This 1957 Giulietta Spider is a desirable 750F Veloce model that has been extensively prepared for vintage motorsport and maintained by KTR European Motorsports, having been previously owned and campaigned by the well-known marque specialists Alfas Unlimited of Norfolk, CT.
Finished in an appealing shade of Alfa Red and fitted with period-style alloy wheels, the car is well-equipped for track duty with a roll bar, fuel bladder, six-point harnesses, an uprated cooling system and a trunk-mounted battery. Power comes via a race-prepped 1300 Veloce engine, fed by twin Weber DCOE carburetors and backed by a 5-speed gearbox. The tidy engine bay, replete with racing necessities like Aeroquip fittings and an external filter, points to attentive, expert race preparation.
This appealing and desirable early Tipo 750 Spider Veloce presents an excellent opportunity to get on track with minimal preparation and join like-minded enthusiasts in the VSCCA or other active motorsport groups.
SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1957 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Veloce |
| Years Produced: | 1956–58 |
| Number Produced: | 1,311 |
| SCM Valuation: | $60,000–$100,000 |
| Chassis Number Location: | Firewall, right side |
| Engine Number Location: | Block below front carburetor |
| Club Info: | Alfa Romeo Owners Club |
| Website: | http://www.aroc-usa.org |
| Alternatives: | 1958–61 Elva Courier, 1956–61 Porsche 356, 1955–62 MGA |
This car, Lot 40, sold for $31,360, including buyer’s premium, at Bonhams Cars’ Newport, RI, auction on September 29, 2023.
In general, it costs somewhere between a moderate amount to a small fortune to convert a roadgoing sports car to a proper racer. Minimum requirements include racing tires and shock absorbers, a proper roll bar, fire protection, the removal of unnecessary weight, and possibly a blueprinted engine. At the other end, there is no maximum. If you are serious about running at the front of your racing grid, a ground-up reconstruction as a racer is required and can be very spendy. As a result, though the racing-car market is more limited, a proper racer generally sells for a substantial uptick over the street version.
However, this is not always true — today’s subject Alfa is proof. Proper racing versions of late-1950s and 1960s Alfas have been worth somewhere in the lower-to-mid-$30k range for at least the past 20 years, but a collector-quality 750-series Spider Veloce road car is worth easily three times that today. This inverts the normal racer-versus-street-car understanding and makes for some interesting calculations if you are considering buying an early Veloce racer. It is possible that this could be an investment as well as a toy, and we need to consider both.
Know your numbers
Most people think of small-displacement Alfas in the 1950s and 1960s as Giuliettas and Giulias, but reality is a bit more complex. They came in three series: 750, 101 and 105, and they have important differences. The earliest were the 750-series cars: 1,300-cc short-wheelbase Giuliettas with a “tunnel case” 4-speed transmission and drum brakes. The 750 series are only Sprints (2-door coupes) and Spiders built between 1956 and 1958.
The 1959–64 101-series cars looked the same but had a longer wheelbase, 4- or 5-speed transmissions, and were called both Giulietta (1,300 cc) and Giulia (1,600 cc). I think all 101 Alfas had rear drum brakes; most had discs in front. Alfa made 101-series sedans, in addition to Sprints and Spiders. The 105 series came along in 1964 and includes GTV coupes, Duetto spiders and Berlina sedans with 5-speeds and discs all around. Alfa built a ton of them.
Advantage: Alfa
Our subject clearly has been a racer for a long time, so let’s approach our discussion from that standpoint. I will stipulate to being biased, but I still argue that there are few, if any, better cars in which to learn the vintage-racing hobby than an Alfa. Once you have become an experienced and competent driver, there are plenty of paths to take, but I’m talking about how to start. Alfas have always been wonderful about taking care of the driver — their primary advantage. They are designed with mild (but persistent) understeer combined with moderate grip, a combo that makes it very difficult to get into serious trouble.
You can go quickly in an Alfa once you have learned how to do it, but it takes a serious level of aggression to make the tail hang out where you want it. You must commit, but if you get in too deep and hot, lifting the throttle just makes the car push to scrub off speed. Ugly, but safe. Try that in an early Porsche sometime if you want an adrenaline rush.
Alfas also benefit from being quite reliable. There is some truth to the mid-century axiom that most Alfa drivers thought they were Nuvolari, and Italian sporting cars were designed to be thrown sideways into every corner with redline being the normal shift point. Not to besmirch them, but British sports cars don’t handle that as well, and racing them requires much more attention. I have long equated Alfas to solid-state electronics — they either fail immediately or run forever. For a beginner or amateur who wants to pour in fuel, check the oil and go play without a semi-professional crew to take care of you, this is a great advantage.
The bottom line is this Giulietta would be a wonderful thing for a hobbyist to take racing. It looks great, makes wonderful sounds and should be a joy to drive. With 115 hp pushing about 2,000 pounds through five gears and skinny tires, it will be slower than your kid’s Subaru, but that’s not the point. It’s a lot of fun and not likely to hurt you or your wallet.
Road or race?
Lurking in the back of somebody’s mind is the question: “I’ve seen Spider Veloces sell for $100,000. Is it worth converting back to street specification?” This, my friend, is a complicated issue. My shop has done it. An English client bought a red 750 Veloce racer, gave it to us to convert back, and we did. Lord, though, was it a project! The big problem is that, unlike the later 105-series Giulias, a 750-series Veloce isn’t just a nameplate and carburetors. There are a ton of pieces, both big and small, that are unique to this variant.
Legend has it that Alfa spent months building “Normales” on the production line, setting aside all the particularly good bits, then shut down the line and spent a few weeks using all the best parts to build the Veloces. I don’t know how true this is, but there is no doubt that the 1956–58 Veloces are special Alfas. From the unique left-side grille, through the entire intake system, to the engine itself, to the details of the interior, these Veloces used unique parts. Not only are Veloce seats bespoke, but their mounting rails are unique. In creating a race car, most of this stuff got thrown away. Good luck finding replacements.
In today’s world it is relatively easy to find reproduced special parts for 105-series Alfas, so if you want to fix or re-create a GTA or even a TZ, it is not terribly difficult. Even 101s have a reasonable parts supply. The 750s, though, are almost impossible. There were too few built too long ago, so finding parts at all is hen’s-teeth difficult. For my shop’s project, we were lucky that most of the important bits had been saved. Even then, it was a challenge.
Best, then, to not have any illusions about turning this car back into a collectible road car. Still, the fact that it is a real 750 Veloce gives it an enduring value, even as a pure racing car. The old axiom about “special then, special now” continues to apply. These are fabulous cars for gentlemen racers; this one should provide lots of safe racing fun with an underlying collector value that should protect the investment. I think it was even a bit cheap for what it is, so call it well bought. ♦
(Introductory description courtesy of Bonhams Cars.)
