Alfa Romeo advertisements: the 1960s.

2010 marks Alfa Romeo's 100th anniversary and we thought an original way to celebrate it would be to dive into our archives and look at Alfa advertising over the years. Below is the first part of the series, the 1960s.

"Alfa Romeo has won more Grand Prix Championships than any other marque."

This Giulietta Spider ad was printed in 1961, the same year Alfa started importing cars to the U.S - Max Hoffman imported them prior to that. It explains that Alfa's expertise in racing goes into developing their cars and gives an overview of their lineup, including who designed the cars. The small print at the bottom reminds potential buyers of Alfa's overseas delivery plan.

"Now can we go back to doing more things for you and winning races?"

This 1966 ad features a Sprint GT but is focused on the Alfa Romeo company as a whole. The text summarizes the improvements that they've made in customer service such as shipping parts within 24 hours of receiving an order. To make servicing the cars easier they have added new dealers that went through a rigorous selection process. The ad features the "racing since 1911" slogan that can be found on most 1960s Alfa ads.

"The result is a car capable of over 105 miles per hour; 31 miles to the gallon."

In 1966 Alfa billed the Giulia TI as a "high performance, budget-priced car". The ad places it above the competition by mentioning some of the standard equipment that other companies feature as extra-cost options, such as a five-speed transmission, disc brakes and individually adjustable front seats. The end of the ad lists other cars in Alfa's lineup and makes a mention that detachable hardtops are available for all Spiders.


"By the way, the "V" stands for "Veloce." That's Italian for "Wow!"

The selling points Alfa uses in this 1966 GTV ad are similar to the ones in the Giulia TI ad above. It goes over the features that enable the GTV to stand out in its class: standard disc brakes, a fully-synchronized five-speed transmission and dual overhead cams, to name a few. The ad ends with a note to visit your nearest dealer and have them show you why the GTV is "the smartest distance between two points."

"With Alfa, good looks are never enough."

The Duetto was making its debut on the U.S. market when this ad was printed in 1967. The car had previously been featured in a comparison test by Car & Driver and Alfa references it in the ad, quoting positive things said about the car such as "the most comfortable" and "far-superior road-holding." A "sleek hardtop" is an available option.



"You'd do well to end up at your Alfa dealer for a test-run."

Alfa again draws on their racing heritage for this 1969 Berlina ad. The first part of it boasts that the car's 112mph top speed is achieved thanks to a "true racing-car engine". Next they talk about the Bertone-styled exterior that they blended with a luxurious interior, making the Berlina a unique vehicle available for $1,000 less than its competitors.

Photo credit: all ads were scanned for Ran When Parked out of period documents. Email us at ranwhenparked -at- hotmail -dot- com for high-resolution scans.