Giulia, 60 years old and drawn by the wind

27 June, 2022

'The wind designed it' is not just a clever slogan: the giulia was designed thanks to the wind tunnel at poli di torino

"It looks like a crashed car," someone said, on 27 June 60 years agoat the sight of the Giulia: the truncated tail of Alfa Romeo's new car - destined to replace the Giulietta - had made more than one Alfista turn up his nose.

Fortunately, an ingenious slogan took care of bringing the Giulia into history: Designed by the wind. In fact, the Giulia was the first car to be studied inside the wind tunnel of the Turin Polytechnic!

Not just design: the Giulia, produced between the Arese and Portello plants from 1962, had a 1,570 cc four-cylinder engine with four valves per cylinder and was equipped with a five-speed gearbox, which was also not positioned on the steering wheel - a rarity in those days.

A curiosity: the Giulia was initially produced at Portello, but its fate was linked to the new (nascent) Arese plant. It was indeed at Arese that the first Giulia GT was produced, but a year later, in 1963.

Beyond hasty judgements, the Giulia already had the makings of an iconic car. That it was drawn by the wind was not just a figure of speech: its lines, so particular, served to give it an aerodynamics unbeatable for a car of that category, while the mechanics were so functional that they formed the basis, in the years that followed, for many other Alfa Romeo models.

THE GIULIA 1300 DIRECTLY FROM THE COZZI.LAB ARCHIVE

The Giulia was produced until 1977 for a total of around one million units. In 2016, a new Giulia returned to the market, winning the hearts of Alfisti, although over the decades many models were derivations of the Giulia: the Quadrifoglio, the Giulia Super, the GT, GTA, GT1300 Junior and the Spider.

Many people remember her for a very simple reason: for a long time, in fact, the Giulia was used by the police and Carabinieri, being elected 'favourite car' even by criminals for daring escapes from the law. It thus became iconic on the road, but also on film, appearing in films such as Piedone lo sbirro (1973), in the trilogy of Commissario Betti, in The italian job (1969) and in the film Super rapina a Milano (1964) with Adriano Celentano.

Our museum, of course, has more than one Giulia: the Giulia SS from 1967, the red Giulia Sprint from 1963, the Giulia spider 1600 also from 1963 and the new Giulia Super from 1976 as well as the super star: the grey Giulia TI Super, a unique piece!

And now a quiz for real enthusiasts: 

How many people was the Giulia homologated for? And why?

  1. For 4 people: one seat has been sacrificed to make it more aerodynamic
  2. For 5 people: because it was the maximum set by law
  3. For 6 people: because instead of a double seat it had a sofa in the front seats

We look forward to hearing from you on Facebook (and wishing Giulia well!).