The Giulietta Spider

Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider

Incredibly expensive, the gem-like Alfa set new standards of refinement and performance in an era when many sports cars were damp, drafty, and dull as dirt.

At last, here was an open car with roll-up windows, a roomy cabin, and a simple top that didn´t take till the end of the downpour to raise. But what made the Giulietta so amazing was that gorgeous Pininfarina styling. A combination of refined elegance and stylish impudence, it ranks as one of the most handsome of all postwar Alfa Romeos.

Hardtop Giuliettas may have earned laurels on the track, but the Spider was more at home in Hollywood and St.Tropez –it was just too pretty to race. Playboys and starlets beat a path to Alfa showrooms, desperate to own the best-looking car of the decade. Scores of feature movie appearances followed and nobody seemed to care that the little Alfa cost more than Jag XK150, AC Ace, or Jensen 541, or three times the price of a Morgan Plus Four.

Pretty enough to stop a speeding train, it handled better than most other sports cars and could knock on the door of 110 mph ( 177 km/h ) –and all from 1300cc.

Perhaps London´s Daily Express summed the Giulietta Spider´s appeal best of all: This impeccable convertible is a dream of delight for today´s gilded youth.

The Alfa Giulietta was that exceptional phenomenon, an all-new car. From the engine and transmission through the axle and suspensions to the body and styling, it was originated with an uncompromising eye to quality.

The small but powerful four-cylinder engine, with two chain-driven overhead camshafts and a rigid five-bearing crankshaft, proved to be an instant classic, and variants were to power Alfas through to the 1970s.

An all-synchromesh four-speed transmission, coil-spring front suspension, and bevel rear axle contributed to the quality of the driving experience. The first model of the Giulietta series was introduced in 1954.

Appearing in 1957, the Spider was a relative latecomer, but held its own for looks alongside the Sprint coupé of the previous year.

Considering the breathtaking price tag, the 14,300 Spiders sold represented an impressive achievement.

Giulietta Design and Production

The Giulietta series were the cars that transformed Alfa Romeo into a quantity manufacturer and major player in the Italian auto industry. Whereas in the early 1950s the company´s 1900 Sprint had been thought of as a great success with sales of around 17,000.

Alfa built an astounding 178,000 of all kinds of Giulietta in little over a decade. This required, among other things, the replacement of the company´s old Portello works in Millan with a vast new factory outside the city at Arese.

The key to the Giulietta´s phenomenal commercial success was the sheer glamor of the four-seater Bertone-styled Sprint coupé and the convertible two-seater Spider styled by Pininfarina –along with their even racier derivatives such as the Sprint Speciale and Sprint Zagato.

Racing and rallying successes were a secondary but useful boost to a reputation that was founded above all on style. The prestige of both the Sprint and Spider rubbed off on the less elegant four-door sedan Giuliettas that became Alfa´s bread and butter product.