The 12 best Alfa Romeo road cars ever made

Despite the correct answer to ‘what are the best Alfa Romeos?’ being ‘all of them’, in the interests of space there are undoubtedly some glaring omissions from this list. But a few of them – 33 Stradale, Alfetta, Montreal – have recently been covered elsewhere and you know by now how much we love the Stelvio Quadrifoglio. So here is our non-exhaustive list of the best Alfa Romeos from the past 110 years.

Alfa Romeo 20/30 ES – 1921

Not quite the car which started it all but the first to carry the full ‘Alfa Romeo’ name. The original ‘Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili’, set up in the old Darraq factory in Milan in 1910, was taken over by entrepreneur Nicola Romeo in 1915 who added his surname to the brand. The 20/30HP the company was making at the time was an update of the very first ALFA, the 24HP, before production was halted due to World War I.

Upon its resumption in 1920, the standard model was joined by the Alfa Romeo 20/30 ES. The ‘S’ stood for ‘Sport’ signifying the car’s sleek torpedo body and larger 4.2-litre straight-four engine producing 68PS. Intended for the rich, the 20/30 ES was three times the price of a Ford Model T and gave Enzo Ferrari his start in motor racing alongside Alberto Ascari.

Alfa Romeo 20/30 ES specifications

Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 – 1929

The 1750 designation has been used on a number of Alfa Romeos right up to the present day, usually signifying not just engine size but some measure of sporting intent separating it from lesser models. The originator was the second generation of the 6C series cars built between 1927 and 1954 and which could probably fill this list on their own. The 6C took as its starting point the hugely successful Alfa Romeo P2 Grand Prix car but due to changing regulations ditched its 2.0-litre straight-eight in favour of a 1.5-litre straight-six, hence the 6C name

Two years later, the larger capacity 1,752cc engine was introduced in the 6C 1750 which promptly won the Belgian, Spanish, Tunisian and Monza Grands Prix, the Mille Miglia, Brooklands Double Twelve and Ulster TT. Road cars were bodied by Zagato, Touring Superleggera and James Young of Britain and were available in ‘Compressore’ or supercharged guise.

Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 specifications

Alfa Romeo 8C – 1931

Like its sister car the 8C was named after its cylinder count, in this case referring to the Vittorio Jano designed straight-eight, an evolution of the one in the P2 Grand Prix car. Now with two four-cylinder integral block and head castings rather than four two-cylinder ones the engine was initially offered in 2.3-litre capacity with supercharging. Intended for racing, the 8C engine is the one which created the Alfa Romeo competition legend in both Grands Prix and sports car racing – it won the Le Mans 24 Hours for four straight years beginning in 1931 and was the engine which powered the world’s first single-seat Grand Prix car, the Monoposto Tipo B which won the 1932 season.

Listing all the 8C’s competition victories would require a separate article and Alfa Romeo originally insisted that the car would be for racing only. However, the company almost immediately relented and released it in either Lungo (long) or Corto (short) chassis forms to be clothed by legendary Italian carrozzeria as well as coachbuilders in France, Switzerland and the UK. The 2300 was followed by the even rarer, but equally successful 8C 2900 in 1935.

Alfa Romeo 8C (1931) specifications

Alfa Romeo 1900 – 1950

In the post-war rebuilding, the need for volume sales saw Alfa Romeo repositioning itself away from the coachbuilt, highly exclusive end of the market with the 1900. The company’s first true production design, it was also the first to be offered in left-hand-drive. It had been the practice of the sporting Italian marques to produce their cars in right-hand-drive because it allowed the driver to better place the car on tight, mountainous roads.

Taking its name from its 1.9-litre twin-cam engine the 1900 was available with a five-speed gearbox and independent front suspension. Alfa advertised it as ‘the family car that wins races’ thanks to its successes in the Targa Florio and Stella Alpina.

Although it was a monocoque design, Alfa Romeo’s general manager, Iginio Alessio, was concerned that this new form of engineering would cripple the Italian carrozzerias. So the chassis was designed to be rebodied and offerings were produced by Touring, Zagato, Pininfarina, Boano, Ghia, Vignale and of course Bertone, which used it as the basis for the famous BAT series of aerodynamic research concepts.

Alfa Romeo 1900 specifications

Alfa Romeo Giulietta – 1954

The Italian love of small, sporting saloons and coupes could be said to have its roots in the first cars to wear the Giulietta namebadge. Smaller than the 1900 series, the Giulietta range included a saloon, coupe, estate and spider, all powered by the first iteration of the famed Alfa Romeo Twin Cam. Designed by Giuseppe Busso, this advanced, all-alloy engine first appeared in 1.3-litre displacement and would be in production for 30 years.

The first of the family to be released in 1954 was the 2+2 Sprint coupe, designed and built by Bertone followed in 1955 by the four-door Berlina and convertible Spider. A rare coachbuilt estate version was dubbed the Giulietta Promiscua – we’ll leave you to puzzle out the etymology. A low-volume homologation variant, the 1959 Sprint Speciale, was penned by Franco Scaglione and the first 100, in ‘low-nose’ format, had a drag coefficient of just 0.28. 

Alfa Romeo Giulietta specifications

Alfa Romeo 2600 – 1962

Having successfully brought the Alfa Romeo name to the attention of a larger audience, a flagship was needed; enter the 2600. The 2600 used a brand new, all-alloy 2.6-litre straight-six – the last time that legendary configuration would appear in an Alfa Romeo. Launched first as a saloon with factory bodywork, it was quickly followed by a Touring designed convertible, the Spider, and a Bertone coupe, the Sprint.

Apart from the engine, the running gear was derived from the 1900 and, by now outdated, the Berlina saloon did not win many plaudits. However the handsome Sprint and stylish Spider were more popular as upmarket grand tourers and the former were used by the Caribinieri as high-speed pursuit cars to counter a spate of armed robberies in 1960s Italy. You only have to look at the stunningly handsome Spider to know it deserves its place among the Alfa greats.

Alfa Romeo 2600 specifications

Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA – 1965

Introduced in 1963, the Giulia Sprint GT was based on a shortened floorpan from the newly introduced Giulia compact executive saloon. In one of his earliest works for Bertone, the coupe was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro and was ground breaking for the way in which the glazing dictated the size and shape of the cabin and how the headlights were incorporated into the grille. Fitted with the now well established Twin Cam, the model also came as standard with a five-speed manual transmission and all-round disc brakes, both still a rarity in the early 1960s.

On sale in various updated forms for 14 years, it was the GTA model which cemented the car’s status. A racing special, the ‘A’ stood for ‘Alleggerita’, Italian for ‘lightened’. The car’s steel panels were replaced with aluminium and a number of the all-alloy engine’s components were replaced with magnesium. The engine itself, in 1.6-litre displacement received a twin-spark cylinder head and larger Weber carburettors. Although supplied like this from the factory, many owners too their cars to Autodelta, the race prep outfit which was by then wholly owned by Alfa Romeo. Autodelta later developed the wide-arched, fuel injected GTAm model.

Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA (1965) specifications

Alfa Romeo Duetto – 1966

This is the car I wish I’d never sold; a 1968 Duetto which was my daily driver for several years. Based on the same Giulia mechanicals as the aforementioned Sprint GT, the Spider was designed and built by Pininfarina as a rakish two-seater convertible. Known as the ‘boat tail’ spider to differentiate it from the later, square-backed Kamm tail Spiders, the car was one of the first to be designed with rudimentary crumple zones.

Launched in 1966, Alfa Romeo staged a nationwide competition to choose a new name for the car, the winning entry being ‘Deutto’ or ‘Duet’ proposed by Guidobaldo Trionfi of Brescia. Unfortunately trademark issues meant the car had to be sold as the Spider 1600 although the Duetto name is widely used. The Spider proved enduringly popular, receiving evolutionary upgrades through four different series it remained on sale until 1993.

Alfa Romeo Duetto specifications

Alfa Romeo 164 – 1987

Remember big, posh saloon cars? They were a thing for a long time before the world went SUV mad. In 1978, Alfa Romeo and Lancia, joined their by now parent company Fiat, and, for some reason, Saab, in agreeing to jointly develop a front-wheel-drive platform to compete in the sector. Known as the Type Four platform it underpinned the Fiat Croma, Lancia Thema (available with the Integrale’s turbocharged 16-valve motor), Saab 9000 and Alfa Romeo 164.

Although the Saab and Lancia were handsome, the 164’s Pininfarina styling was undoubtedly the pick of the bunch and it could be had with the now legendary Busso V6 engine. Turned sideways for the front-wheel-drive application the engine also gained the chromed inlet pipes which still attract intakes of breath whenever the bonnet is lifted. The top of the range Quadrifoglio Verde model received a 24-valve version of the engine in 1992 (I learned to drive in one) and a four-wheel-drive Q4 was offered from 1993 onwards to help tame the torque steer.

Alfa Romeo 164 specifications

Alfa Romeo SZ – 1989

Long before Ducati appropriated the name, the Alfa Romeo SZ was known colloquially as ‘il mostro’ or ‘monster’ for its in your face styling. Often wrongly attributed to Zagato (the car’s initials mean ‘Sprint Zagato’), the carrozzeria was responsible for building, not styling the car. It was a collaboration between the Fiat and Alfa Romeo in-house design studios and most of the sketches are signed by Antonio Castellana, a junior Fiat stylist. The car was one of the first designed using the digital CAD/CAM process and if you can remember 1980s computer graphics that may help to explain its sharp edges and flat surfaces.

Intended to recall Alfa Romeo’s racing heritage which by now was somewhat of a fading memory, the SZ was mechanically based on the Alfa Romeo 75 saloon. A Busso V6 drove the rear wheels with touring car derived suspension fettled by Giorgio Pianta, Fiat and Lancia rally crew chief; the car is capable of 1.4G in cornering. Strictly limited edition, just over 1,000 were built, followed up by a convertible version, the RZ, of which 278 were made.

Alfa Romeo SZ specifications

Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione – 2007

Another Alfa Romeo built to celebrate the company’s racing heritage, the 2007 8C Competizione was styled a great deal more traditionally by Wolfgang Egger of Centro Stile Alfa Romeo. Its name slightly confusingly is meant to reference the 6C Competizione model in which Juan Manuel Fangio competed in the Mille Miglia and which later won the Targa Florio.

The ‘8’ in the modern car’s name refers to the 450PS 4.7-litre Ferrari-built V8 under its shapely nose, giving it a top speed approaching 190mph. Other components were shared with fellow Fiat Group firm Maserati, and both the coupe and spider versions were limited to just 500 each. Like the cars which it harks back to, the carrozzeria got their hands on the car with Zagato producing a one-off Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corse for a German collector and Touring designing a modern version of their legendary Disco Volante for limited series production.

Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione specifications

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio – 2015

We are, unsurprisingly, massive fans of the modern day Giulia here at GRR. It certainly does justice to a legendary line up of sporting saloons, a breed we fear is under threat of extinction. The first production rear-wheel-drive Alfa Romeo saloon since the 75 went out of production in 1992, the Giulia proudly takes the fight to the established German, British and American players. And wins.

That is in no small part due to its twin-turbocharged. 2.9-litre V6, developed by Ferrari and producing 510PS, helping the Giulia Quadrifoglio set the saloon car lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. To celebrate Alfa Romeo’s 110 years, the company has created a new GTA and GTAm based on the Giulia Quadrifoglio, following everyone’s favourite formula of less weight and more power. Here’s to another century and more.

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio specifications