The 1954 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint
In a bid to revive the economy after World War II, the Italian state industries board helped Alfa Romeo finance the development of the Giulietta by selling thousands of lottery tickets. There would be 500 winners who would receive a car. Unfortunately on the date of the draw, none of the cars had been completed.
The project was supposed to go to Ghia, but problems there meant they wouldn’t be able to deliver on time. So the project went to Bertone, with the final design penned by Franco Scaglione. The car was produced at Bertone’s Grugliasco plant near Turin.
Early Sprints were built by hand at Alfa Romeo and the bodywork was manufactured at Bertone. Ghia provided the interior and electrics. About 200, to possibly 1,000 cars were produced this way, with numerous cosmetic and mechanical differences from the cars built later on at Grugliasco.
The first Giulietta was introduced at the 1954 Turin Motor show as the Giulietta Sprint 2+2 coupe. It was a fantastic hit, selling 40,000 units over a 13 year production run.
