Latest News
Volvo: Safety Beyond the Star Ratings
The Italian mark has been making fantastic racing and road cars for over a century. Here’s a look at some of Alfa Romeo’s greatest cars.
From Alfa to Omega
Over its 113-year history, Alfa Romeo has produced some of the most distinctive, fast, and exciting cars of all time. Formed in 1910, Alfa Romeo quickly grew into one of Italy’s premier carmakers with pronounced success in racing. Over the decades, Alfa Romeo has produced dozens of notable cars, and more than a few downright legends. Alfa Romeo has remained consistent over so many years by seeking and achieving a balance between performance and aesthetics to make some of automotive history’s best-looking, best-driving cars of all time. Here is a look at some of Alfa Romeo’s most noteworthy and memorable cars.
Alfa Romeo P3 Tipo B (1932-1933)
Alfa Romeo had been in racing for over twenty years by the time the P3 was developed, but it was the first of the company’s cars to become an outright legend. Designed by Vittorio Jano, the P3 Tipo B was the world’s first single-seat Grand Prix racecar. It won its first race, the opener to the 1932 Grand Prix season, with Tazio Nuvolari behind the wheel. It would go on to dominate the 1932 season. Due to financial difficulties for Alfa Romeo, the P3 was not run for much of the 1933 season. That is until Enzo Ferrari’s Scuderia Ferrari could race the car, taking six wins in the final eleven races of the ’33 Grand Prix season. The P3 was a light and powerful car for its time. Under the hood was a supercharged 3.2L eight-cylinder making 255 horses and turning the 1,545-lbs. car into a crimson land missile.
Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT (1963-1965)
Jump forward thirty years and we find another of Alfa Romeo’s great cars, the Giulia Sprint GT. The Giulia GTs were a line of two-door 2+2 coupes and cabriolets running twin-cam inline-fours ranging from 1,300-2,000 cc. The line began with the Sprint GT in 1963. Its fetching design was penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro, during his time at Bertone. The Sprint GT was first powered by a 1,570-cc twin-cam four-cylinder, allowing the Sprint to reach a top speed of 112 mph. Many subsequent versions followed over the next decade. These included the GTC, a cabriolet version if the Sprint GT, debuting in 1965, as well as the GT Veloce (fast in Italian) and the GTA (the A referencing the use of aluminum in the body paneling).
Alfa Romeo Spider (1966-1993)
The long, long running Spider model was an Alfa Romeo classic that came to define the brand over its many decades in production. The Spider debuted in 1966 as a spritely two-seat cabriolet powered by the same 1,570-cc twin cam four-cylinder (108 hp). The Series II arrived in 1970 and lasted twelve years. Engines ranged from 1,300 to 2,000 cc. Notable versions included the 1974 Targa top (today a rare collectable) and the 1978 Niki Lauda Edition. The Series III (1983-89) offered a “Graduate” model to commemorate the original’s cameo in the Dustin Hoffman movie The Graduate. The Series IV was the first generation to offer an automatic transmission (a three-speed) and lasted through 1993 before being succeeded by the GVT Spider which debuted in 1995.
Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale (1967-1969)
One of Alfa Romeo’s most spectacular road cars was the 33 Stradale, the road-going version of the Autodelta Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 racecar. The 33 Stradale was first built in 1967 and was one of the first examples of the use of butterfly doors. It was also extremely lightweight, using aluminum for both the body and the chassis, it came in at a svelte 1,543 lbs. Power came from a 1,995-cc 90-degree DOHC V8 with 227 horsepower and 152 lb.-ft. of torque. The combination of light weight and power allowed the 33 Stradale to achieve a claimed top speed of 160 mph. Here is our list of the fastest cars every year, for some context on that number.
Alfa Romeo Montreal (1970-1977)
The Montreal remains today one of Alfa Romeo’s most striking and distinctive models. This 2+2 coupe featured a V8 developed from the 33 Stradale’s. The Montreal’s new 2.6L version made 197 horsepower and offered a top speed of 139 mph. Speed, however, was not the Montreal’s greatest strength. Instead, the Montreal’s specialness comes from its stunning design by Marcello Gandini of Bertone. Gandini was fresh off contributing to the design of the Miura. Among the brilliant design details on the Montreal are the quad headlights with their retractable grilles, the non-functional central NACA duct on the hood, the sloping rear deck with its large rear window/hatch, and the C-pillar slats that vent the cabin. The Montreal name is a bit of an outlier among Alfa Romeo’s cars. The Montreal was the name of the prototype, which just stuck.
Alfa Romeo GTV 3.0 (1995-2005)
Another jump of a few decades and we have the Alfa Romeo GVT. If the Montreal defined the styling of the 1970s, the GVT does the same for the 1990s with its streamlined shape and tiny sets of quad headlights designed by Pininfarina. Like the GT that it succeeded (see above), the GVT came as a 2+2 coupe or convertible, but unlike the GT, the GVT was a front-wheel drive car. That does not mean the GVT was giving anything away in terms of performance, however. Its engines ranged from a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder to 3.0L and 3.2L V6s. The latter of which made the GVT the fasted Alfa model of the time with a top speed of 158 mph. Also like the GT, the GVT saw more than its share of special editions and variants. Among these were the kitted-out GVT Cup, the Spider Series Speciale “Elegant,” and the Edizione Nero Spider. Many of these variants amounted to different paint and interior schemes.
Alfa Romeo Giulia (2016-Present)
Alfa Romeo revived the Giulia name as part of a wider “reset” for the company under FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles). The Giulia was reintroduced as a four-door sport sedan offering potent engines and rear-wheel or all-wheel drive for precise handling. The Giulia’s engine offerings include a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder making a robust 280 horsepower, a 2.9L twin-turbocharged V6 with 505 horsepower, and a 2.2L four-cylinder diesel engine. The Giulia maintains Alfa Romeo’s tradition of combining style and substance with a curvaceous, modern design that retains classic traits like Alfa’s signature shield grille. Like any proper Italian sports car, both the four- and six-cylinder engines sound pleasantly aggressive. Handling is nimble, responsive, and quick. The four-cylinder runs from zero to sixty mph in under 6 seconds, the twin-turbo V6 in 3.8 seconds. Alfa Romeo’s reputation for quickness and elegance is in good hands with the current Giulia.
2020 Alfa Romeo 4C
The 4C was Alfa Romeo’s take on the mid-engine two-seater. The 4C coupe debuted in 2013 looking like a stylish mix of a Ferrari, a Miata, and the Alfa Romeos of old. A Spider cabriolet version arrived in 2015, eventually becoming the lone body style for the 4C’s final production year in 2020. The 4C featured a 1.75L turbocharged four-cylinder (237 horsepower) paired with a six-speed dual dry clutch automatic. The 4C was Alfa Romeo’s reintroduction to the US market, their first model there since 1995. The 4C was athletic and quick, taking just 4.2 seconds to complete its sprint from zero to sixty, but it was also a rough ride on its tightly tuned suspension. Though it did not last, the 4C was one of Alfa Romeo’s coolest looking, most fun driving cars in the company’s 100-plus-year history.
