Alfa Romeo Giulietta (116)
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The Alfa Romeo Giulietta (Tipo 116, Italian for Type 116) is a small executive
saloon car A sedan or saloon (British English) is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo. The first recorded use of the word "sedan" in reference to an automobile body occurred in 19 ...
manufactured by Italian car maker
Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
from 1977 to 1985. The car was introduced in November 1977 and while it took its name from the original Giulietta of 1954 to 1965, it was a new design based on the
Alfa Romeo Alfetta The Alfa Romeo Alfetta (Type 116) is a front-engine, five-passenger sedan and fastback coupé manufactured and marketed by Alfa Romeo from 1972 to 1987 with a production total over 400,000. The Alfetta was noted for the rear position of its ...
chassis (including its rear mounted transaxle). The Giulietta went through two facelifts, the first in 1981 and the second one in 1983. All Giuliettas used 5-speed
manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission (mechanics), transmission ...
s. While it was a conventional
three-box The configuration of a car body is typically determined by the layout of the engine, passenger and luggage compartments, which can be shared or separately articulated. A key design feature is the car's roof-supporting pillars, designated from fron ...
saloon/sedan body style, a defining point of difference was at the rear, where there was a short boot, and a small aerodynamic spoiler, integrated into the body. The Giulietta was only offered in saloon form, but there were several estate/station wagon conversions made. First out was Moretti, whose conversion appeared in the first half of 1978.


History


First series

The Giulietta was launched in November 1977. Two models were available: Giulietta 1.3, with an oversquare 1357 cc engine, and Giulietta 1.6, with a 1570 cc engine, both Alfa Romeo Twin Cam
inline-four A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the e ...
s fed by two twin-choke
carburettor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meterin ...
s. In April 1979, just under two years later, Giulietta 1.8 with a 1779 cc engine was added, and in May of the following year the Giulietta Super with a 2-litre engine (1962 cc, ) appeared. The Giulietta was unusual in that the
tachometer A tachometer (revolution-counter, tach, rev-counter, RPM gauge) is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute (RPM) on a calibrated anal ...
rotated counter-clockwise, meeting the speedometer needle at the top, rather than the usual clockwise movement.


Second series

In summer of 1981, the Giulietta received a minor
facelift A facelift, technically known as a rhytidectomy (from the Ancient Greek () "wrinkle", and () "excision", the surgical removal of wrinkles), is a type of cosmetic surgery procedure used to give a more youthful facial appearance. There are mul ...
, externally and internally, while the engines remained the same. The car got plastic protection around the lower body, while interior modifications included a new steering wheel and new seats. The instrument panel and the centre armrest were also modified. The
Autodelta Autodelta SpA was the name of Alfa Romeo's competition department. Established in 1961 as Auto-Delta, the company was started by Carlo Chiti and Lodovico Chizzola, former Alfa Romeo and Ferrari engineers. The team was officially made a departm ...
-produced Giulietta 2.0 Turbo Autodelta (175 PS) was introduced at the 1982
Paris motor show The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...
. This special version had a
turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
1,962 cc engine. The production Giulietta Turbodelta version had and a KKK turbocharger coupled with two double-barrel Weber
carburettor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meterin ...
s. All turbo versions were black with red interior; only 361 were produced. In the same year, the petrol-engined Giulietta 2.0 Ti and the Giulietta Turbodiesel ( VM) 1995 cc version with were also introduced, going on sale in early 1983. In 1982, Alfetta and Giulietta turbodiesels achieved seven world speed records over 5/10/25/50 thousand kilometres and 5/10/25 thousand miles at Nardò (Lecce). While one of the quickest diesels in its category at the time, the Giulietta was rather costly and suffered from a very forward weight distribution (56.9 per cent over the front wheels).


Third series

In late 1983, the "84" Giulietta (Series 3) was presented, with minor differences in appearance, bumpers were redesigned and the dashboard was significantly re-designed, the instruments changed slightly and the rear seat in some versions changed its form. Mechanically it was basically the same, with minor modifications to the brake booster and inlet manifold on some versions. The largest external market for the Giulietta was
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, where a very successful TV advertising campaign by Alfa Romeo produced good sales between 1981 and 1984. Central to this campaign was emphasis of the Giulietta's new 'aerodynamic' line, which was carried over to the 75, and then the 33. The Giulietta was the 'last hurrah' for Alfa in South Africa before the appearance of the 164 and 156 models in the 1990s In 1985, after around 380,000 Giuliettas had been built, it was replaced by the
Alfa Romeo 75 The Alfa Romeo 75 (Type 161, 162B), sold in North America as the Milano, is a compact executive car produced by the Italian automaker Alfa Romeo between 1985 and 1992. The Alfa 75 was commercially quite successful: in only three years, 236,907 c ...
, which used much of the Alfetta/Giulietta underpinnings. File:GiuliettaTurbo.jpg, One of the 361 Giulietta Turbodeltas File:Giulietta Turbodelta.jpg, Rear view of a Giulietta Turbodelta


Engines


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alfa Romeo Giulietta (1977) Giulietta (1977) Sedans Rear-wheel-drive vehicles 1980s cars Cars introduced in 1977