A conversation at our local model and toy fair alerted me to ‘a place where they fix old Alfas.’ As I had an hour to spare I followed directions and dropped by.
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Old Alfas aren’t an unusual sight in Cape Town traffic. I knew someone must be keeping them in fine fettle, I’d just never given it much thought. By pure luck I arrived while the premises were open to Alfisti for an informal Saturday morning launch of the new Giulia. Auto Azzurri is not an Alfa Romeo dealership, but is a hub for repair of old and not-so-old Alfas around here. I couldn’t take my eyes off the 1750 GTV in the above photos. These 105 series models were built at the Rosslyn plant in Pretoria.
The Giulia TI was also built is South Africa. Besides the Rosslyn plant there was a factory at Brits which operated until 1985 when Alfa stopped manufacture in South Africa, but not before assembling Daihatsu Charades from ’83 to ’85, some of which were exported to Italy to avoid import restrictions on Japanese vehicles.
Not only Alfa’s are catered for. This looks like a ’64 Ferrari 330 GT.
The premises are compact so double decker parking is a creative solution.
The new Giulia taking centre stage… Our local Car Magazine just tested the Giulia Quadrifoglio Verde and gave the it the nod over the BMW M3 M-DCT Competition Auto and the Mercedes-AMG C63 S.
The 1750GTV again, those wheels arent standard on the model. I recall Yohai showing us Alfa pictures recently and a similar model was wearing the same wheels.
I love the GTV without bumpers..
An Alfa Twin Spark engine neatly stacked on the side.
Not a bad angle to this Bertone styling.
In the far corner a Lamborghini Urraco with all it’s innards spilled out.
The Urraco styling looks as urgent and fresh as when new.
Does this Lambo V8 belong in the Urraco? I guess so, but it’s not the only Lamborghini around here, I returned a few days later and there was an Espada in for rebuild.
Standing in the sensuous repair queue, a Maserati 3200 GT.
These Giulietta TI’s were among the first Alfas produced in South Africa, assembled from CKD kits at the Car Distributors Assembly plant in East London, alongside Mercedes Benz.
Parked on the lawn outside, the visitors’ Alfa allegiance was unanimous.
When I returned a few days later this wonderful circa 1958 – 62 2000 Spider by Touring was parked in the late Autumn sun.
I find it amazing so many different design houses created Alfas at this period and all ‘got’ the Alfa DNA.
Touring badges either side of the bonnet.
A close up of the front end.
And a closer look.
Thc circa 1960 – 63 Giulietta Sprint by Franco Scaglione for Bertone.
And its delicate badging. I hope you have enjoyed the ride!
Stunning pictures and what a great assortment! I love the decor in the garage as well, the wall of Alfa grilles especially. I don’t think there’s a bad angle on any of the cars pictured and had no idea that they produced many (any) of them in SA.
Thanks for the trip down the field of quadrifoglio! It makes me miss my old Spyder.
Thanks Jim! Something I forgot to mention is an Alfa 2000 Spyder has been on my dream garage list since childhood, and has never left the list. An interesting point someone at Auto Azzurri made is that the 4 door Giulia TI’s are now more valuable than the sporty Spyders and GTV’s because those were always cherished and have a much higher survival rate.
man that uracco really stood the test of time.
The Urraco is one of the most underrated Lamborghinis in my opinion, they’re a perfect blending of the sexy curves of the Miura and the wedgey space ship lines of the Countach.
The front end shot of the 2000 touring reminds me of a cross between an Edsel and a Studebaker. But a very nice looking car.
It is heartening to see the Guilietta Sprint shown..thanks for the memory. I had the pleasure of owning a ’59 and ’62 for a brief period in 1968/69 or so. The earlier model had a shorter tail lense, but I don’t recall any other major differences. The sound of the 1.3 engine was raucous and revved nicely. Most of my gearhead pals were owners of ‘stangs, GTO’s and other hi-po machines, but they all were interested and curious about my very capable rally autos, especially the twin overhead cams..very cool.
Thanks again!
The Giulia saloon in blue is a beauty. These are really neatly styled cars with a sports-car feeling on the interior. I never tire of seeing them.
Thanks for this article.
WHEW ! so many lovelies ! .
I love the blue Saloon .
-Nate
Mmmm… Urraco for me
So many beauties it’s hard to pick one…
Gotta love that Giulietta TI saloon. Though I wouldn’t say no to the Touring 2000 either. And the gray Ferrari’s the more restrained of the bunch — that never happens, does it? PininFarina at his best. Though I can’t help thinking of the Peugeot 204 when I see that tail.
Thank you for brightening my morning, Mr Pikesta.
You are right Tatra, the 330 GT is restrained, and all the better for it. I can think of a few auto manufacturers today that should get their designers to look closely at Pininfarina… A lot of overwrought styling around at the moment.
So… you love the GTV without bumpers??? So do I !!!! Definitely the GTV is on my top 5 list of classics I would buy if I had the money.
What I love about those wheels on the GTV is that they’re cast aluminum, Campagnolo probably, yet look like typical vented stamped steel wheels until you look closely. I believe that style was quite common on Alfas through the early ’70’s. Thanks for the story and photos!
If original, possibly even magnesium. I think they may have come out on the GTA racers originally.
My vote goes to the GTV.
Looks great sans bumpers and with those great looking alloy wheels. Thanks for all the pictures. Many of those cars will never be seen in my part of the world.
Hi Everyone, glad many of you like the blue Giulia TI. Here is another shot of it. Look at the nifty way the bonnet is kept open.
Pretty cool ~ no side drooping bonnet here .
-Nate
Great tour pikesta, some very nice cars there. The Urraco was a V8 and it has the right sort of transmission for a mid-engined car.
I have a post scheduled this weekend to (finally) finish my coverage of the Lancia Register Rally, looking at the non-Lancia cars. There are a few Alfas including some pretty rare cars, so keep your eye out for that.
What a fantastic selection of cars! There is a sports car specialist not far from my house that will from time to time feature a Lancia, Alfa, or even Ferrari (there’s a 308 GT4 there currently) but nothing like an all-Alfa gathering to get the pulse racing…
Thanks! This Jensen Interceptor SP was at the workshop too, but didn’t fit into my photo story, they really get to work on a wide selection of interesting machinery. I think the SP was the for wheel drive version of the Interceptor?