[iicarJohn]

May I remind one and all that "Alleggerita" has been misspelled many times in this thread and elsewhere? It means simply "lightened" even if it has become popular to say, "lightweight". Neither term (in English or Italian) was an official term for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce when the cars were new.

There is the possibility of a car or three that might seem to be exceptions to the overall generalizations to follow, but Giulietta production from a coachbuilding standpoint (after the earliest prototypes) can be summarized as follows:

When the Giulietta Sprint (Tipo 750B) came out in 1954, the car was bodied by Bertone with their own production/design number "65" as a prefix to the body number. These have become known as "Normale" only after the fact because there was a "Veloce" version that became optional. Bertone's "65" design lasted all the way into 1963 and the Giulia Sprint series "105" ("GT") body that replaced it in production.

Even before the "Veloce" version was introduced, the Sprint had been evolving. Some variations were based on coachbuilding norms and quirks. Early cars in particular had parts made by hand or on temporary tooling that was perhaps not yet capable of forming steel? Some cars had some alloy opening panels, particularly the bonnet & boot (hood & trunk) lids and perhaps the doors at times. These would have generally been alloy skins on steel frameworks as this was a typical build feature of many Bertone cars of the time period.

The "Veloce" version of the Giulietta (Tipo 750E) was built beginning 1956 specifically to go racing head to head in the Gran Turismo category against Porsche 1300 and some very special Fiat-based cars that came from various specialty tuners. Homologation required a certain minimum production volume per year. Not all "Veloce" cars became race cars. The Veloce bodies were built also by Bertone (not Zagato), but with the production/design number "77" that became a prefix to the body numbers assigned to each of those cars. It would probably be a mistake to think that there was intent to build 600 identical cars in the series as that number was not needed. However, it proved to be a great little car and was more popular than was forseen. And, not all cars were identical in any case!

Chassis N. 01380 was the earliest "Veloce" specification car. Several similar cars were first sold April and May of 1956. This would imply that there were perhaps almost 1400 of the Tipo 750B Sprint (Normale) cars built before the Veloce version came out, but the reality was that Alfa Romeo sold many additional 750B before they sold the first 750E. So, the chassis numbers were delivered out of sequence and the Veloce became a distinct subseries, almost a series of its own ... for a time. It is not unreasonable to think that the prospective customers for these cars might have had a bit more say than normal in some specific characteristics desired? And that is before the car left Alfa Romeo's and Bertone's hands. Once the cars left, more personalization was possibile and in extreme case, full makeovers were performed by Zagato and others. This also had an effect on Alfa Romeo's decisions for future production.

Once it became clear during 1957 that special versions of the Sprint Veloce were needed in order to win races routinely, Alfa Romeo probably backed off for a while in supplying cars that could no longer be truly competitive and focused on the ready market for a faster Sprint that was not in racing form. For this, in 1958 Bertone produced a "normal" body (with some interior detail differences, at least for a time) into which would be fitted the Veloce mechanical package. It seems that Bertone added an "A" suffix to the "65" series body numbers on these cars. It is this car, still a Sprint Veloce, that has become known as "Confortevole". A Sprint Veloce with some comforts. This evolved a bit later in 1958 into a fairly homogenous production where the Sprint body (commonly referred to as "101 style") was offered with either the "Normale" or the "Veloce" engine. Our study of those cars will be complicated by the fact that it seems that Alfa Romeo became less consistent in their numbering protocols between "Veloce" and "Normale".

I have collected quite a number of Bertone numbers from personal observation and from owners, some of them who take part in the AlfaBB. Unfortunately, because the Bertone body numers are often filled with paint, there are many mis-reported numbers. That said, there is a clear pattern emerging to the bulk of the numbers collected.

Discarding a number of anomalies in the numbers reported ...

The Giulietta Sprint Bertone body numbers run from *65001* to something near *6524000* (perhaps higher?) with extra digits added when needed. Among those are the Sprint Veloce "Confortevole" cars with numbers that run roughly from *655500*A to roughly *656000*A with not all of them being "Confortevole", i.e. not all "Veloce". After this time, the Bertone body number can no longer be used as a help in identifying original Sprint Veloce cars.

Edit: I should say that *655500*A and *656000*A are examples of possibilities. neither number is reported yet and we do not know if those body numbers are normal "Sprint" (without the "A" suffix) or if they are perhaps "Confortevole" as implied by the potential number range given.

As a matter of interest, Giulia "Sprint" bodies in this same style have been identified with Bertone body numbers ranging from *6524709* to *6531134* but the range certainly begins earlier and ends slightly later.

The original series of Giulietta Sprint Veloce, beginning 1956, were numbered in the "77" series as already mentioned. The two earliest chassis AR1493*01380 and AR1493*01381 were followed by a gap of "Normale" cars and then AR1493*01430 and AR1493*01431, another gap and so on. More than 100 of these cars were offered and sold between April and July, making it clear that these were genuine GT cars that were available commercially. The Bertone body numbers for these cars run currently from *77001* to *77500* but higher numbers are possible and seem likely.

John de Boer
The Italian Car Registry