This 1966 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Sprint GT Veloce spent the better part of 30 years in storage after it successfully completed the grueling London to Sydney Rally in 1993. It now requires a full restoration to return it to its former glory.
As a competitive endurance rally car, this vehicle has been significantly modified, it’s now powered by a 2.0 liter Alfa Twin Cam inline-four in place of the original 1.6 liter unit, it also has a roll cage, racing seats, and a racing fuel tank.
Fast Facts – The Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Sprint GT Veloce
- The Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Sprint GT Veloce is one of the more desirable members of the Alfa Romeo 105 series. It was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone and it featured the famous “Step Nose” front end.
- The Alfa Romeo 105 series was powered by the advanced (for the time) all-alloy Alfa Twin Cam engine with two valves per cylinder and a cross-flow head design. The engine was available in displacements from 1.3 liters to 2.0 liters.
- Over the course of the 1965 and 1968 production run approximately 14,240 examples of the Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Sprint GT Veloce were built, after which it was replaced with the 1750 GT Veloce.
- Today the 1600 Sprint GT Veloce is considered highly collectible, and good examples have seen their values stretch almost into the low six figures.
The Perfect Alfa
In Alfa Romeo circles the Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Sprint GT Veloce has been described by some as the “Perfect Alfa,” thanks to the fact it retains the original early Giorgetto Giugiaro styling with the twin headlights and step nose hood.
This car has been fitted with a 2.0 liter Twin Cam, power is sent back through a correct 5-speed gearbox to the live axle rear end.
Later cars in the Alfa 105 (and 115) model series would largely switch to an updated design with quad headlights and the step nose was replaced with a smoother front end – although it was undeniably attractive many prefer the design quirk of the earlier cars.
The Alfa Romeo 105 series first entered production in 1963, at the time it was an advanced design with unibody construction, an all-alloy double overhead cam inline-four cylinder engine with a cross-flow head, four wheel disc brakes, a 5-speed manual transmission, and elegant styling by Giugiaro who was then based at Bertone.
The cars in the 105 series proved popular in the world of motorsport, both on the tarmac and in rally and hill climbs.
Today the cars are highly sought after and as a result their prices have been skyrocketing. Companies like Alfaholics provide a wide range of aftermarket parts to make the cars faster, and restomod 105s are becoming increasingly popular.
Here you can see the “Step Nose” – the small gap between the leading edge of the hood and the upper nose of the car. This unusual design quirk would be absent from the 105 series models that followed.
Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Sprint GT Veloce – Specifications
- The heart of any car is its engine, this is true for no car more than the Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Sprint GT Veloce. It’s powered by a 1.6 liter all-aluminum alloy Twin Cam engine with two valves per cylinder and a cross flow head producing 108+ hp and sending power back through a 5-speed manual transmission.
- The Alfa 105 series all have unibody shells with independent front suspension and a live axle rear. Disc brakes are fitted at all four corners – an unusually forward-thinking feature for the early 1960s.
- The car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone, it has simple, elegant styling that bridges the gap between earlier 1950s designs and the less ostentatious designs of the 1960s.
- The 1600 Sprint GT Veloce has a curb weight of 1,012 kgs (2,231 lbs) and is capable of top speeds in excess of 185 km/h (115 mph).
Up front you can see the twin spotlights mounted to the kangaroo bar (or “roo bar” as it’s called in Australia), it’s designed to protect the front of the car from kangaroos that frequently hop out in front of traffic in remote areas.
The London to Sydney Rally Sprint GT Veloce Shown Here
It’s clear to see that the car you see here needs a full restoration. As noted in the introduction the car was modified for use in the 1993 London to Sydney Rally, a grueling endurance event that crosses three continents and is famous for its high rate of attrition among entrants.
Before the rally this car was modified extensively including the fitment of a later 2.0 liter Alfa Romeo Twin Cam engine. It also has a roll cage, SAAS and Recaro sports seats, a battery shut off switch and some other added switch gear, a racing fuel tank, spot lights, and a kangaroo bar up front to protect the nose from any unfortunate encounters of the marsupial kind.
The car is now for sale through Collecting Cars out of Melbourne in Australia. It’s been in storage for almost 30 years and it’s clear that it needs a full bare metal restoration.
It will be up to the new owner whether they want to rebuild it back to factory stock condition or restore it to its original London to Sydney Rally specification – that latter option might be popular with those who would take the car racing once again.
If you’d like to read more about this car or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
*Editor’s Note: We got the timing on this article wrong by a few hours, sadly the car has already sold achieving a final price of $15,000 AUD or approximately $10,465 USD.
Images courtesy of Collecting Cars
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