Lot 431: 1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia SS Sport Speciale by Bertone

Alfa Romeo, Italy's oldest sporting marque, has been building cars since 1910. They produced some of the greatest machinery ever to be seen pre-war, such as the beautiful 1750 Zagato roadsters, the magnificent Monza's and the mighty P3 Grand Prix cars. With the advent of the 1950's, Alfa Romeo was forced to rationalise its production in order to survive financially. Unable to resist the occasional indulgence however, they still built some exceptional competition and 'limited edition' high performance models. One such car was the Sprint Speciale series. Appearing first in 1957 with the 1,290cc Giulietta engine and then in 1963 with the more powerful 1,570cc Giulia unit. The streamlined bodywork bore a marked resemblance to some of the marque's earlier competition designs, particularly the famous Disco Volante sports-racer, not to mention the BAT 9 show car. With an all-up weight of under 950kgs, a five-speed gearbox and an output of ll2bhp (in Giulia form) they made excellent road cars and were equally useful in competition. Only 1,366 examples of the Sprint Speciale were built before production stopped in 1965. Described as being in excellent condition, this car has only 39,000km on the clock and is complete with V5C, MoT to February, original sales brochure, Autosport road test, bills and history. Originally registered in Paris, it was used mainly as a show car until it was subsequently sold to an English collector, Nick Faure, who also carried out some restoration work. The car was then bought by Black and White who also used as a show car in their showrooms. It has been extensively restored, with particular attention paid to the engine, brakes, steering, paint work and engine bay. Furthermore, it has details of this work, and photographs, both of the rebuild, and of the car in different phases of its life. The driving experience is positive with that gutsy twin cam engine pushing out the classic engine note spirited performance. With Bat Car styling in abundance, this represents an excellent example of the marque.