Sunny weather brings the classics out of hibernation, and a beautiful mid-May day brought out this Alfa Giulia sedan. The license plate read “66SUPER”, indicating that the car is a 1966 Giulia Super. Powered by a 1,570cc twin-cam aluminum four with twin two-barrel Weber DCOE carburetors, with a five speed manual transmission, and stopped by four wheel discs, the Giulia Super was a sophisticated sports sedan, introduced in 1965 as a higher performance version of the Giulia of 1962. The Giulia was exactly contemporary with the BMW New Class, and although BMW emerged as the leader in sport sedans, the Giulia is arguably a more interesting-looking boxy sedan than the Corvair-influenced BMWs. It certainly stands out more, almost five decades later.
Where did you shoot this, Robert? Never seen one before…
I spotted the Giulia in Maryland, heading north on the Washington, DC Beltway (I-495) near Bethesda. I had seen a Giulia sedan in the US only once before, but it was easy to identify; despite being an upright box compared to the GTV 1750 or Spider from the same time period, it has a distinctly Alfa Romeo look to it.
While researching background information on the Giulia, I found a magazine article about another 1966 Giulia Super that has been well preserved: http://www.europeancarweb.com/features/epcp_0811_1966_alfa_romeo_giulia_super_peter_becronis/viewall.html
Still, my beating heart…
Looove Giulias, and what a nice (and rather unusual) shade of blue. These were the “muscle cars” of Europe at the time, and every young man lusted after a Guilia with a nice fat and noisy Abarth exhaust. I spent the summer of ’69 in Austria, and at night, one could hear their exhausts echoing off the buildings, as their drivers worked them through their gears. The Sound of Music…
Yes Paul you refer to them as Euro muscle cars, it seems an American thing to use a huge engine in a car and think it is then fast and in a straight line it works ok but put corners on a road and I dont mean the sweeping turns on a freeway and ‘fast’ US cars tend to join the scenery.Little cars like the guilias can get up to speed ok but you can also throw them at a corner in the CORRECT gear and you’ll make it. Thats the noise you heard drivers getting the engine into the correct mode so you can steer the car with the gas pedal. They are NOT muscle cars they are sport sedans and the sport part is in the suspension and steering geometry
I meant that they played a similar role in Europe that muscle cars played in the US: the object of desire for young guys wanting to go fast. By 1969, used ones were fairly affordable, and that’s what many of them bought.
Color looks like the classic “French Blue”, great looking cars in any color. One of these is on my bucket list of cars, just under the Lancia Fulvia.
Not many of these survived the Italian propensity for rust put them all off the roads, great handling cars if you believe the BMW propaganda so be it but the BMW that really corners is yet to be made and even their much hyped M5 cant catch a HSV Holden with a blown 6.2 of course no US car can pace a BMW but lots of others can.
you do realize that the Holden was also developed in the US, and the 6.2 is a made in North America V8…and that the Cadillac CTS V can pace a M5. Our Camaro is the same platform at the Holden.
The Commodore was NOT developed in the US. Why would it be? The engine is definitely yours though.
The Camaro is the Commodore platform, developed by the Aussie design team, and taken over by you guys…
Saw a station wagon Giulia back in March, it may be a while before I can upload photos though. Definitely an interesting car but I’m not sure I’d own a sedan over the coupe, then again I haven’t seen the prices for a while – there didn’t used to be a lot of difference. Saying that it was double, but not a lot of money.
I know they’re not popular among the Alfisti, but I’m hoping to come upon a mid to late 70’s Alfetta Sedan. Because of their lack of popularity, it seems like they’re all gone or complete basket cases.
that’s not true and I don’t know from where it comes from…Alfettas have their own, honorable place in Alfa history and they’re well liked and loved, sure it wasn’t easy to substitute a sacred cow like the Giulia but the Alfetta did it in a grand way.
I’m definitely not saying that some Alfisti don’t appreciate the Alfetta sedans, it just doesn’t seem to get quite the admiration as the GTV coupes.
A rare bird spotted again,I never remember these around as a kid in 60s Britain,no doubt rather expensive when new and given the combination of British weather and Italian rust resistance survivors will be scarce .I love the colour and it would be interesting to put one against a Lotus Cortina to see who’s the Daddy.Only ever saw a red one a few years ago at a show
If anyone has a chance to visit Berkeley, California, I see one or two Giulia sedans almost wvery time I’m there. On a recent visit I also saw a panel wagon. The Alfetta sedans are rare even here. I owned one briefly in the late ’70’s and even in the benign California climate with no road salt, it was rusting after just 2 years. There’s a Fiat 124 sedan in my town that’s the same blue as the subject Alfa.
There’s a nice white Giulia sedan that I see around Rockridge (the nice part of Oakland) driving around every now and again. It’s amazing how small these sedans are compared to modern “subcompacts”. I’m guessing it’s a bit smaller than a Versa hatchback.
Love it! I always liked these, maybe because they remind me a bit of a contemporary Volvo.
There is a Polistil model of one of these on ebay right now–same color too!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintage-POLISTIL-Alfa-Romeo-Giulia-Super-1300-Diecast-Car-Italy-RJ-44-w-Box-/360657706204?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item53f8dfdcdc
Am I the only guy to see just a little teeny bit of 59 Edsel in the back half of this car? Both the C pillar and the decklid/taillight treatments show a resemblance. Maybe this is why Mr. Land Yacht here finds this one strangely appealing.
No, now that you mention it. Good catch. The Giulia sedan arrived in 1962, so the timeline certainly is right.
Never noticed that before, but I can see the resemblance now.
Great catch! If Germanically serious Mercedes-Benz could add tailfins to its square sedans in 1959, it is quite conceivable for Alfa Romeo to have imitated an American car in 1962.
Brilliantly spotted. That is one place I would not have looked for the source of the design of one of my favorite cars.
Truly a nice find, and in that blue shade, no less ! This will always be THE european sport sedan, BMW may have carefully built its reputation in the years building increasingly good cars and becoming the object of lust for lots of yuppies and wannabes around the world but back in day Alfas just outclassed in every way the underpowered, ill-handling excuses for sport sedans that BMWs built, how that have changed 🙁 …good point about the styling, in a period were the european production was trying to get over american design cues, the Giulia was actually built for being aerodynamic (0,34cx) and the new bodystyle with the truncated tail wasn’t well received at the beginning…I’ve always thought there was something subtly american about the Giulia but i’ve never made the connection with the Edsel…maybe at Alfa they were pissed off for that rip-off front shield !
What’s the difference between the Guila and the later Berlina 2000? Both cars look quite similar if I recall correctly.