Italian automobiles may be like a Fellini flick: unbelievable, with a dose of drama for good measure. Appears that seems like our Decide of the Day: a 1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Veloce listed on the market on ClassicCars.com by a supplier in Philadelphia. (Click on the hyperlink to view the itemizing)

Italian automobiles of this period may be complicated to American automobile lovers as a result of there have been so many variations accomplished with the identical chassis: a Bertone right here, a Pinin Farina there, and perhaps a Zagato for the actually avant-garde. That’s why you see sedans, coupes, convertibles, and virtually bespoke variations sharing the identical title. That’s very true of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, which began off as a 1.3-liter twin-cam inline-four-powered Dash coupe in 1954, quickly to be joined by a Berlina (four-door sedan) and Spider (convertible) a 12 months later.

On the time, unibody building, aluminum alloy engine block with forged iron sleeves, and hemi heads had been novel concepts past the dual cams. Extra highly effective variations of the 1956-62 Dash and Spider had been known as Veloce (suppose “velocity”), which added one other twin-venturi carburetor and extra compression for 89 horsepower, a ten-horse bump. The 1957-62 Giulietta Dash Speciale, a customized Bertone two-seater, and a race-inspired Dash Zagato, featured much more compression and 99 horsepower.

This 1959 Alfa Romeo was born a white Giulietta Spider Veloce in Milan on January 3, 1959, and bought by the well-known Hoffman Motor Automobile Co. in Manhattan. Within the Nineteen Nineties, the Alfa was despatched to Ashcroft Restorations in Phoenix for an inside refreshing. The outside was repainted a shade of BMW purple by the proprietor, who owned Day BMW in Harmony, California.

The driveline was despatched to Conrad Stevenson of Berkeley, the place he tailored the Veloce’s exhaust manifold, carburetors, air field and filter, headers, and oil sump to a 1750cc block, then mated the engine to a five-speed guide transmission (the unique had 4 ahead speeds). The charging system was additionally upgraded to an alternator. Beneath, the suspension was upgraded to incorporate a bigger sway bar and different tweaks.

Since 2004, this 1959 Giulietta Spider Veloce has been within the possession of the present proprietor. “The automobile has been cared for and taken care of since due to constant service data on file, and now exhibits a scant 87,500 on the odometer,” says the supplier, which is a scant 1,500 miles added over 20 years. With basic Italian model and delicate Alfa upgrades, this Giulietta is a dream collectible with some rev-happy drama below the hood. For $95,000, it’s a superb approach to benefit from the good life.