1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Tipo 750 Series 1

You just can’t stop gawping at it. On looks alone, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint deserves its high placing in our ‘Greatest Ever’ shootout. Designed by Franco Scaglione of Bertone, the Sprint was an exercise in the elegance of simplicity, perfect proportion and delicate understatement. This 1950s icon’s shape has withstood every changing fashion with easy grace. Small wonder that the Sprint attracted the custom of the likes of Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and Diana Dors; it’s right up there with these screen legends in terms of beauty. But its perfect profile is not the real reason why Alfa’s 1955 coupe occupies sixth position in our Top 12 chart. It’s got more to do with the way it magically synthesises all the things that make a car a true classic. In addition, the Giulietta Sprint was absolutely vital to Alfa Romeo’s story; one wonders indeed what Romeo would have been without his Giulietta.

1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Tipo 750 Series 1 Art of Alfa

Let’s start with that historical significance angle. The Giulietta Tipo 750 marked Alfa’s first move into the mainstream market. However, when the intended saloon version was delayed, the Sprint coupe became the first of the new family to break cover, which it did at the April 1954 Turin Motor Show. As such, the Sprint became Alfa’s pioneering ‘middle class’ car – marketing ground that Alfa has occupied ever since.

Yet the Giulietta was in no sense a middle-of-the-road machine. With Alfa’s long tradition of high-quality engineering to draw on, it boasted a level of sophistication that only highly exotic cars of the era shared. This started with Giuseppe Busso’s incredible all-new engine, which featured an unprecedented level of aluminium in its construction and twin overhead cams, unique for such a small engine at the time (1290cc at launch). The Sprint’s light overall weight and peppy power made it a genuine 100mph car. Then of course there was the Sprint Veloce (SV) version whose lightweight aluminium body parts saved around 100kg, making it even faster.

Even today, the regular Sprint feels surprisingly modern to drive. We’re lucky enough to be sampling Tony Ives’ superbly restored 1956 Series 1 example; early cars like this were entirely hand-built at Bertone’s coach works. After some hesitation, the engine delivers super-sweet eagerness, its short stroke meaning it’s as keen as a terrier to rev. Only the column gearshift of this early car (it later changed to a floor shift) feels antiquated: it’s an awkward movement at first but you get used to it very quickly. With its independent front suspension by wishbones, plus coil springs all round, it handles with alacrity (small wonder it was so successful in competition), yet it also rides comfortably enough to work well as a grand tourer. The Sprint even survived the arrival of the new Tipo 105 Giulia in 1962. Renamed the Giulia Sprint, it adopted the Giulia’s bigger 1570cc engine and five-speed gearbox, while in Giulia 1300 Sprint form, the coupe lasted right up until 1965. The Sprint also provided the basis for the sensationally lithe Sprint Speciale (SS) of 1959 and Zagato’s super-lightweight SZ.

No question, the Giulietta Sprint was the moment when Alfa’s modern era truly began. It’s the starting point for everything that followed, most notably of course the closely related and much-loved Tipo 105 Giulia series. That Sprint moniker may have been perfectly apposite given its peppy pace, but its influence was truly long-running.