Throwback review: Alfa Romeo 105 and 115 Giulia | #TBT

The first of the 105-series Alfa Romeos was a Giulia TI sedan, which rolled off the assembly line in Alfa Romeo's newly-completed plant in Arese, Italy, in 1962. This new car certainly didn't look the part of a sports sedan, however, with its boxy lines and upright cabin. Still, it was a real sleeper and truly one of the first modern sport sedans.

Under the angular, upright and rather staid (but aerodynamically efficient) sheet metal of the Giulia Tl lay the foundation of the Giulia coupe, which was introduced a year later at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

At the time of its introduction, the Giulia coupe was really a hot little number. More than one traveler to Italy has been heard to comment that everything in Italy, from irons to toilet handles, seems to have a sexy style to it; the new Alfa coupe was no exception. Where British roadsters were often cute but farm-tractor crude, and the emerging BMWs were reliable and well-built but conservative, the Alfa stood out as the perfect combination of sophistication, looks and performance.

The body was styled by Bertone in Turin, Italy, and more specifically by a young designer at Bertone named Giorgio Giugiaro. By now, Giugiaro needs little introduction, having had an automotive design career that has spanned four decades and has produced some of the most loved and influential automotive design of our time.

The Giulia coupe was not Giugiaro's first design for Alfa; he had also designed the 2600 Sprint a couple of years prior. In designing the new coupe, he carried over many elements of the 2600 Sprint, including placing the headlights entirely within the front grille.

The rounded profile of the small coupe is ra-rade much more so by the front and rear windshields, which appear to have been given just as important a role in styling as the sheet metal. Having an aggressive lean to its front end and a cockpit that is relatively far back gives the car a relaxed, yet purposeful look. The design represented a real de­parture from the style of the day; this extended to its very restrained use of moldings. The tasteful use of quality stainless steel moldings surrounding the cockpit put the car in a class by itself.

Within this basic body style, the coupe model range encompassed 10 different models. Various models had different displace­ments, fuel and induction systems, making for a dizzying array of models, but most of the major mechanical charac­teristics were shared by all models in the range. The following outlines the basic characteristics of the engine shared by most production models in the range.

Under the Hood

The four-cylinder Alfa engine is one of the classic designs. It has enjoyed one of the longest production runs of any en­gine for two good reasons: It's tough, and it works. Whether in 1300cc, 1600cc, 17 50cc or 2000cc guise, the engine's power output has always com­pared favorably to that of its contemporaries, and even today it compares well to many four-valve, electronically-fuel-injected engines.

The engine's oil pan, block and cylinder head are all cast in light alloy aluminum. The crankshaft is machined from forged steel, nitride hardened, and rides in five main bearings. The connecting rods are forged from steel, the pistons from aluminum. Each piston rides in its own separate cast-iron cylinder. The bottom end will live a very long time if regularly maintained.

The "wet" design of the engine means that each cylinder liner is completely surrounded by water. Alfa's use of an aluminum block necessitated this design, but it does carry two advantages. The first is that it provides even cooling, and the second is that the engines are infinitely rebuildable because a cylinder worn too far to bore can simply be replaced.

But, as we all know, all the exotic specs on the lower end really won't mean much if what caps it all off is inefficient and antiquated. The Alfa's cylinder head is what really makes the power; it is also what defines the Alfa engine as a timeless classic.

Cast in aluminum, the twin-cam head is an eight-valve, cross-flow design, with the valves inclined at an 80-degree angle. This valve angle is necessitated by the twin-cam design and leaves a hemispherical combustion chamber. A centrally-located spark plug lights the mix–or, in the case of some models, two plugs are used.

Both the exhaust and intake valves are actuated through bucket tappets and are adjusted using shims; the exhaust valves are sodium-filled to help dissipate heat.

The cams are driven off the crankshaft via a reduction sprocket by a two-row chain, and they run directly in the head with no bear­ing inserts. Due to the light load on the cams, this generally causes no problems.

Most time-honored and well-known approaches to getting more power out of an engine's bottom end apply to the Alfa engine. High­compression pistons, boring, stroking, balancing and blueprinting all help make a powerplant that is powerful, smooth and reliable.

One modification that many experienced Alfa specialists make is to replace aluminum plugs that are installed to plug machining access holes. They drill and tap the holes to accept an alien-head plug. The plugs have a tendency to work themselves loose over time, and when they fall out, it drops the oiI pressure.

Modifications that can be made to the head include such basic approaches as milling it to increase compression, installing hotter cams, porting and polishing the intake and exhaust passages to increase air flow, and three angle valve jobs.

One of the easiest ways to get some more power and mileage out of your car may be one of the simplest: retiming the cams. Advancing the intake cam while retarding the exhaust cam can take advan­tage of the inertia that the exhaust gas has developed on its rush out of the cylinder and allow the intake valve to open a little earlier, allowing the cylinders to fill better at high rpm.

Wes Ingram of Seattle, Wash., has been building hot Alfa en­gines for years. One item in his bag of tricks is to remachine the intake manifolds on the SPICA system. He machines the manifold out to a consistent 40mm all the way through and installs special throttle shafts. This removes a taper that is present, and Ingram has seen up to a 10-horsepower gain in modified engines. Basically, if it's a way of getting the air/fuel in faster and more efficiently, it needs to be addressed in the head.

The transmissions are all five speeds', and they are tough, except for a weak second-gear synchro. This weak synchro situation can still last the life of the car, and can easily be "beaten" by easy shifting.

One modification that can be done, provided you don't happen to have that close-ratio Autodelta gearbox laying around, is to have a machine shop drill and rebalance the gears. This both eases the load on the synchros and also allows for quicker shifts.

The Mysterious SPICA System

The fuel systems in the cars vary with each model, but there are some basic trends. The carburetors on any given engine are generally a known quantity to most people, and any tuning specialist should be able to help out. Because most Giulia coupes offered for sale in the U.S. after 1969 are fuel-injected, it is probably more important to talk here about the much-maligned but poorly understood SPICA injection system.

Adapted from an existing diesel design, the SPICA fuel injection system was modified to work with gasoline so that it could be fitted to the cars as a way of coping with the tightening U.S. emissions laws in the late 1960s.

Among experts, the SPICA system is held in high esteem. Ric Lovecchio of RML Racing in Daytona Beach, Fla., explains: "The SPICA cars were and still are my favorite. The pump is so intriguing–it's an Italian masterpiece."

Wes Ingram, who has rebuilt more than 3000 of the pumps, holds them in such high regard that he contends that the mechanical perfection of the unit will never be duplicated on any device fitted to a car.

Many experts agree that most of the carburetor conversions that were carried out to cure running problems attributed to the SPICA system were unnecessary; either the problems weren't the fault of the SPICA system, or they were easily correctable.

"Fitting carbs to a car that was injected is more of a compromise than a fix," says Ingram. He also says that people often equate the static throttle response of the Webers with more power. "You just can't beat the SPICA system for throttle response under load," he says.

Another problem that centered around the SPICA system was due to the fact that the system was considered to be an emissions-control device. To prevent tampering with this so-called emissions-control device, Alfa did not allow dealers to work on the pumps, and parts were not available. Handily, though, Alfa would exchange pumps thought to be defective. This hands-off policy, coupled with the fact that Alfa was the only company to use this system, helped to deepen the mystery surrounding SPICA fuel injection.

The SPICA pump operates like a miniature four-cylinder engine. The "crankshaft" inside the pump is driven by a cogged belt that runs off the engine's own crankshaft, and looks more like a camshaft. Its "pistons" are plungers that travel up and down in their bores, compressing the fuel so that a pressurized pulse opens the injector and sprays fuel into the intake path.

A setup this simple is only able to deliver the same amount of fuel, regardless of operating conditions, but through a series of mechanical logic adjustments for load, temperature, throttle position, and engine speed, the system compensates rather well.

One of the most common problems with the system, according to Ingram, is caused by the phase-out of leaded fuel in this country. The lead in the fuel helped to lubricate the plunger and barrel walls, preventing wear. The plunger and barrels are no longer available, so when he rebuild a pump, Ingram custom-matches his remanufactured plungers to barrels of the right size.

Another problem occurs not in the pump itself, but in the thermostatic actuator that controls warm­up. These actuators can become lazy over time and cause a va­riety of starting and running problems.

If you are making performance modifications to the Alfa en­gine, the SPICA pump should also be modified to allow for the engine's increased demand for fuel. As this larger fuel demand is not simply a linear change, the 3D cam in the logic section of the pump must be reshaped to accommodate it. This gives the engine more fuel exactly where it needs it.

According to some enthusiasts, however, this modification may result in burned pistons and valves. When using a modified pump, Ingram also recommends using an oxygen sensor and an air/fuel mixture gauge to help monitor running conditions. Recalibrating the pump can also add some ben­efit, as the factory tolerances tended to be a little generous. Ingram has seen engines realize gains of up to 10 horsepower after a simple recalibration of the pump to more precise tolerances.

Riding Down the Road

The front suspension is a built-up kind of double A-arm setup, with the bottom arm being built around a spring pan, and the top arm comprised of a transverse link and a longitudinal link that provides caster adjustment. The front end is sprung by coil springs and is damped by a conventional shock absorber; a conventional anti-roll bar is used to limit body roll.

Autodelta was the factory's racing arm starting in the mid-'60s, and they pioneered many performance modifications for the coupes. One of those was used in the front suspension to modify the upper transverse link of the suspension to provide some adjustment for negative camber. All the usual rules apply regarding installation of stiffer springs and shocks.

Another popular modification is to use spacers between the spring pans. This lowers the front end of the car without changing the spring rate. Lovecchio says that even without changing springs and shocks, but by giving the car a little reverse caster with a little toe out, one can dramatically improve handling.

Surprisingly, given the level of sophistication of the rest of the car, the rear suspension employs a tried-but-true live-axle system. As the inherent problem with any live axle is controlling lateral movement, Alfa engineers designed in a solution that worked rather well.

This solution was a cast-iron, T-shaped bar that mounts between the differential casing and the rear frame rails in the body. This allows the axle to move up and down, but does a good job of eliminating lateral movement.

In addition, the axle is located by two stamped-steel radius arms that pivot ahead of the axle. These arms are mounted in the body by rubber bushings. Like the front end, the rear of the car is sprung by coil springs and conventional shock absorbers. Roll is controlled by a conventional anti-roll bar with drop links.

A modification that Autodelta made, and that many racers have copied, involves deleting the T­bar and instead mounting blocks on the differential and body that guide the axle and limit its lateral movement. This arrangement also lowers the roll center of the car and locates the axle as well as or better than the T-bar system–but the downside is that it is said to bind during lateral loads.

Another modification to keep the rear axle in place is the use of a Panhard rod which, like the sliding block, lowers the roll center and also keeps the rear in line.

Just as on the front end, a bigger anti-roll bar in the rear will help limit body roll. Crafty racers imitate a GTA mod: On those cars, the anti-roll bar mounting was moved from above the rear axle to mount on the rear of the floor pan. The end links pick up on the radius arms.

The Giulia coupe also came standard with four-wheel, vacuum-assisted disc brakes, with the hand brake incorporated into the inner part of the rear disc. Cars had Dunlop brakes until 1967; after that, because of this system's need for frequent adjustments, later cars were switched to a system manufactured by ATE.

Body Structure

The Giulia coupe was, in many respects, overbuilt: at a time when many cars were still built using a separate frame and body, the 105-series Alfa was among the few that used a fully unitized body construction.

The fit and finish of the car's coachwork were second to none. While many manufac­turers of considerable repute were still relying on lead-loading of panel gaps to achieve acceptable fit, the Alfa used no lead, and everything fit just fine without it. In addition, to reduce cost, other manufacturers were designing cars to use bolt-on front fenders to save labor in their "Carrosseries." On the Alfa, your fingers can trace a line, uninterrupted by panel gaps or visible seams, from side to side as well as from front to back on the car. Try this with almost any car today, and see if you can do it. This manner of body building was almost exclusively the domain of other European marques, such as Porsche and Mercedes, that were much more expensive than the Alfa.

Under the skin, the quality of the Alfa's construction continues to show. While many of the car's contemporaries used separate, bolt-in subframes to carry the running gear, the Alfa was designed using a boxed subframe that was welded to the two front frame rails. These frame rails tie the front of the car to the firewall and to the floor. They are very strong, being essentially a built-up channel section of thick steel. They run from behind the front bumper to under the front seats.

Installing an effective roll cage is one of the best ways to strengthen the body shell. The key here is to make sure that the cage picks up as close as possible to suspension mounting points. If properly installed, this will dramatically improve handling as it stiffens the chassis.

Racing in the ‘60s and ‘70s

The Alfa Giulia in all its forms and guises was developed into a formidable race car for many years. Competing both in the U.S. and in Europe, the Giulia enjoyed considerable success in touring car racing. Although the cars were generally not driven by internationally-recognized, big-name drivers of the era, the Giulia coupe still racked up impressive numbers across Europe in the hand of drivers such as Andrea DeAdamich, Toine Hezemans and others.

From the mid-'60s to the late-'70s, the GTAs were supreme in their class and winners all over Europe and the world. Hundreds of class and individual race wins culminated in Alfa winning the European Touring Car Championship for the 1300cc and 1600cc classes in 1968.

In the U.S., the Giulia coupe found the perfect opportunity in the Trans-Am racing series that was started in 1966. Initially called the Trans-American Sedan Championship, the series consisted of road races at tracks across the country, with each event contributing points to a manufacturer's championship. The cars contesting the Trans­Am series were based on FIA Groups 1 and 2, which closely resembled the B Sedan group of the SCCA.

The rules were the hallmark of the Trans-Am series. A car's ultimate race weight was deter­mined by the design of its engine; each car was assigned a certain weight/cc ratio based on its engine design. The Alfa was slated to weigh 1.2 pounds per cc; a car such as the Datsun 510, which had a non-crossflow SOHC engine, had to weigh in at 1.1 pounds per cc. Theoretically, this equalized the cars, although as the series progressed, the money poured into development was to be the deciding factor.

The inaugural Trans-Am series race took place in Sebring on March 25, L966. The Alfa found itself running alongside larger displacement American cars, but the overall victory nevertheless went to Jochen Rindt, driving a GTA. Other GTAs placed third, fourth and fifth in the race, firmly establishing Alfa's presence in American sedan racing.

Although the V8-engined American cars and the smaller, under-two-liter European cars were classed separately, they initially ran together. Further development of the American muscle cars saw the speed differentials of the two classes increase to the point where it was unsafe, however, so in November of 1969 the series was divided into two parts. The smaller­bore cars were allowed to sport engines up to 2.5 liters in displacement, and this series was named the Two-Five Challenge. The idea was that this would allow cars with slightly big­ger engines to compete; none ever did.

Although the rules changed from year to year, the basics remained the same, allowing for some consistency and for cars to keep competing year after year. Despite weight handicaps and a lack of major factory support, in the hands of drivers Horst Kwech, Gaston Andrey and Bert Everett, the Alfas made for fierce competition against the BMW 2002s and Datsun 510s. The cars had also been developed to a nearly bulletproof 200 horsepower, and Alfa was able to capture the championships in 1970.

They would have won in 1971, too, but the winning car of Horst Kwech was disqualified after post-race scrutineering revealed that the car's fuel tank held 17 gallons, while the rules called for a 15-gallon maximum. The victory was given to second place and the BRE-prepared Datsun of John Morton.

As Vintage Racers

Paul Spruell, of Paul Spruell Alfa Romeo near Atlanta, has been racing Alfas since they were new, winning several SCCA national champion­ships along the way. He currently vintage races a GTA, but it's not just any run-of-the-mill car–it's Horst Kwech's ex-Trans-Am racer.

Spruell 's restoration of the car was initially confined to a cosmetic refreshening, but over the course of its racing career this morphed into a complete restoration as nearly everything on the car was rebuilt or replaced. He noted that any problems he encountered were not be­cause the Alfa isn't a very tough car, but because this race car was nearly 35 years old.

That sentiment is echoed by John McKaig of Alfas Unlimited in Norfolk, Conn. John says that the key to preparing a vintage race car is just that-preparation. Everything must be right, or the weakest part of the system will let the car down, whether it is a radiator hose that is past its useful life, or a fuel line that has become cracked from the engine torquing over and tugging on it.

"People often overlook the small things, because they are not so easily seen," he says. "I have gotten into the practice of tugging and pulling on things under the car, because it forces you to pay more attention to the small things, and it can alert you to potential problems before they become failures."

Many vintage clubs across the U.S. allow the Giulia to compete in one form or another. Many allow updating to the two-liter engine, which presents no problems as all the mounts are the same. Brakes can be updated, and many of the modifications made to the factory race cars can be done by the skilled enthusiast.

Obviously, if you're planning on vintage racing one of these cars, you need to check with the sanctioning body you plan to run with to see what years are eligible and what modifications are permissible. Also, your chances at competing in one of the more elective vintage racing clubs increase if you can back up your car's provenance with an old logbook proving that the car was once driven competitively.

Mechanical Checks

You can now purchase an Alfa Giulia coupe–a car that was quite expensive when it was new–for comparatively less today. Any evaluation of the car's mechanical condition should follow the same common-sense approach you would use when buying any used car. However, certain areas do warrant extra attention.

The cars are generally robust, but easily-correctable problems can snowball into a whole host of issues. One engine problem that is common enough to warrant attention is the sudden loss of oil pressure. This obviously can be caused by a variety of culprits, such as a bad oil, pump, but in the Alfa it can also happen for another reason: The crankshaft has aluminum plugs that are hammered in to plug holes that re­mained after the oil passages were machined. Sometimes one of these falls out, and can cause an approximately 10-psi drop in oil pressure.

Another common problem is blown head gaskets. The Alfa's gaskets fail in all the ways that normal head gaskets fail, but they seem to do so with greater regularity. A common mode of failure is leaking oil into coolant and vice-versa. This happens when the o-rings that seal the oil passage between the head and block fail.

An easy check for a bad head gasket is to pull the radiator cap and check for oil floating in the coolant. If you see coolant in the oil (or oil in the coolant), it most likely equals a blown head gasket. Also, pull the dipstick: If emulsified coolant shows, this means trouble, as major damage to the engine bearings may have resulted from coolant being pumped through the oil system.

The SPICA system is a mystery to most people, as it only came on Alfas. Some common symptoms of a maladjusted pump include poor fuel mileage, hard starting and rich running.

Also check the metal fuel lines that run under the car. They were covered with insulating foam from the factory, and while this may have filled some purpose years ago, more often it only helps to trap water next to the lines, hastening their corrosion.

Another notoriously weak point on Alfa coupes is the electrical system. Since electrical glitches can be both time-consuming and expensive to trace, it is important to note what general condition it is in. Look for so-called "fixes" that prior owners or mechanics have done.

Parts Availability

Happily, parts availability for the Giulia coupe is relatively good in terms of mechanical parts the average enthusiast would need. Nick Sorensen at Centerline Alfa Romeo Parts in Boulder, Colo., says most mechanical restoration and maintenance parts are readily available. save for the really odd request such as a rear axle. Their catalog reflects this good availability.

Body and trim parts, however, are not so easy to come by and are also not cheap. For the person stuck with a rusty car, however, there are many critical parts available to resurrect the shell.

Matthew and Vicki Jones of Re-Originals in Houston, Texas. have many structural and outer sheet metal panels available for the Giulia coupe. Re-O1igi­nals also stocks an extensive line of reproduction interior and trim parts, many of which are remanufactured by the original suppliers to Alfa in Italy. Critical sections available include all rocker panels and floor sections. Also available are repair sections for the front and rear fenders that comprise the front and rear sections of the rocker panel. Complete nose panels are also available, although acceptable rust repair panels for the lower edge are not yet available. Availability of parts is just getting better, according to Matthew Jones, as front and rear fenders will be available soon.

All body gaskets are available, and Jones says they are of better quality than the originals because the rubber technology is better today than it was 30 years ago.

Hard-to-find Parts

Gas tanks are no longer available, although some NOS tanks do occasionally come on the market. Because many owners of late U.S. cars have removed the glue-in glass and retrofitted a rubber gasket-style windshield, the aluminum moldings for the rubber gasket-style front glass are extinct, too. Jones expects them to be available sometime this year, though.

Most of the smaller moldings on the cai·s are also not available, but as they are made of stainless steel and do not tarnish, dull or rust, acceptable ones can be cannibalized from parts cars.

Giulia Coupe Production Models

1600 Sprint GT (model 105.02), 1965 - '72

Announced in 1963, this was the first of the 105-seiies coupes. With a 1600cc engine and two 40mm sidedraft Webers, it produced 106 horsepower.

As with any car model that lives a long life, this original model is considered by many to be the best. The early cars had the cleanest exterior styling and the simplest interiors.

1300 GT Junior (model 105.30), 1966 - ‘72

The 1300cc version of the Giulia coupe was introduced in 1966 as Alfa's entry-level model coupe. It featured smaller intake ports and 40mm DCOE Weber carburetors, yet it wasn't at all asthmatic, still making nearly as much torque as the 1600cc Sprint GT The car was capable of 100mph. The Junior also had a front grille with a single bar instead of the eight-bar grille of the 1600.

1600 GTV (model 105.36), 1965 - '68

The "veloce" version of the Sprint had a small increase in power from the 1600cc Sprint GT, but most notably a fatter torque curve. A quick way of differentiating the GTV from its GT Sprint brother is the grille that had only three slats.

1750 GTV (model 105.51), 1969 - '11

With the model name 1750 evoking images of Alfa's racing cars of the 1930s, the 1750 GTY was introduced in Europe in 1968. One year later, it became available in the U.S. after Alfa engineers dealt with some last-minute changes to the fuel-injection. The introduction marked the first time that the European and American model cars were markedly different.

Largely the same as the cars that pre­ceded it, the 1750 featured 80mm bores, up from the 1600's 78mm, while the stroke of the engine was increased to 88.5mm, an increase of 6.5mm from the 1600. This led to horsepower gains of about 10 to 15 horsepower over the 1600.

Exterior differences included the front edge of the hood fitting flush with the nose and the front parking lights not being included in the front fenders. The bumpers also sprouted small bumperettes.

As is typical of a maturing model line, the 1750 also started becoming a little less Spartan than its 1600cc predecessors. The exterior went to four headlights and a flush-fit hood in the front. The taillights also grew slightly larger.

2000 GTV (model 115.01), 1972 - '74

The 2000 GTV was the culmination of the Giulia coupe. As the last of the line, it featured the largest engine capacity, the most power, and the most refinements. Sold in the U.S. from 1972-'74, this is by far the most common of the Giulia coupes now available.

The step up in engine size to a full two liters (1962cc) was accompanied by an in­crease in power as well. The engine went from approximately 122 horsepower in the 1750 to 130 in the 2000. More notable was the increase in mid-range torque. A limited­slip rear end became standard on the 2000 GTY, and brakes were once again enlarged to accommodate the increase in power.

There were more styling changes, too, mostly in the front end. The grille no longer had the bold Alfa Romeo shield standing proudly between the headlights, as it was now a raised sec­tion of the grille slats.

Many purists decry the last GTV model in the line as a tarted-up version of the Spartan original, but consider this: at least the GTV never succumbed to five mph bumpers, as did many German and British cars.

Giulia Coupe Factory Hot Rods

The Giulia coupe boasted such a fine pedigree, it was only natural that the factory would use them as a basis for developing out-and-out race cars–and they did.

GTA (model 105.32), 1965 - '69

Homologated for European touring car racing in 1965 by Autodelta, the 1600cc Giulia GTA is the most desirable of the Giulia coupes.

The "A" in GTA stands for "Alleggerita," which means "lightened." Lightening the car was achieved by the use of all-aluminum outer body panels, plastic side windows, alloy wheels and a bare interior. This saved nearly 500 pounds from the production Sprint GT.

The aluminum body panels were riveted onto a production floor pan and structure. A real GTA is easily identifiable by the visibility of the rivets wherever the outer panels are fastened to the car's steel structure. One easy spot to check is the drip rail, where the bent rivet heads are visible.

To make the lightweight coupe get up and go, Alfa fitted an exten­sively modified engine. The cylinder head was modified to accept two plugs per cylinder, a higher compression ratio was used, an engine oil cooler was added, and a pair of fire-breathing 45 DCOE Webers jutted from the manifold.

Interestingly enough, the 1600cc GTA head had smaller intake ports than its road-going brother. In racing form, the engine produced 170 horsepower, up from the standard car's 106. Transmissions were also lightweight, close-ratio units.

Suspension modifications made to the GTA included using the sliding block rear end, a remounted rear anti-roll bar, and adjust­able front end geometry.

GTA Junior (model 105.59), 1968 - '72

To round out Alfa's racing arsenal in 1968, and to allow them to contest other classes in the European Touring Car Championship, Autodelta homologated a 1300cc version of the GTA. Based on the 1600cc GTA platform, it got a similarly hotted-up version of the 1300cc engine and was called the GTA 1300 Junior, or GTAJ.

Interestingly enough, 100 of the GTA Juniors were equipped with the same SPICA fuel injection system fitted to U.S. cars, pf-of that a so-called "emissions control device" can be put to effective use.

GTAm, 1970 - '71

The GTAm was another competition version that came in two fla­vors: a 1750 and a 2000. Either way, the car was built to U.S. specifi­cations, featuring SPIC A fuel injection. The GTAm looked identical to a stock 1750 or 2000 GTV, but a customer could order wide fender flares and a host of other goodies to bring the car up to Group 2 racing specs. Although homologation requirements specified that 1000 units be produced, only 40 GTAms were produced in full racing trim.

One very interesting departure from Alfa tradition was the GTAm's use of a monosleeve engine, with all four cylinder inserts cast as one unit.

GTA SA, 1967- '68

The GTA SA was a supercharged vari­ant of the standard 1600cc GTA. It was a powerhouse, producing 220 horsepower. It was built to Group 6 prototype specs to compete against heavily modified BMWs and Lotus Cortinas. It was the only supercharged car to contest the European Touring Car Championship.

The supercharging system on the GTA SA was-quite unique. The superchargers were sourced f om aircraft cabin blowers that were made by Fiat. They were spun by high-pressure oil that came from an oil pump mounted on the engine's timing cover; quite an ingenious use of fans.

Body Evaluation

Where to check for rust on an early Alfa coupe? Everywhere. Now, of course that's true for just about any car that's pushing 30 years old, but it's especially true for Alfas.

Your evaluation of the body should be the single biggest determining factor as to whether or not you buy the car. Fixing a rotten shell is not only time-consuming, but it is prohibitively expensive for a car like this that can still be found in relatively rust-free condition.

The average enthusiast may be quite adept at mechanical work, but the money, metal fabrication and bodywork skills required to return a rusty shell to its former glory are usually beyond the experience, bud­get and patience of all but the most diehard rustheads. With that warning, here is a guide to inspecting the body of the car.

Here's the short version: Look for accident damage, evidence of previous "restoration," factory spot welds, and even panel gaps. Check wherever metal is lapped together and/or spot welded, making sure the joint is not bulging with rust. A more involved check, however, is never a bad idea.

What to bring: skepticism, a floor jack, jack stands, a good flashlight, and most of all, a sharp awl or small screwdriver. If an owner takes of­fense that you want to poke and prod his pride and joy, reassure rum that you won't jab the paint, and that poking solid metal doesn't really hurt it anyway. Also, assure him that you have cash in pocket to buy the car if he balks at letting you jack it up; this should ease the situation.

What to leave behind: your emotions and your pal who worked at a body shop for a summer 10 years ago and still thinks he knows it all.

Now, don't even look at the paint. New paint has a unique ability to look great whether it is sprayed over plastic filler or over metal.

The Giulia rots everywhere, so the easiest thing to do is to start looking at the outer bodywork. Check panel fit: Is it generally even? Don't be fooled by some pseudo know-it-all who assures you that the panel fit was never good on these cars. Panel fit was very consistent, and very good. Remember, it is not a British car (with apologies).

Inspect the rocker panels. They are an extremely vul­nerable part of the car, and they provide a lot of information with just a glance, if you know what to look for.

The only part of the rocker panel that is visible is immediately under the door. They have a vertical seam that runs with the vertical door gaps. This vertical seam is where the rocker disappears behind the lower portion of the front fender and rear quar­ter panel. These seams are about the first place to rust on these cars; they are also difficult to repair properly and are therefore usually the biggest giveaway that repairs have been done.

It is also a good idea to inspect the two jacking points located along the rocker panels, as they rust quickly as well. They will cave into the rocker panel if the car was jacked here while the rocker was rusted. There are two on each side, one front and one back.

Now inspect the rear wheel arches. The way the quarter panel is welded to the inner fender makes an ideal ledge for mud to collect, hastening rust. On a nice original car, there should be small, visible spot-weld dimples that run the whole perimeter of the arch. Run your hand along the inner edge, feeling if it is fatter than two thin sheets of metal. If it is, it is probably either in need of repair or has been re- paired. Watch out for metal slivers, though.

Look around the front and rear windows, as the cars are prone to rust here, too, probabIy because installing the windshield scratches the paint. 1972 and later GTVs have glued-in windshields, which seems to have made the problem worse. It is possible and desirable to retrofit an earlier rubber seal if you also replace the windshield and obtain the rubber-type moldings.

Also look around the rear-most part of the rear quarter windows, as the cars are notorious for rust here. This is very tricky and time-consuming to fix properly, so check it well by pulling the seal away as far as you can and looking for rust that may not have started creeping into sight.

Inspect the door bottoms. ls the inside edge where the skin wraps around the shell straight and crisp? Does. the seam look like it is about to blow apart from the rust?

Now that you've looked at the cosmetics, it's time to move on to the meat and potatoes. Real racers want true structural integrity.

Jack up the front of the car, and support it well on the frame rails, if they still exist. Now look at the lowest portion of the rocker panels where they wrap around and are spot welded to the inner rocker assemblies. The spot welds should be about pea-sized and spaced about an inch apart, running the entire length of the rocker. The same welds should be visible on the lower front fenders and quarter panels as well as where they wrap around the rocker panels.

Look at the lower part of the outer nose panel, where it wraps around the inner cross member. Is the edge of the panel crisp? Does it have bullet­shaped drain holes running along the edge? ls the edge bulging from the rust that is built up behind it? Note the fore­most mounts for the front anti-roll bar. Do they look unusually out of whack? (They are supposed to be straight.) Do they exhibit signs of stress? This is a high-stress area clue to the mount­ing of the anti-roll bar. Now, look around the back side of die in­ner cross member under the radiator, just ahead of where the anti-roll bar runs. This is vulnerable to rust for several reasons, the chief being poor drainage. The second cause of rust is' the fact that the radiator lies above. Poke this area with your screwdriver at several points. Does it feel soft?

Look in the engine bay. Rust is generally not too much of an issue here, as die panels are relatively ve1tical, and they are not made of boxed sections. However, the key here is to look for evidence of crash damage that has not been fixed. Look for metal that looks unnaturally wrinkled or bent. Look at die seams where die outer fenders weld to die inner fenders. Are they crisp? Can you see the factory spot welds in the front part of the drain through?

The all-important frame rails are welded to the lower part of the inner fenders, but are generally not a rust problem here–wait until we move farther back and under the car.

Check the spare tire well. It should have a large domed hump in the middle, and if it's not there, look for evidence of repair. There should also be a small rubber drain here, which is an ideal spot for rust to start.

You should also check the gas tank while you are here. The tank is prone to rust because if the trunk leaks, the water sits right around the welded seam that holds together the top and bottom halves of the tank. Although it is possible to re­pair a rotten tank, new ones are not available, though it is possible to retrofit a later tank.

Now, assuming you actually had frame rails to support the car on, look at them. Are they bent? They are not exactly the same from side to side. but they should be relatively straight. Look for evidence of their being pushed upwards into the floor, because this usually only happens in one instance-when the floor is rotted.

Move on to the floor pan. The floor pan is made of three sections: the transmission tunnel and two halves (left and right). Drainage holes located in the floor pan give rust a toehold easily on. Look at the front section of the floor, preferably the driver’s side, as it is especially vulnerable. There should be a drain hole near the outer front portion of the pan, roughly under the clutch pedal, and it should have an approximately three-inch rubber plug in it. Inspect around the plug. There should be no seams in this part of the pan; if there are, it means that previous repairs have been performed.

Now look at the strengthening cross members that run laterally under the two seats. First of all, are they even there? Second of all, one a couple of times with the screwdriver to assess its condition.

Look at the rear section of the floor. Two more rubber drain plugs are located here and–you guessed it–they are another potential rust area. Look at the very rear-most section of the floor, where it is spot welded to the rear bulkhead panel. This is important because the radius arms for the rear suspension are tied in here.

While you are under the car, look at the inner rocker panels. If you have even gotten this far without giving up, take heart, because they are probably fine. This panel is made of surprisingly thick metal compared to the rest of the car and is very stout. However, just to be sure, give it a couple of good jabs along its length.

Most people would rather forgo sandblasting, grinding and welding in favor of installing big anti-roll bars and hot engines, so make sure you evaluate the body very carefully.

The Alfa Giulia coupe, with performance that belies its age, can make an excellent street performer or a potent vintage race car. It is well-engineered and stylish, and there is a large network of parts, service and restoration support. Combine all these pluses with Italian style and sexiness, and you've got a real winner.