1975-'79 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT/Sprint Veloce

You can be forgiven if you associate the Alfa Romeo name with high-end sedans and SUVs. Their recent reentry into the U.S. market seeks to trade on an ancient, storied, and characterful history while quietly glossing over the multitude of reasons (build quality issues, metal quality issues, mechanical issues, any of which are unforgiveable when paying premium prices) that drove the brand from our shores in the first place. But while larger sedans have been part of Alfa Romeo’s makeup for decades, there was a time when Alfa Romeo was synonymous with small, high-spirited coupes, brimming with technical innovation and pure driving pleasure. Enter Alfa’s Alfetta GT.

Launched in Italy mid-1974, but held out of the United States until late in the 1975 model year, the Alfetta GT was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro out of his Italdesign styling house. The general styling themes carried on from some of his earlier work (the Fiat Dino and the Isuzu 117 come to mind). Giugiaro later disowned it when Alfa changed some of his details, like his pop-up headlamps. The result was controversial among Alfisti and the general public: Some saw it as a sporting, extroverted statement from Alfa, all curves and undulations, while one magazine uncharitably described it as “unbalanced.” Some wondered about the hatchback; couldn’t the coupe have had a proper trunk?

Under the hood, the classic all-aluminum DOHC engine was of the same basic 1300/1600/1750/2000 architecture that had been around since