Real, red and race-ready

RM Sotheby’s, Cernobbio, Italy 27 May

of 1960s Alfa Romeo race cars on the market, but many are unoriginal hybrids which started life as roadgoing models before being converted for track use when they became past their street-legal best. Not so this superb Giulia Sprint GTA, built in 1965 as a competition car before being delivered to the celebrated Autotecnica Conrero privateer team the following year.

In subsequent German ownership it was raced extensively (and successfully) until being commissioned for road use between longish periods of storage and then being bought by the current vendor during the 1990s.

A noted authority on the GTA, he recognised the car’s extreme rarity in that it is not only a genuine ‘Corsa’ race model but one of only 50 original, right-hand-drive GTAs to be built.

Close inspection revealed the alloy body panels to be the factory-fitted items, along with the minimal interior trim and various magnesium parts that were used on GTAs to make them as light as possible. Add to that the presence of the homologation number stamped inside the boot, the special GTA transmission, Autodelta rear axle and first-series Campagnolo wheels, and it soon became clear that this car was worthy of a high-grade restoration.

And, as the picture reveals, that is exactly what it got – a first-rate rebuild using all of the original aluminium bodywork and as many other factory-fitted components as possible. Since completion, it has been driven a mere 40 shake-down kilometres and is offered in what by RM Sotheby ’s says is ‘as new ’ condition.

This car is not going to be cheap and, in light of the popularity of GTAs for Historic racing, it seems likely to meet or exceed its €225,000€275,000 estimate. But, from the original ‘Conrero’ dashboard plate to the magnesium sump and drilled-for-lightness gearlever, the detail is exquisite.

Such a car could, of course, be replicated by using a standard GTA and building it up using sourced Corsa parts, but that would take considerable time and effort, the finished product won’t be the real thing and the true value will always be debatable. The fact that this one’s as genuine as they come should make it a cast iron (or light alloy?) investment.