At the end of the war the Alfa situation, like the whole Italian Industry, to say the least was very critical one; the production installations were heavily marked by bombings, resources were lacking to invest for raising, but above all a market was missing for the car. There was a restart from building material, the first sector that moved in the long reconstruction process, and from domestic appliances that began spreading in Italian houses. Since 1946 marine, aeroplane and truck engines have been starting their production. In 1949 IRI reorganization brought the Alfa company under Finmeccanica's aegis and there was a slow restart of the automobile production with the old "2300 Freccia D'Oro", the charming and luxurious car which, however, wasn't suitable for requirements and dimensions of the post-war market. It was necessary to "drop in pitch" with a more affordable automobile, but keeping the image of a sports car with a technological refined brand: the new creature was called 1900 and was directly Fiat competitive with the same name and Lancia Aurelia. Thanks to the procurement of American assembling lines and special equipment in the frame of Marshall's plan aids, the paid working hours required for a car production passed from 240 to less than 100 hrs. The 1900 car was a valid product and gained a remarkable fame, but owing to its high cost and its capacity was still a too elite car which didn't allow the production volume required for the Alfa survival; it didn't even meet a market that, in the meanwhile, moved and seemed to offer important opportunities. In 1951 the project "750" was started, a number that made Fiat get anxious, because somebody immediately connected it to the possible power capacity of the new model, but actually it was nothing else that a project mark. In fact, the targets drawn up by the managers of "the snake logo" brought for the future Alfa to a completely different direction: what they really wanted was a medium powered car with an engine smaller than 1900 cc, but powerful. Second, they envisaged a range divided into many more models to achieve as wide as possible markets and, obviously, the cost had to be limited. The project management was given to eng. Satta Puliga, helped by eng. Rudolf Hruska, a smart expert coming from the Porsche study. It was just a funny story that led the "750" project to take the final name of Giulietta. Historians' opinions differed on the matter: Gino Rancati, well-known journalist, reported three main theories in the article appeared in 1994 on "Ruoteclassiche". The first said that the authoress of the happy association between Giulietta and Alfa was Mrs De Cousandier, poet and engineer Leonardo Sinisgalli's wife, the Finmeccanica consultant for advertising. The second was related to a fashion that spread over America during those years, that saw the substitution of a mere figure with the names of characters and places conceived by the general imagination. The third was the most striking one and was reported to Rancati by eng. Carlo Garcea, Alfa's engineer from 1935 to 1982: "We have to go back some years, when we went to Paris with Jean Pierre Wimille and six technicians to exhibit the 1900 at the Motor Show. That night the smart driver took us to a very chic nightclub, at Boulevard des Capucins. We sat at a table when a Russian prince, a refugee who earned his living by entertaining clients with witticisms and short poems, joined us. He watched us carefully and then, after a long silence, said: ""You are seven Romeos and not a single Giulietta."" We burst out laughing, but at once we understood that the female name was perfect for our car factory".

"1300" twin camshaft

As it's easy to guess from the guidelines illustrated above, the engine was the key-factor of the new project. The technician team led by Giuseppe Busso started thanks to the experience made with the previous 1900, agreed that the obliged choice was the twin cam transmission that had been featuring the Alfa engines since 1914, when for the first time appeared on the competitive racing cars. To construct the cylinder block they began with aluminium employment: such use for the "1900" prototypes had caused stiffness problem that brought to the crankshaft failure. Finally, they were obliged to give up because of the delay in the design timing, as their top managers urged the immediate start up of the new model production. Starting from that failure Alfa technicians constructed the 1100 cc cylinder block in aluminium, strengthened by external beads and already dimensioned to have increased capacities. Thanks to these features only few changes were necessary to turn it into the Giulietta engine. Capacity passed to 1290 cc, while the 74 mm bore and 75 mm stroke made it almost a square engine. Demountable cylinder liners were in cast iron. The driving shaft was in pressed steel and fitted with counterweights; two-valve heads per cylinder, on the contrary, were made in light alloy, they also could be dismantled and equipped with hemispheric combustion chambers with mid-sparking plugs. Always as it concerned the transmission, another important novelty was made by a bowl floating from the cam and the valve stem in order to minimize the characteristic work knocking. Camshafts were controlled by a double chain, while a secondary belt activated the fan. The water cooling system was by pump like lubrication: the last was assured by a gear pump linked to the driving shaft: same source also activated the distributor. The new engine basically had a power output of 53 bhp at 5200 rpm, but playing with compression ratios and feed the Portello engineers achieved 100 bhp at 6500 rpm, without compromising reliability. Thus the engine performances were diversified on the basis of the models they were intended for: the original Sprint engine produced the 80 bhp version, later on adopting the 90 bhp engine for the "Veloce". Same destiny for the Spider, while for the saloon they chose a more peaceful engine of 53 bhp, to which they added the T.I. that could count on 65 bhp and later on will know a bigger success than the standard version. On the contrary, the sporting model engines of 100 bhp will be exclusively intended for the Sprint "Speciale" designed by Bertone and SZ by Zagato.

From Sprint to Spider

In the autumn of 1953 they realized that the designing stage was going on and on: waiting for the solution of the problems that troubled the saloon model, the first that in theory should have been produced, they decided to make the debut of the coupe that will be later called Sprint. For the body building they called for tenders in which Bertone, Ghia and Boneschi took part. The last one made his exit immediately and the final was played by the first two: Bertone's proposal won, but at the beginning the Sprint production was awarded by both of them to satisfy the requests. In fact, the success met by the new model, exhibited to the press in April 1954, exceeded all expectations. Powered with 1300 cc in the 80 bhp version, Sprint could boast of a top speed of 165 km/h, that placed it in competition with much more blazoned coupes. While Bertone didn't know any more what to do to comply with all the requests of the small coupe, the 1955 Turin Motor Show saw the exhibition of the first Giulietta saloon. It was equipped with the same mechanical devices as the Sprint but with a decidedly more peaceful engine of 53 bhp. Also in that case it received a hero's welcome by the public and specialized motoring press. The Giulietta success wasn't a phenomenon restricted to Italy, but it concerned Europe and went also over the ocean, from where it received a stimulating proposal: the idea of the Giulietta spider version was in fact thought up by the Hoffman Motor Car Inc., the Alfa Romeo importer to the United States, a traditional landmark for open cars. To stress the proposal, the Hoffman Motor Car guaranteed the purchase of a first lot of 600 cars and in Milan some persons began by dreaming of California. As already happened for the Sprint body, there was a call for tenders where Bertone and Pininifarina took part: the former proposal, even if interesting and innovative for certain aspects, like the frontal side that anticipated the Duetto's one, was spoilt by some excess, above all in the tail fitted with rather generous fins. On the contrary, Pininfarina's project had his real strong point in balancing the parts. The frontal side played an important part in the presence of the big radiator cowling, whose sides were fitted with air intakes and twin bumper, with the bonnet longitudinally run by a thin chrome plated profile interrupting the bare sheet. The side was smooth and slim, rather low by the look: the only concession was a thin chromium plated profile under the door, from wheel to wheel. Behind the cockpit, two fins started going down under a light parabola to the small rear lights. The tail was featured by two bumper guards and a ceramic drop, used as the boot handle, carrying the AlfaRomeo logo. On the prototype built in 1955 the windscreen was panoramic type, but later on replaced by a more traditional one because of image deformation. The same for the side windows, at the beginning they were sliding and chrome framed, afterwards they had been turned into a fold-away type with a small triangular quarter vent. As a consequence of it, they added the door panels that didn't exist on the prototype, with the elimination of the Spartan cord that was used as the internal handle. The dashboard design had also some change: on the pre-production unit the three main round indicators were inserted in-relief niches with the mid-one, envisaged for the revolution indicator, more prominent than the others. Such elaborated solution was dropped in the series version and the three instruments were lined up on the same level, with clear advantage of visibility. Nardi steering wheel was also dropped to be substituted with a large and round wheel made in black bakelite with two spokes, an internal chrome ring to activate the horn. On the contrary, on the first sold units, the gearshift was attached to the steering column, later on replaced with a more traditional floor-type. The funny thing was the glove box that was uncovered: those were days! The image of the speedy and handling car, so efficaciously styled by Pininfarina, was confirmed by its structure and mechanical parts, completely alike to the Giulietta Sprint's. The engine with 1290 cc produced 80 bhp at 6300 rpm and with the ratio of 11 kg/m at 4000 rpm, thanks to the twin carburettor "Solex 35 APAI-G" and a compression ratio equal to 8.5:1. These features, together with only 830 kg of weight allowed Spider to achieve a top speed of 165 km/h, such as to embarrass much more "blazoned" cars. With such basis they associated a gearbox in unit with the engine, with four forward gears and 1 reverse, originally equipped with Borg Warner synchronizing gears, later on replaced by the Porsche ones. The last gear was hot-shift type (direct shift gearbox) while the clutch was dry single-plate with elastic hub. The back differential, made in aluminium with crown wheel and piston and casing, in light alloy, was activated by two-halves shaft with a mid-support. At the end of the second half there were two universal joints, while at the gearbox exit there was the flexible coupling. Front independent suspensions adopted a system by transverse links of unequal length (wishbone) and telescopic dampers at the front, while at the back there was a traditional rigid axle mounted on the chassis by a triangle and lower transverse links (wishbone). Both at the front and at the back we could find adjusting flex springs connected with Girling telescopic hydraulic dampers. In unit with a rigid, box-type steel chassis, the suspension system always assured higher performance and a quite good road holding. Worm-and rolling steering gear had 10 m diameter as steering. Drum brakes on four wheels with helicoidal fins: in general they allowed a safe braking, but if they were under a continuous stress they could be affected by fading. The hand brake was working on rear wheels.

Spider Evolution

Giulietta Spider started its production in 1955 but first examples were built for the United States: Italian and European customers had to wait until March 1957 to buy it. In the autumn of the same year the Veloce version had its debut, featured by a more powerful engine. In detail, Solex carburettor was replaced by twin-choke horizontal 40 DCO3 Weber carburettor: with a compression ratio at 9.1:1, and this gave 90 bhp at 6500 rpm, while torque increased up to 12 kg/m at 3900 rpm. In spite of a slight increase of the weight from 830 to 855 kg. the "Veloce" achieved 180 km/h., the Spider remained unchanged till 1959 when there was the debut of the one that was, in every respect, a second series: wheel base passed from 2200 to 2250 mm, by unification with the one of the Giulia Sprint "Special", the coupe created by Bertone for sports customers. The 750 type engine was replaced by the 101, which was featured by the fuel pump sideways instead on the front side and by a different air filter. Moreover, back headlights had reverse white lights and separated reflectors, while the direction indicators appeared on the car sides according to the new traffic regulations. Another small novelty was the little lid that finally was envisaged to close the glove box . In 1961 a set of detail changes put the third series on the market: back headlights were updated and enlarged, the capote room was enriched by a chrome plated profile and an artificial leather roof. The two hinges were integrated by the hooks for the canvas hood, while on the dashboard they added electric lighter, ashtray and a small mirror with antidazzle release in the place of the old fume. Finally, the upper side of the dashboard was now padded. Actually, Alfa designers were studying a revision much more radical than the Spider's which will lead little Giulietta to become Giulia, in the name of new and more powerful mechanical parts.

Giulia Spider 1600

If the 1300 was one of main features of Giulietta project, same thing can be said of the 1600 for Giulia. As a concept the new engine wasn't different from the previous one either for design criteria or technical features. Moreover, it is necessary to consider that the new unit had to be produced using the same old 1300 equipment. The idea was still to start from an aluminium block, oversized to allow subsequent increase of capacity and power, without compromising reliability. Thanks to 78 mm bore and 82 mm stroke the Alfa designers obtained the total capacity of 1570 cu. Obviously transmission was twin cam with two valves for cylinder and for the first time in the history of the mass production-model cars, an engine was equipped with exhaust valves having sodium in the stem hollow: after bringing to temperature, such material melted, favouring the heat elimination of the metal. An expensive solution that, however, allowed the valves protection against the excessive wear: in fact the "Serpent Crest" engineers calculated that 820°C temperature on a standard valve should be equivalent to only 590°C on a valve with sodium. Fed by Solex 32 PAIA 5carburettor, the new unit was featured by 9:1 compression ratio and produced 92 bhp at 6200 rpm. Five-speed gearbox + Reverse, a rarity for those days, while the clutch was single-plate and dry type. Besides the engine and gearbox, from the new Giulia the Spider received also a braking system, featured by front drum and three shoe-brakes in the place of the two-shoe brakes existing on Giulietta. After first 5600 examples, the front disk brakes arrived, a factor that couldn't be disregarded by that time for such a high profiled car. In detail, the body changes were: undoubtedly, the more important change was the thin air-inlet running across the bonnet in place of the longitudinal chrome plated ornament of the 1300. Furthermore, cooling holes of the rounds were oval shaped instead of being vaguely rectangular ones, while the badge on the rear bonnet was no more in ceramic but made in plastic, by the side of writing "1600". Also the rear bumper guards were slightly different. As for the interior, the old two-ring and two-spoke steering wheel, that recalled the 50's years, was replaced by the more updated and sports type steering wheel with three scopes in aluminium and a bakelite ring. Always under the modernization point of view, there was also a change in the graphics of the three main round instruments on the dashboard. On the whole, the weight grew up to 905 kg (50 more than Giulietta) but in virtue of a more powerful engine, the Giulia achieved 172 km/h. Since 1964, waiting for the new Spider then known as "Duetto" (that will make its first appearance in 1965), they re-proposed the version "Veloce" powered with the engine of the Giulia T1 Super, that thanks to the double-choke horizontal Weber 45 DCOE14 carburettors and the compression ratio equal to 9.7:1, produced 112 bhp at 6500 rpm, able to push the car up to 180 km/h; same result as the old "Veloce" 1300, but achieved without any worries.

Vice, virtue and gossip

To understand how the Giulietta 1300 behaved on the road, we have to refer to what was published by Bruno Alfieri "Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider". First author's remark was the rationalization of the driving position: instruments were clearly visible and featured by a classic style that favoured functionality. Lever and gearbox were well located and accessible to the driver, while pedal position led him to use the "heel-toe" technique, customary manoeuvre among excellent drivers "manici" of that time and, under certain conditions, necessary to handle the car. Persons of more than average height could have some problem on account of the high floor. First emotion was when we turned on the ignition knob on the dashboard, activating the four-cylinder engine: its pleasant grumbling invited to set out and shift gears to hear the engine finally singing. Once started "the immediate feeling was of a great balancing of masses on the four wheels and, a pleasant handling of steering" Braking, generally, was powerful thanks to the correct dimensioning of drums, that however, if overstressed could cause fading. Essentially, Alfieri envisaged a double nature in the Spider: at top speed Giulietta moved safely, without making the driver unsure. When cornering, its performance was substantially neutral, except when you stepped excessively on the gas. If anything, in quick corners on the left you could notice a signal of "derapage" (four wheel drift), caused by the driver's weight, in absence of passenger, that unbalanced the load of shock absorbers. At lower speed "the Spider revealed its second personality, a comfortable car to drive out for a promenade. Aerodynamic noise was restrained also with open car and you could only hear, besides the exhaust, the tyre rolling. The engine was featured by high oil consumption (about 1.5 kg every thousand km), a defect or vice in common with other cars of those days, but it was advisable to keep an eye on it with a level control every 3/400 km, paying attention not to fill the oil pan excessively. The fuel consumption was also remarkable, about 10 litres/100 km. The gear could have crawling when you drove in first gear, reverse and sometimes, in the second one. On account of the hot-shift, (direct shift gearbox) when in fourth the speedometer pointer should be parallel with the rev counter one. The room of the boot was limited by the spare wheel, but it allowed, however, to contain two suit cases of medium size. On the contrary, little room was left behind the seats. Alfieri also remarked a good heating system in coldest days, even if "the true spider driver should always drive with the hood up, both in summer and in winter, and be undisturbed under the most cloudy weather. On the other hand, with max heating and cruising at 80 km/h at least, rain and snow couldn't fall on passengers." As for the Giulia Spider performance on the road, we may refer to "Ruote Classiche", number 152 dated 2001. The magazine tested one of the first 5600 examples with front brakes drum: you could remark its more powerful engine, but also the five-speed gearbox that allowed to keep a high average without forcing the engine. Thanks to three-shoe drums the braking gained power, "above all if you were shrewd enough to make two previous steps on the pedal". As for the road-holding, the qualities of the 1600 remained free from criticism in respect of the smaller 1300. You can only remark an annoying rolling of the rear axle on rough road-bed, caused by the lack of elasticity of the rubber pads that secured the axle to the body. Moreover, you could notice some steering wander that could be eliminated with periodical adjustment by means of the special purpose worm. With regard to vices or defects: the hood was commonly known as a real puzzle and the owner of the car examined, explained its mysterious working: first of all it was necessary to open the doors and recline the seats forward, then release the hood catches and bring the frame up to the front seats. At that point it was necessary to secure the back base of the canvas to the retainers placed at the end of the boot, and then raise the frame up to the windscreen level. Afterwards you had to hook the hood to the windscreen and to the body by means of "tourniquet" fasteners. If anyone had some problem to open a deckchair on a beach, it wouldn't be advisable for him to buy a car like that. Anyhow, he must always reflect carefully before buying it. Alfieri suggested to buy a model not in perfect conditions but original one, rather than a car already restored but with gross mistakes. Even because strong similarity among different series of Spider has suggested many owners to get their lives simpler by replacing those parts that didn't conform to the specifications of the car in their possession. It is even said that the Giulietta cars had been turned out into Giulias with the 1600 transfer. Other common mistakes concerned the upholstery, that should be an imitation leather and not leather, the inside upholstery had to be a cloth different from wool or having erroneous shades of colour. In any case, it is a car worth the cost paid for buying and restoring: its history isn't only related to the age, but also to what has represented in the Italian general imaginary. Simple and all the same advanced from the technical point of view, the car is the symbol of the new spring for a country that left everything behind: defeat, war ruins and that rose again from poverty and rubble, living a highly and light hearted period for its economic and cultural development. That's the real Giulietta Spider historical past.

Stefano Costantino

Special thanks to our friend Giorgio, not only he put his car at our full disposal but also gave us his precious aid for the research of all papers. We wish him to spend and enjoy other thousand and unforgettable days in his fantastic "Italian lover"'s company.

• Cfr. Alfieri B., Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, collana "La Collection".
• Cfr. Lottero M.L., Oldani F., "Alberi Genealogici" (Family trees)in "Ruoteclassiche" n.96, February 1996
• Cfr. Rancati G., "Costole del Portello" (The ribs of Portello) n.85 June 1995
• Cfr. Derosa G., "Quella voglia io me la sono tolta" (The wish that I satisfied) in "Ruoteclassiche" n.152, July/August 2001
• Cfr. Rancati G., Deganello E., "I miei primi quaranta anni" (My first forty years) in "Ruoteclassiche" September 1954
• Cfr. Deganello E. "Armonia Italiana" (Italian harmony) in "Ruoteclassiche" n.166, October 2002