Proyecto Alfa Romeo

In the year of 1984, I had the opportunity to buy an automobile from a friend, a Chevrolet Corvette convertible C3 1969. After several months I thought to build a car witch in Mexico and Spain is known as Mecánica Nacional and is similar to those that are known in the United States as Street Road but in this case is closer to the concept of Race Road.

After removing the body from the chassis, I started to think about different ideas: one was to use the body of a Volvo 544- two door Sedan- another one was to use the body of a DKW 1000 –two door hard-top- finally I chose to use the body of an Alfa Romeo Giulietta T.i. – four door Sedan.

These three cars are from the early and middle fifties; in order to keep this project according to what it was, the sports car and motor racing of that epoch, so appealing to me, in my childhood and youthfulness.

Finally I decided to use the last body taking in to consideration, its characteristics, sports appearance and its competition prestige. Remembering the racing tradition of the marque Alfa Romeo has (I saw them compete in multiple events one them the last Carrera Panamericana in 1954, which I barely remember and other important races in Mexico like the Circuito de los Fuertes at Puebla, the Mexico city race Racetrack, the Mexico city to Puebla Road race won by Javier De Velasco a friend of mine in 1962 driving an Alfa Romeo Giulietta T.I. and many more, during the fifties a sixties) I decided to use the Alfa Romeo body, because it has a beautiful and well proportionate front and rear end. This is a Sedan type of automobile, so it has a large space than the sports version therefore it will fit better the Corvette mechanics.

In order to use such body many modifications had to be made: one of them was to convert the four door Sedan into a two door Sedan, so the cabin had to be move rearward and the space was made to fit the engine that came from the Chevrolet Corvette convertible C3 of 5.7 liters -350 cubic inches- .

In order to keep the harmony and the esthetics of the design the height of the cabin had to be reduce by 8 cm (3.1 in) by cutting the B pillars, this modify the total height of the car. As we can see the wheel base of the Corvette and the Guilietta T.i are almost the same therefore what was cut from the cabin had to be added to the frontend and a little bit more due to the larger size of the corvette tires compare to the Alfa Romeo.

The mechanical aspect it was kept the original Corvette chassis, this mean all the suspension; transmission and engine attach points remain the same. The only modification to the chassis was the chopping of both ends of it, so the body can be install, this way the length of the car is almost the same as the original Giulietta. The radiator was custom made, to fit into the space as needed.The gas tank is constructed of aluminum and is located in the trunk, with a capacity of 82 liters (21.66 gallons) approximately, has a low-pressure electric fuel pump.

The passenger compartment is reduced by changing it from a four door Sedan in to a two door Sedan, then lowering it´s height by 8 cm (3.1 in). So the Giulietta became a two place plus one, the installation of two Recaro seats in gray leather make a good combination with the blue helvetia Alfa Romeo color of those years and the dash board painted in same blue. There is a small space behind the front seats and a 12 volt battery is placed there this way the weight, is better distributed so the result is a better center of gravity. We choose to use v.d.o instruments speedometer, tachometer, gas meter, oil pressure, water temperature, ammeter and three pilot lights: turn signal oil, pressure and high beam.

It is important to mention that the concepts, designs and materials used for this project correspond to the period of 1955-1970. Although this is an automobile unique, the way it mixes the European components with the Americans, I have always been guide by fashion, styles and the way of the construction utilized by sport cars of those years.

All began in August of 1987 with the purchase of Alfa Romeo Giulietta T.I. in junkyard of good friend of mine; this prevented the car to be junked, in order to be recycled saving it from destruction giving it an opportunity to have a second life.