One to Buy: 1968 Alfa Romeo 1300 Sprint GTA Junior
17 months after the Bertone-bodied Tipo 105 Giulia Sprint GT Coupe was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Alfa Romeo released a tricked-out hot rod conceived to pave the way for the most extreme Group 2 Touring Car possible.
Unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show in February 1965, the comprehensively uprated GTA was homologated on June 2nd following the completion of the first 500 examples. Between 1966 and 1968, the 1.6-litre GTA went on to win the European Touring Car Championship for three straight seasons.
In the midst of that 1968 campaign, Alfa Romeo also began production of a 1.3-litre GTA to sell alongside the original version. Dubbed the GTA 1300 Junior, this new smaller engined variant enabled Alfa Romeo to compete in the under 1300cc category and similarly went on to achieve great success.
The majority of the circa 500 Tipo 105 Giulia Sprint GTAs built to 1300 Junior specification were completed to Corsa trim with less than 200 reputedly sold as road-going Stradales.
Of these Stradales, many have subsequently been converted to competition trim for historic racing so to find an unmolested example in its original specification is rare. However, just such a machine is currently on offer at the VSOC showroom in Sassenheim, The Netherlands.
Completed on June 21st 1968 in Rosso Alfa with Skai Nero upholstery, chassis AR775835 was retained by its first owner, Sig. Sante in Velletri, Rome, until January 1976. By 2002 the car had passed through the hands of just three more Italian owners at which point it was exported to Japan where it resided for 14 years.
Today, this wonderful numbers matching GTA Junior is being offered with a Certificato di Origine from Alfa Romeo, Automobile Club d’Italia homologation papers and Italian registration records plus brochures, instruction books and manuals.
Reprinted below is VSOC’s description:
According to the Centro Documentazione Alfa Romeo, this specific Alfa Romeo GTA 1300 Junior was produced on the 21th of June in 1968 and sold to Velletri (near Rome), Italy. The car was distributed by Alfa Romeo dealer Palombo & C. srl and sold to its first owner Mr. Sante for the price of 1.595.000 Italian Lire.
Mr. Sante kept the car until the 23th of January 1976 when he sold it to Mr. R. Cesare from Velletri
Just a month later, the car was sold to Mr. Enzo, also from Velletri, who kept the car 6 years.
In October 1982, this GTA was bought by the distributor Palombo & C. srl. In 2002 the car was still owned by Palombo and still had its first Italian registration number (RomaD07190).
In 2002 the car was exported to Japan.
The car was first registered in Japan in May 2003. The car was then owned by a Mr. Yuuko (or Hiroko?) Torii from Nishio-city, Aichi Prefecture. The last Japanese owner was Cristal Eight from Yashio-City, Saitama Prefecture.
On the 7th of August in 2016, the car was exported back to Europe for the current owner. The car was then registered in Germany of which the TUV records are on file. The owner drove the car only a few times and the car was carefully stored in his collection until now. In 2011 mileage was only 94.100 km. Now recorded mileage is 97.100 km.
We are pleased to offer you this wonderful very early GTA 1300 Junior on behalf of its owner. It is no secret that we love Alfa Romeo at VSOC and this car ticks all the right boxes. The car is remarkably original, both the exterior and interior are in wonderful condition. The panel fit is correct and the old dealer sticker is still on the rear bumper! The car has a strong engine and the gearbox is shifting smoothly. Handling of the car is razor sharp and the engine sound is something which can only be created by Italians..
This wonderful GTA has a nice ownership history and has obviously been well taken care of. In the file is a ‘Certificato di Origine’ from Alfa Romeo, Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI) homologation papers, Italian registration records and export documents, brochures, instruction books and manuals (see pictures).
Dutch registered and presented as ordered new in ‘Rosso Alfa’ with a Skai Nero (black) interior. Will you be the new caretaker?
