Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce 1957
Chassis 1493*04458, Engine 1315*44335
Re-bodied and Race Prepared by Zagato

The Giuliettas ('Giuliette,' plural in Italian) SVZ date from 1956 to 1960 for a total number of 16 documented cars. They were prepared by by Zagato following special orders by racers of the time who would purchase from Alfa Romeo a complete Giulietta Sprint Veloce (SV) and deliver it in running conditions to Zagato to remove the original body, replace it with a very light aluminum body, and prepare the engine for racing (see Refs. [1-3] of Illustrations).

Because of these special features, Giuliettas SVZ did win all races of the period in their class and contributed greatly to the creation of the Zagato name and marque. These original SVZ are essentially all different among each other in various details since they were made individually by hand following special orders. In fact, the double bubble, covered headlights, and other features of the Giulietta SVZ 4458 were included on request by Cannara.

Beginning from 1961, Alfa Romeo supplied to Zagato Giulietta rolling chassis and this started the first series of Giulietta Sprint Zagato (SZ), that was followed later by a second series (see Refs. [4-7] of Illustrations).

The year 1956 saw the first SVZ 1944 ordered without double bubble by Massimo Leto di Priolo, a known Italian nobleman and racer.

in 1957 Zagato produced three SVZ following orders by Egidio Gozza (# 1613), Carlo Mario Abate (# 2158), and Jean Pierre Schild (chassis unknown) [1].

In 1958-1959 Zagato produced six SVZ for: A. Pace (# 1849), Sergio Pedrettio (# 3907), Miro Tosselli (# 2289), Sergio Bettoia (# 2308), SCPAR Race Team Lugano (# 2348) and Sergio Cannara (# 4458). None of these SVZ had the double bubble except # 4458 [1].

In 1959-1960 Zagato produced six known additional SVZ # 4249, 4717, 6184, 4718 3249, and 4657. None of them had the double bubble [1]. It appears that Zagato did not stamp the body of the SVZ because their construction was done following isolated requests by racers. By contrast, Zagato did indeed stamp with ID numbers in the body of the SZ, because they belong to a regular production series.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GIULIETTA SVZ 4458

The Giulietta Sprint Veloce 4458 was purchased by the Italian racer Sergio Cannara on May 20, 1957, titled with plate number PR 36055, and delivered to Zagato in late 1957 to replace the steel body with a lightweight aluminum body and for race preparation of the engine.

Since he was a tall man [1.8 meters height], Sergio Cannara requested the double bubble, otherwise he would not fit in the car. Hence, the Giulietta SVZ 4458 is the only kniwn SVZ with the double bubble. Covered headlights are another documented feature of the Giulietta SVZ 4458 because added following Cannara's special order. Cannara used the Giulietta SVZ 4458 in various races of the time [see the record above]. The Giulietta SVZ 4458 was sold on February 6, 1960, to Clelia Rossi, a known lady racer of the time from Naples, who titled the car with plate number SA 38082, repainted the car in red, and used the car for various races including the 1960 Targa Florio, for which race the car was apparently fitted with an oversized water pump that still exists in the current car, as shown by the low engine temperature for summer driving in Florida.

A view of the oversized water pump apparently installed in conjunction with the 1960 Targa Florio.

The Giulietta SVZ 4458 was then sold on July 7 ,1961 to Antonio Covino, titled with plate number NA 173748, and raced. In 1961 or 1962, the Giulietta SVZ 4458 capsized during a race with damages still visible in the upper frame of the driver's door. In view of the abused engine during the Targa Florio, the Giulietta SVZ 4458 was "rottamata" (an Italian word indicating that the cart was placed on a junk yard).

Views of the damage on of the Giulietta in the frame of the driver's door that was apparently caused by the capsizing of the Giulietta SVZ 4458 in that final race in 1961.

The Giulietta SVZ 4458 was rediscovered in mid 1990s by Angelo Strada (a known Italian gentleman and classcic car dealer) with a number of "race injuries," including evidence of capsizing, broken windows, lack of weber carburetors and other damages that were fixed in the restoration. In particular, Strada instructed the body shop to replace the original and lost rolling windows with the sliding windows that exist in the present car. The decision was taken on grounds that the aluminum doors were not sufficiently strong to sustain cranking windows. Strada also installed the proper Weber carburetors and took care of other details..

A view of the sliding windows requested by Angelo Strada to the restoration shop for the SVZ # 4458 in lieu of the original cranking windows.

A view of the Weber carburetors installed by Angelo Strada.

Following the completion of the restoration in 1997, Angelo Strada kept the restore Giulietta SVZ 4458 in his classic car collection. The Giulietta SVZ 4458 was purchased by Ruggero and Carla Santilli from Florida; imported in the USA in running conditions in August 2007.

Soon following its arrival in Florida on September 8, 2007, Ruggero and Carla Santilli requested a title of the Giulietta 4458 to the Registry of Motor Vehicles in Tarpon Springs, Florida but, since the car entered the U.S.A. without a foreign registration, the Registry of Motor Vehicles conducted an extensive international search to ascertain whether there was any registration record for a Giulietta SVZ 4458. The car was finally titled on 10/4/2007 having passed the RMV requirements, including the absence of other registration for the Giulietta 4458.

RESTORATION OF THE GIULIETTA SVZ 4458

BRAKE RESTORATION: The restoration of the brakes of the Giulietta SVZ 4458
also to the original race conditions has been done in the IU.S.A. in mid 2022
by EiBell Performance of Clearwater, Florida (Office 727 573 0911
Cell. 407 595 9759), including the machining of the
drums, resurfacing of the brake padfs, etc., per following itemization and cost

NOTE: Following some use, brakes have to be adjusted to maximize pedal pressure.

First uploaded: December 19, 2007. Revised December 2012 and Sewptember 29, 2020. http://www.i-b-r.org/Alfa-Romeo-Giulietta-Sprint-Veloce-Zagato-4458.htm