Lot 348: 1966 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA Coupé
Coachwork by Bertone

Introduced in 1966, the GTA (the ‘A’ stood for alleggerita - lightened) was the official competition version of the Giulia Sprint GT. The model was produced in road and race variants, the latter, as usual, being the responsibility of the factory team, Autodelta. Visually almost indistinguishable from the road-going Sprint GT, the GTA differed by virtue of its aluminium body panels, Plexiglas side and rear windows and lightened interior fittings and trim. As a result the GTA tipped the scales at around 200 kilograms lighter than the stock steel-bodied car.
Alfa’s classic twin-cam 1,570cc four underwent extensive modification for the GTA, the angle between the valves being reduced from 90 to 80 degrees and the valve sizes substantially increased; there no longer being room between them for a central spark plug, a change was made to twin-plug ignition. In road trim the revised engine produced 115bhp, with up to 170 horsepower available in race tune.
The GTA made its racing debut on 20th March 1966 at Monza, where Andrea de Adamich and Teodoro Zeccoli triumphed in the Jolly Club Four Hour Race. From then on the Autodelta-prepared GTAs enjoyed outstanding success, winning the European Touring Car Championship three years running, 1966-68.
This GTA was manufactured in 1966 and used exclusively on the road by its first two owners before passing circa 1968 to the Sicilian racing driver, Vito Copo, who used it in competitions (list of events available). In 1977, the car was placed in garage storage where it remained for the next ten years. Towards the end of the 1980s, collector Massimo Agnelli acquired the Alfa and restored it completely, spending the equivalent of 40,000 euros. Agnelli used the car on two occasions at Monza and then returned it to storage. In 1997 the car was purchased by Walter Verdecchia who then campaigned it extensively in historic rallies, entering 10 such events over a four-year period, including the San Remo Historic. In 2003 the engine was overhauled and the car competed in that year’s San Remo event before being returned to the garage for the next two years. Offered with FIA papers, ‘613857’ represents a rare opportunity to acquire a genuine Giulia GTA with in-period competition history.