White is rarely the best colour for cars, in my opinion. Just my luck, it’s extremely popular in Asia, but never mind. The challenge is to find a car that actually looks better in white than in its usual colour. And I think I found it in this Bertone beauty, which thankfully eschews the usual Alfa red in favour of a whiter shade of pale.
Just like that famously incomprehensible Hammond-laced earworm mentioned above and referenced in the title of this post, the Alfa Romeo 1750 GT Veloce came out in 1967. It was a new and improved version of the Giulia-based Bertone coupé that Alfa Romeo had been peddling since late 1963 (cue Oh What A Night by the Four Seasons) and could probably be called the definitive version of the breed.
These Bertone coupés are tricky to pin down, in a way. First, there’s the matter of how to name them. If you call them “GTV” or “GT Veloce,” you run the risk of confusing these with their successors, the wedgier fastbacks of the ‘70s’ and ‘80s. Besides, not all of these were of the Veloce kind. You could go full-on Alfista and call them “105/115 coupés,” but that’s quite a lame name. Some call them Giulia GT coupés, or Bertone coupés, but what of the GTCs?
Part of the issue is that over its relatively long life, the Alfa Bertone GT (that’s how I like to call these) came in a bewildering array of versions. The original cars (top left), officially named Giulia Sprint GT, initially had a 105hp 1.6 litre, but soon a Junior model with a 1.3 was added to the range. Said Junior (bottom left) evolved in its own corner, apart from its fraternal twin, and kept the dual headlamps for a long time after the senior model switched to quads and the 1.8 litre engine for MY 1968. Finally, the coupé graduated to 2 litres and bigger taillights circa 1971 (top right) and carried on till 1977. The rarest of the lot was the 1964-66 GTC cabriolet (bottom right): only about 1000 units were built by Touring before the coachbuilder went bust. To top it all off, aluminium-bodied GTA versions of some of the above were also made for racing.
Some of the Tipo 105 famiglia (only 1600s and 1750s present)
So even calling these “Alfa Bertone GT” is kind of wrong, in that the drop-tops were made by another carrozzeria. But if we focus on the 99.5% of cars that were indeed made by Bertone, and ignore the Junior Zagato (top left), which were technically identical but stylistically completely different, not to mention the immortal PininFarina Spider (top right), the Giulia saloons and their rare coachbuilt wagon versions (middle), as well as the handful of specials, racers and prototypes using the same platform, such as the Zagato TZ (bottom right, about 100 made) or the one-off 1968 Italdesign study that would eventually lead to the second-gen GTV (bottom left). Not shown here, but the 105 floorpan was even used for the sexy and flawed V8-powered Montreal.
The berlinas were never my cup of espresso; if pushed, I’d prefer the 1750/2000’s less fussy styling and better performance. All the other iterations of the Tipo 105 were lovely to behold, and thanks to the famous Alfa twin cam engine, all were spirited performers. The 105’s underpinnings were an evolution of the Giulietta, which debuted back in 1954. Given that the Spider lasted all the way to the ‘90s, the platform’s longevity is impressive.
So what do we have on the 1750, which timeline-wise is kind of smack-dab in the middle of the genus Giulia? Something of a happy medium. Disc brakes on all four corners, wider 14-inch wheels than the previous models’ 15-inchers and the suspension was overhauled compared to previous Giulias. It was still the same coil-sprung double-wishbone independent front end and coil-sprung live rear axle, but now an anti-roll bar was added to the driving wheels. This all helped make the car feel more sure-footed than previous iterations.
The chassis’ improvements were called for because of the bigger and more powerful engine, which went from 1570cc and 109hp @ 6000rpm on the 1965-67 Veloce coupé to 1779cc and 118hp @ 5500 rpm on our feature car. The five-speed manual gearbox did not change – it did not need to. The extra cavalry helped turn the Bertone coupé into a true ‘60s GT, with a max speed just shy of 200kph and a 0-100kph time below 10 seconds.
Another place where the 1750 showed a marked improvement was the interior. The earlier cars had a fine dash, but Alfa completely revamped it and made this classic woodgrain-clad twin dial / console affair that looked so good, even a missing door card couldn’t ruin it. New bucket seats were also part of the deal.
Facelifts, whether automotive or other, are rarely a good thing. When Giugiaro penned the Alfa coupé’s shape in the early ‘60s, he had done Bertone proud. It was a thoroughly clean and cohesive shape that aged very well. The only slight oddity was the front end, which had that intriguing “step” feature just above the grille. I’m not sure who smoothed out that crease from the Bertone GT’s face, as I don’t think Giugiaro was no longer involved by that point, but it was a masterfully done piece of ironing. Repositioning the turn signals to the bumper also eliminated some of the original design’s finickiness. The quad headlamps help in giving the car a more purposeful look, though the Junior 1300’s simpler two-eyed gaze is not unappealing.
Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV paint options for 1969
And so we come back to the matter of colour. From what one can empirically glance at on The Google, red and ochre yellow are the most popular hues for these cars – at least these days. One of the metallic grays is also pretty common, unfortunately. To my eyes, that’s the least effective of the bunch. Darker tones, such as navy blue, pine green or maroon, suit the car very well too. But dark colours almost always work well on older cars.
White Bertone GTs like this one are not as usual, though this is not necessarily the case for Giulia saloons, for instance. Assuming the car came from the factory this way (and given the interior shot we saw, that’s pretty likely), it’s a true survivor: many were repainted resale red or obvious ochre.
This one remained untainted and un-tinted, pristine. Could this be one of sixteen vestal virgins Procol Harum sang about? How prescient of them. Obscure psychedelic rock lyrics aside, it’s a testament to Giugiaro’s talent that this car, at first just ghostly, still manages to look this gorgeous in this most unforgivingly pale of shades.
Related posts:
Cohort Classic: 1969 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300Ti – Nice Alfa!, by Roger Carr
CC Capsule: 1967 Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior – Little Red Booster, by T87
Dash-Cam Outtake: Alfa Romeo GT 1600 Junior, by Yohai71
The 1750 is peak Alfa Romeo.
GTV, Berlina. Shut up and take my money.
Beautiful pictures and prose, as per your usual. I am actually a fan of this shade of dove gray (dark white?), and I think it looks good on this car. Flawless style from Bertone. One thing that strikes me about many Italian cars of this era is how a proliferation of body styles and configurations, none of which look like each other, are considered all part of the same model or line.
Bravo – well done.
I’d definitely turn cartwheels across the floor for that shape, and the interior details. 😂
Some colors show off certain body lines better than others, and I think this one definitely does the Alfa justice.
This particular Alfa looks gorgeous in any color. My favorite is dark red with a tan interior.
From the top picture, I couldn’t see your point in the text, as it looked a light gray and not white. The rest of the pictures show that there’s a pretty significant amount of gray in that white, compared to white objects around it. I like it. But then I’m a fan of white, although i prefer some color in it like this one. Very nice.
But then true white was almost never seen back then. I loved the ivory white of my mid-60s VWs. Looked so deep and rich when polished and waxed. But then in the early 80s or so, stark white came along. I struggled with the whiteness of my W124 300E. And monochrome white was a huge fad, with all the trim and wheels the same stark white. Did not like…
I’ve ended up with three white cars. Not really by design; the xB was the rare 5-speed available at that time, the TSX was also the only one available in the whole PNW at the time, and the Promaster was of course intended to be a plumber’s van. And is much cooler in the summer than the fashionable dark gray and black vans; I can’t even imagine being in one.
Back to the non-white subject matter at hand: a very fine specimen. And yes, I love it in that whiter shade of pale, which actually describes it better than just “white”.
I agree with you Paul that the subject GTV is not white. I bought a factory white 1750 GTV in 1969 and followed it with a beige grey 1969 1750 GTV. Both were original factory colours. The GTV in these photos is definitely the beige grey colour. My recollection of the shades is very clear. The factory colour charts need to be taken with a big pinch of salt – they are not even close to an actual representation of the colours in real life. I followed the beige GTV with a pale primrose yellow 1969 GTV – a very rare and pretty colour.
Not-quite-white, as Paul said. The black interior lets it down, just as a matter of opinion this would look 100% better with a red interior (assuming the usual European treatment of an always-black upper dash and always-white headliner); if it were on Detroit iron with a fully-color-coordinated interior in that slightly shimmery vinyl, swimming-pool-effect blue or turquoise would also look great with this color.
Gorgeous car, as so many Alfas are. I have a Matchbox version of this in white and a 1:18 scale GTA in red.
Regarding the color: I’ve been struggling with this exact idea this week. In my ongoing search for a first-gen Riviera, I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of the nicer ones for sale are white. The only cars I’ve ever loved in white have been early Corvettes and Shelby Mustangs, but now I’m wondering if white’s all that bad. I’ve passed up several Rivs because of it…This Alfa certainly makes a case for it.
Admittedly I’m a fan of white, although not on all cars. But whenever I see a gen1 Riviera in my mind’s eye, it’s either white, or possibly silver. And never a dark color.
Something about the fine bright trim accents on the Riviera really set off the white color perfectly.
FWIW, I think a disproportionate number of them came in those two colors. I prefer the white.
For a long time, I wanted a silver one, but now I’ve been leaning toward Marlin Blue or Diplomat Blue (medium and dark). But how often do they show up for sale? Unfortunately, I can’t go order one, so unless I want to wait around forever, I might have to look at other options. I think the only color I’d be dead set against is beige.
Buy a white one and have it painted or wrapped the exact color you like!
Personally, I’m OK, no more, with the colour (indigo grey on the chart?) and would almost always go for an Alfa in red, or at squeeze, lemon in the correct shape. But, personal taste and all that.
But which ever colour, this has to be one of my favourite and one of the greatest cars of the 1960s – just seeing that emblem and “1750” that script off the boot lid gets me smiling, though I prefer the simplicity and purity of the single headlamp set up.
Maybe it was from the 1950s underneath, but it was still competitive in the 1970s, and that engine lasted until the 1990s one way and another as well.
Great spot.
I had a 1969 Berlina (white) and it was one of my all-time favorites. I bought it in Toronto in 1973 and it had the large and small headlights like this car. The high beams were odd. The large lamps were for low beam and were single filament. The smaller inner ones were for high beam, also single filament. So on high beam only the inner lights were on. Evidently there was some regulation limiting the allowable size for having 4 lamps on. I had planned to change the large lamps to be low and high, but never got around to it.
I did not know about the wagon version. Now I want one.
To me, the Bertone GTV is the most beautiful series-production postwar Alfa.
There’s not a bad line to be seen.
They’ve rocketed up in value over the last 5 years; what used to be a $20K car is now $50-60K. There’s a US-Model 2000 GTV on Hemmings (in Europe) with 15,000 miles, priced at $90,000.