Ex-Jürgen End
1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA 1600
Coachwork by Carrozzeria Bertone
Chassis no. AR613552
Engine no. AR00502/A 18795

Introduced in 1965, the GTA (the 'A' stood for Alleggerita - lightened) was the official competition version of the Giulia Sprint GT and was produced in both road (stradale) and race (corsa) variants. The latter, as usual, was the responsibility of the factory's Autodelta competitions department, which had been founded in 1961 as an independent company by Carlo Chiti and Ludovico Chizzola, and subsequently absorbed by Alfa Romeo.

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; there no longer being 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 where Andrea de Adamich and Teodoro Zeccoli triumphed 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. For homologation 500 cars were made for racing and road use.

Chassis number '613552' left the factory on 18th June 1965 and was delivered new to Switzerland where it was registered to its first owner, Diego Poltera of Breganzona in the Ticino Canton, seven days later. The original colour scheme was white (as it is today) with black vinyl interior, which Poltera had changed to red upon delivery. In 1988 Poltera imported the Alfa into Italy and it was later sold to Swiss Alfa Romeo guru Max Roth.

'613552' was still in its original stradale configuration when it was sold to well-known German collector and Alfa Romeo enthusiast, Jürgen End, in 1992. End enjoyed the car in stradale configuration for many years. Only around 2002 he had the GTA prepared to corsa specification (and repainted in white) while retaining the original stradale components that had been removed. For nearly 25 years he entered the Alfa in the most prestigious historic events including the Tour Auto, Tour Espagne, Cento Ore, etc.
Extensive maintenance records on file (mostly from Alfa Romeo specialists Ital Auto in Germany) relating to the period of Jürgen End's ownership show that nearly €200,000 was spent on engine rebuilds, preparation and servicing to ensure that '613552' was among the most reliable and fastest GTAs, while in 2012 the car was stripped to bare metal and restored to the highest standards by Swiss marque expert, Ivo Salvadori.

Sold to the current owner in Belgium in 2016, this beautiful GTA 1600 has been fitted with another Alfa Romeo Type 105 competition engine to GTA specification, built specifically for historic rallying and tuned for increased torque at lower revs. The third to be fitted to the car, this engine producing some 180hp was built at a cost of €30,000 by Ital Auto in 2016. The car also comes with its original bare crankcase. The current owner has fitted Sparco seats for competition use (the original stradale seats come with the car).

Jürgen End was a very competitive driver, finishing high in the rankings in the Tour Auto in 2013 and 2015 with this GTA. The current owner too, has used the Alfa successfully and regularly and, as with all of his cars, it has been meticulously maintained. Bonhams has had the chance to drive this GTA and can confirm that it runs extremely well, with plentiful torque and an immediate response to the throttle. This remarkable GTA is one of the few left that retain their original bodyshell and, most importantly, is accompanied by its original crankcase and its original stradale components, enabling it to be returned to original specification should a future owner so desire.

Representing an exciting opportunity to acquire a fast and well-sorted GTA eligible for many of the most prestigious historic events, the car comes with the following:

Old FIVA pass and Deuvet Fahrzeugpass dated 1998
Copy of the old German Fahrzeugbrief in the name of Jürgen End
Spare keys
Copy of the old Swiss registration papers, cancelled in 1988
Engine dynamometer printout showing 184bhp in February 2017
Numerous invoices including Ital Auto bills for 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015
Copy of Tour Auto overall results
Classic Data Bewertung
Historical Technical Passport dated 2007
Old FIA Passport dated 1998 and 2015 (the latter was due to expire in 2025 but is no longer valid as the fuel tank has been replaced to satisfy the Belgian authorities' road-legality requirements).
Current Belgian registration documents

Surviving Alfa Romeo GTAs are rarely offered for sale and are much sought after in racing trim because of their continuing competitiveness in historic events. An appreciating modern classic and tremendous fun to drive, '613552' represents a rare opportunity to own a fully sorted and competitive example with known ownership history.