Class of 62: Alfa Romeo Julia
The penultimate car from the class of 62 series that I deal with is the Alfa Romeo Julia. The arrival of this car meant a lot to Alfa Romeo. In 1962 the car was presented with a bench seat in the front and gear lever on the steering column. Disc brakes were not yet commonplace either. But that would all soon change.
The car was equipped with a centrally placed gear lever on the tunnel, disc brakes and faster engines. A beautiful coupe was also built on the same chassis. It was initially called the Giulia GT. The bodywork was the result of the Bertone company and enthusiasts often talk about the “Supertjes” and the “Bertjes”. The third variant on the same chassis was the Alfa Spider. The so-called “Supertjes” drove great. I've had many of them in all sorts of variations. They were equipped with 1300 and 1600 cc engines, but the thick 2 liter engine from the Berlina and the Bertone GTV also fitted. In 1980 I had a 1300 1971 Giulia with a 2 liter engine in it. The rear axle and gearbox remained standard. As a result, the car was very fast, but the top speed was below 190 kilometers. We were on our way from Venlo to Amsterdam and soon we came across a brand new BMW 323 that wanted to pass us. The man couldn't do that. The standard badge with the 1300 logo was mounted on the boot lid of our Super and at Utrecht the man opened his window to ask what kind of engine was under the hood. The same combination of engine and car was also used for racing. That class was called Squadra Bianca.
Text and photo: Jacques van den Bergh www.jbfreelancejournalistiek.nl