Bertone's concept. For reasons of weight and styling, this is the car we want.

The real reason we want this car is of course its roof and windows. Following on from them, the interior is a comfortable place to be, well trimmed and laid out, if a bit narrow of roof. It's a major reason for picking the SS over a Zagato model of otherwise equal specification. We don't think we'll miss the extra performance of the SZ, but we would miss the SS' level of comfort and style. The Zagato's aluminum body would also bring a huge increase in noise level.

So to the real question. Why the Giulietta and not the later, better performing Giulia? After all the Giulia had disk brakes at the front and a torquier 1600cc engine; Giulia's are slightly cheaper as well. That bigger motor is a lot of the reason we want the earlier car. The Veloce tag still meant something at Alfa in the 50s with engines running 20bhp or so more than their Normale counterparts. The five-speed transmission, the Alfin brakes, the whole car seems that bit more exotic than the later iteration, that bit more of a thoroughbred. Isn't that what you're looking for in an Alfa Romeo? Well, it's what we're looking for. For this week anyway...



In slate gray please, with dark red seats.