A few years ago, the Italian carmaker celebrated 50 years since the original Alfa Romeo Giulia was introduced, a car that went on an wrote history for the company based in Milan, Italy. There were so many great Alfa Romeo cars throughout the carmaker’s 100 year history that it’s hard to say the Giulia was the most important one, but one thing’s for sure, that it was and still is an iconic model and we were more than thrilled learning that Alfa Romeo plans on reviving this year, as a replacement for the “late” Alfa 159.
First generation Giulia
The original Giulia was launched in 1962 and it came in an important moment for Alfa Romeo, contributing to the brand’s spectacular growth between 1962 and 1977. The car had a distinct charm and the public immediately fell in love with it, making it one of the most popular cars in the 1960’s and 1970’s, not only in Italy, but also on the entire European continent. Between 1962 and 1977, the Alfa Romeo Giulia was offered in several body styles and engine options, with a total of more than 1 million units being sold in this time frame.
At its launch in 1962, the Alfa Romeo Giulia was one of the first lightweight automobiles that featured a powerful engine. The Italian car weighted only 2,200 pounds (around 1,000 kg) and the engines were quite impressive for those days, delivering between 80 and 100 hp, depending on the type of carburetor used, and providing the Giulia with that sporty spirit that made it famous.
The first generation was built between 1962 and 1972 and most units were available with five speed manual transmissions, another feature that was quite innovative in the early 1960’s. It also featured brake disks on all four wheels and even though in the beginning it was not available, power steering was offered on later versions.
The first model to be launched was the Giulia Ti, which was powered by a four cylinder engine that had a displacement of 1.6-liters. These first models were called the Giulia Ti, which stood for “Turismo Internazionale”, a class of Italian saloon car racing. The Giulia Ti featured a single down-draft carburetor and produced 91 hp.
A year later, the Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Super racing model was introduced. The 1.6-liter engine was fitted with two double-choke Weber carburetors and produced 110 hp. Several weight saving upgrades were made (such as lighter body parts and alloy wheels) and the car wore the famous Quadrifoglio Verde logo, the green four leaf clover symbolizing Alfa Romeo high performance. The production run was limited to 501 units (only for homologation purposes), which makes it one of the rarest Alfa Romeos ever.
In 1965, the Giulia Super made its debut as the “official” street version of the Giulia Ti Super and while the engine was similar to the one on the Ti Super, power output was lower, 97 hp. Even so, it accelerated from 0 to 62 mph in 12 seconds and reached a top speed of 106 mph (170 km/h). That was even better than what more established sports cars were getting in those times. The car carried on some of the features from the Ti Super, such as the three-spoke steering wheel with a center horn push and it was a huge success for Alfa Romeo, becoming the most popular version of the Giulia.
The third model to be introduced was the Giulia 1300, a low-entry version which was manufactured between 1964 and 1970. It was powered by a 1.3-liter engine borrowed from the Giulietta Ti that produced 77 hp and, unlike all the other Giulias, it was only available with a four speed transmission. Alfa also tried a strategy similar to the Giulia Ti, so the 1300 Ti was launched in 1965, featuring several upgrades compared to the first version. This model was built until 1972.
The success achieved by the Giulia Ti Super made Alfa Romeo cancel the other version, the Giulia Ti, in 1968 and reintroduce it as an entry level version of the Ti Super the same year, replacing it again, in 1970, with the 1300 Super. Starting with 1970, the Giulia Super 1300 was also available, which was a basically a Giulia Ti powered by an upgraded engine borrowed from the GT 1300 Junior.
Second generation Giulia
In 1972, Alfa Romeo dropped the 1300 Ti model and released the other two, the Giulia Super 1300 and the Giulia Super as the “new” Super 1.3 and Super 1.6. Trim levels and features were identical and the only difference was made by the engine (one had the 1.3 liter, while the other had the 1.6-liter). Two years later, the models were once again re-released, this time as the Nuova Super 1.3 and the Nuova Super 1.6. Unfortunately, they had only minor upgrades compared to their predecessors (and nothing important, for example one of the highlights was the new black plastic front grille), so production was cancelled three years later, in 1977.
Alfa Romeo also tried something new by releasing a diesel powered Giulia. The engine we’re talking about was a 1.8-liter Perkins diesel unit that was already in use on the Alfa Romeo F12 van and which produced 55 hp. The model was called Alfa Romeo Giulia Nuova Super Diesel and was a slow car compered to its gasoline brother, only being able to go as fast as 85 mph (138 km/h). As expected, people weren’t exactly thrilled with this version (especially since the Giulia became known as a sports car) and only 6,500 units were built in 1976.
2012, celebration in Italy
Two years ago, when 50 years have passed since the original Giulia was introduced, several fan clubs gathered on June 24 on the famous test track in Balocco in the Italian region of Piedmont. The location was not randomly selected, because the Circuito di Balocco was inaugurated in 1962, the same year the original Alfa Romeo Giulia made its debut.
The Balocco test track is 30 miles away from Milano and it spreads on 470 acres (190 hectares), being owned by the Fiat Group which uses the facility as the main testing ground for all their new models. The Balocco test track made Alfa Romeo one of the first European car manufacturers to get a test track of this size for both street and racing models. Today, the Circuito di Balocco has more than 50 miles (80 km) of tracks that reproduce a wide range of roads not only for automobiles but also for trucks, tractors and special vehicles.
And the Alfa Romeo Giulia celebrations didn’t stop there, because in 1962 (what a year for Alfa Romeo!), the Registro Italiano Alfa Romeo (RIAR) was established. Today, this is one of the two official owners club of the Italian brand, has more than 2,000 members and a fleet of rare and extremely valuable Alfa Romeo automobiles. Each year, the club organizes a series of events dedicated to the brand, in Italy and abroad. Their 50 year anniversary was celebrated on June 23, 2012 in Cremona, a city located 50 miles away south east of Milano.
Other events related to Giulia’s 50th anniversary, was Alfa Romeo publishing a special image that was created for this moment. The image is inspired from an old commercial for the car that had the tagline “L’ha disegnata il vento” (meaning “Designed by the wind” in English) and which emphasized the great aerodynamics of the Giula. That was actually true, because the car had drag coefficient amazing for those days, 0.34 (that was lower than a Porsche 911, which was supposed to be a “genuine” sports car).
Giulia makes its comeback
A while ago, officials of the Italian brand announced that the Alfa Romeo Giulia will make its comeback this year, as a replacement for the Alfa 159 which has been in production from 2005 until 2011. When the model was discontinued, the carmaker was left without any members in the compact premium car market. All reports indicate a world debut of the new car at this fall’s Paris Motor Show.
Even though the modern Giulia was scheduled to be introduced in 2012 (after the 159 was phased out), reports indicated as the cause for this delay being Sergio Marchionne, the Fiat boss, who was unhappy with the original design proposals. Of course, with the new Giulia being an Alfa Romeo, everyone expects a beautiful car and the pressure is even higher since starting with last year, Fiat announced that Alfa Romeo will get back to its roots and become the group’s sports brand, offering thrilling rear wheel drive cars. That’s why the new Giulia aims high, Marchionne looking to make it a fierce competitor for the popular BMW 3 Series, Mercedes Benz C Class and Audi A4.
As for the final production version, not many details are known and so far most of them are rumors. According to several reports, the car will probably borrow most powertrains from the current Giulietta range, including the extremely popular range of JTDm diesels and the 1.4-liter turbocharged unit that is currently available in two power versions, 118 and 168 hp. There’s also the possibility of seeing the new Alfa Romeo Giulia getting the powerful 1.75-liter gasoline engine from the 4C (this version produces 237 hp), but we’ll only know that when the Italian carmaker decides to make the official announcement.
However, all these reports are getting us excited about the new car and expectations are high, especially after seeing the last models being launched by Alfa, which are all amazing cars, starting with the MiTo, the Giulietta and all the way to the gorgeous 4C and 8C. And to be honest, it looks like the Giulia name will make a great comeback and will once again bring that iconic name on everyone’s lips.
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