1968 FIA Alfa Romeo GTAm Replica

Road registered but eligible for top-level Race/Rally Events such as Tour Auto

2.0L High Torque MASS engine by Chris Connely

Race History from the 1970s. Championship winning Car

Fresh FIA HTP Papers. All safety equipment in date

Introduced in 1965 at the Amsterdam motor show, the GTA (the 'A' stood for alleggerita - lightened) was the official competition version of the Giulia Sprint GT. The model was produced in road and race variants, the latter, as usual, being the responsibility of Autodelta. Visually almost indistinguishable from the road-going Sprint GT, the GTA differed by virtue of its aluminium body panels, Plexiglas side and rear windows, and lightened interior fittings and trim. As a result, the GTA tipped the scales at around 200 kilograms lighter than the stock steel-bodied car. Alfa's classic twin-cam 1,570cc four underwent extensive modification for the GTA, the angle between the valves being reduced from 90 to 80 degrees and the valve sizes substantially increased, however, as there was no longer enough room between them for a central spark plug, a change was made to twin-plug ignition. In road trim, the revised engine produced 115bhp, with up to 170 horsepower available in race tune.The GTA made its racing debut on 20th March 1966 at Monza, Andrea de Adamich and Teodoro Zeccoli triumphing in the Jolly Club Four-Hour Race. From then on the Autodelta-prepared GTAs enjoyed outstanding success, winning the European Touring Car Championship three years running from 1966-68.

The following year, Alfa Romeo updated the concept in the form of the GTAm, which was based on the Giulia 1750 GT Veloce export model for the United States market. Equipped with SPICA mechanical fuel injection, the engine was enlarged to 1,985cc, bringing it closer to the 2-Litre class limit, and the GTAm made liberal use of lightweight glass fibre body panels and Plexiglas for the windows. The 'm' is commonly supposed to stand for 'maggiorata' (enlarged) though some believe GTAm stands for 'GT America'. Autodelta built 19 GTAm 'works' cars plus 21 'customer' cars for Group 2 racing between 1969 and 1971.

This example originally started its life as a 1750 GTV, then shortly afterwards was converted into a race car, and subsequently into a full-blown GTAm replica. Raced during the 1970s and 80s by Peter Cacciavello of Norfolk in the UK Alfa Romeo championship (which it is believed to have won), then purchased several years later by Ding Boston of Oxford University and completely restored over a number of years to a high standard and used for hill climbs and rallies. Purchased in 2016 by our vendor who, in August 2017, fitted the current high torque MASS engine at cost of £12,000.00 during a complete mechanical and cosmetic overhaul. During 2017/18 it raced at Snetterton and Spa in endurance races proving to be fast competitive and reliable.

The specification briefly comprises, 1962cc 185 bhp Mass engine by Chris Conoley, Lumenition ignition, Electric cooling fan, Lightweight alternator, Powervamp competition battery, Facet fuel pump, Aluminium foam-filled fuel tank, plate-type Limited Slip Differential, 5-speed period gearbox, Koni Competition suspension, telescopic dampers, Competition brakes 270 mm front and 267mm rear discs, cast iron calipers, Alfaholics Competition manifold and stainless steel exhaust , 13" x 9" lightweight period-style GTAm wheels, new 5.5 x 13 M section Michelin Historic tyres, Aluminium doors, Autodelta Lightweight Fibreglass boot, bonnet and wings, Perspex side windows, FIA Fabricage full rollcage, plumbed in extinguisher, and competition seats with full harnesses.

A pedigree FIA Race/Rally/Road car at a fraction of the cost of an original version.