This is a 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT that is now partway through a restoration, it needs reassembly and some more work – but much of the heavy lifting has already been done.
The Alfa Romeo 105 series, including the Giulia Sprint GT, was a wildly successful model run that largely defined the Italian automaker’s blue collar sports car line throughout the 1960s and beyond. They were (mostly) affordable to working class enthusiasts, offering excellent handling, high-revving twin cam engines, and beautiful styling by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone.
Fast Facts: The Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT
- This 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT is partway through a restoration and needs some more work, followed by reassembly. It’s an early “Scalino” step nose example, a version loved by enthusiasts for its clean Giugiaro design, and for its importance as the foundation of Alfa Romeo’s classic coupe of the era.
- The Giulia Sprint GT sits at the heart of the Alfa Romeo 105 series, introduced in 1963 and built through 1977. This range defined Alfa Romeo’s accessible sports cars, combining compact unibody construction, rear-wheel drive, twin cam engines, 2+2 seating, a useable rear trunk, and four-wheel disc brakes with everyday usability and excellent motorsport credentials.
- Power came from a 1,570cc all-aluminum twin cam four-cylinder with twin Weber carburetors, producing just over 100 bhp at 6,000 rpm. A 5-speed manual gearbox, independent front suspension, coil-sprung live rear axle, and those aforementioned four-wheel disc brakes gave the car genuine sports car chops.
- This project car was stripped in 2018 and treated to soda blasting, epoxy primer, powder-coated suspension parts, gearbox synchro replacement, rear axle service, and fuel tank refurbishment. It retains the engine, transmission, gauges, seats, and wheels, and is now being offered for sale on Bring a Trailer with spare parts and an Ohio title.
History Speedrun: The Alfa Romeo 105 Series
The Alfa Romeo 105 (and 115) series represent one of the most successful and influential sporting car programs in Alfa Romeo’s mid-century history. Production of the coupe line ran from 1963 through 1977 and included a remarkable range of closely related models that combined advanced drivetrain engineering, Italian styling, and an extensive catalog of major motorsport victories and championship wins.
The Giulia Sprint GT debuted in 1963 as the first 105 series coupe, derived from the mechanical package of the Giulia Berlina. It was developed as a compact unibody sporting car that cleverly balanced everyday usability with the potential to support higher performance road variants and dedicated racing derivatives. Image courtesy of Alfa Romeo.
At the center of this model family sits the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT, the car that launched the coupe range and established the mechanical and aesthetic template for everything that would follow.
The Giulia Sprint GT debuted in 1963 as the first 105 series coupe, derived from the mechanical package of the Giulia Berlina. It was developed as a compact unibody sporting car that cleverly balanced everyday usability with the potential to support higher performance road variants and dedicated racing derivatives.
Styling of the 105 was entrusted to Bertone, where a young Giorgetto Giugiaro produced an elegant, svelte body that marked a clear departure from earlier, more curvaceous Alfa Romeo coupes. The most recognizable early feature was the stepped front edge of the bonnet, universally known as the “Scalino” or “Step Nose,” a small detail that distinguishes the earlier Sprint GTs within the 105 series lineage.
Mechanically, the Sprint GT embraced Alfa Romeo’s long-established twin cam engine philosophy. Power came from a 1,570cc all-aluminium inline-four with dual overhead camshafts, overhead spark plugs, and hemispherical combustion chambers.
This engine was fed by twin Weber carburettors in standard form and had a crossflow head. Period sources quote output figures slightly differently, but they agree that power sits just over 100 bhp at 6,000 rpm. The twin cam engine was paired with a 5-speed manual transmission driving the rear wheels.
Suspension consisted of unequal-length wishbones with coil springs at the front, and a coil-sprung live rear axle located by trailing arms and a central locating arm. Four-wheel disc brakes were fitted as standard, an advanced feature for the period.
Mechanically, the Sprint GT embraced Alfa Romeo’s long-established twin cam engine philosophy. Power came from a 1,570cc all-aluminium inline-four with dual overhead camshafts, overhead spark plugs, and hemispherical combustion chambers. Image courtesy of Alfa Romeo.
The top speed was approximately 180 km/h (112 mph), while testing in period by motoring magazines recorded a 0 to 60 mph time of 11.2 seconds, good for the era. The car was light weight, it had precise steering, good handling, and a free-revving engine gave it an enviable reputation for driver involvement that quickly became a hallmark of the 105 series coupes as a whole.
The original Giulia Sprint GT, internally designated 105.02, formed the foundation of the coupe range. As production continued into the mid-1960s, Alfa Romeo introduced the Giulia Sprint GT Veloce, an uprated version with a more highly tuned 1.6 liter engine and detail improvements aimed at more enthusiastic drivers.
Production of the Sprint GT Veloce began during 1965, with the model commonly regarded as a 1966 introduction following its formal launch. Early examples kept the Scalino bonnet before Alfa Romeo revised the front bodywork in 1966, smoothing the bonnet line and updating the appearance, though these updates have not always been universally praised.
The 1750 GTV arrived in late 1967, increasing displacement to 1,779cc and bringing improved torque and slightly better driving flexibility as a result. In 1971, the 2000 GTV followed with a 1,962cc engine, this was the most powerful mainstream evolution of the platform.
Alongside these sat the GT Junior models, initially powered by 1.3 liter engines and later offered with 1.6 liter units, providing a lighter and more affordable entry point while retaining the essential mechanical layout and switching to twin headlights instead of the quad headlights used by their higher-displacement siblings.
Racing was always inseparable from the identity of the 105 series Alfas. The company recognized the platform’s competition potential early on, leading to the introduction of the Giulia Sprint GTA in 1965.
This is a 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT that is now partway through a restoration, it needs reassembly and some more work – but much of the heavy lifting has already been done.
The GTA had extensive weight-saving measures, including a number of light alloy body panels, some glass replaced with Plexiglas, and some other competition-specific changes, as well as a heavily developed version of the twin cam engine. These cars became highly effective touring car racers and were central to Alfa Romeo’s touring car competition efforts (and successes) during the period.
In European touring car competition, the GTA variants achieved their most dominant successes in the 1960s and early 1970s, securing outright European Touring Car Championship titles in 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, and 1971. These results firmly established the 105 series as one of the most competitive touring car platforms of the period and put rival manufacturers on the back foot.
While the standard Giulia Sprint GT was not the primary competition weapon at this level, it was the essential starting point from which Alfa Romeo’s most successful postwar touring cars were developed, and the success of the GTA did no harm to GT sales.
Skipping forward to the modern day, the Alfa Romeo 105s are widely regarded as a high point in the marque’s history. The Giulia Sprint GT, particularly the desirable early Scalino examples, are valued for their Giugiaro/Bertone signature design, their mechanical purity, and the analog driving experience they offer drivers.
The 1965 Giulia Sprint GT Project Car Shown Here
The car you see here is, as you can see from the images above and below, currently in pieces. The car was originally sold new through Stoddard Imports of Highland Heights, Ohio and after a few years ended up in storage.
It was rescued from storage in the mid-2010s and given some needed mechanical work, before being sold to a new owner in 2017. The car was then dismantled in 2018 as the restoration began, some of the jobs completed included soda-blasting the body and re-coating it in epoxy primer as well as powder-coating many suspension parts, replacing the transmission synchros, servicing the rear axle, and refurbishing the fuel tank.
The unibody shell is now mounted to a rolling dolly which is included in the sale, and it keeps many important components including a 1,570cc twin cam inline-four, dual Weber carburetors, a 5-speed manual transmission, 14″ steel wheels, Veglia gauges, and black vinyl-trimmed seats.
It’s clear that the car still needs plenty of work, but many of the big ticket items are done already. Once everything has been refreshed the car will need reassembly, and the world will be a slightly better place as there’ll be another Step Nose back on the road.
It’s clear that the car still needs plenty of work, but many of the big ticket items are done already. Once everything has been refreshed the car will need reassembly, and the world will be a slightly better place as there’ll be another Step Nose back on the road.
The car is now being offered for sale on Bring a Trailer out of North Salem, New York with a tool kit, spare parts, and an Ohio title. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
