Produced from 1962-65, the Giulia Spider 1600 featured a larger, more powerful engine than the earlier Giulietta. The twin-cam, in-line four was available as the stock 92 horsepower motor depicted in the Italeri 1/24 scale Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 plastic model kit and a two-carburetor “veloce,” which made 112 horsepower.
Originally released by Protar in the mid-1990s, the kit has been released several times in both Giulia and Giulietta versions; from what I can tell, the only real difference between the kits is the hood. This release from Italeri appears unchanged, except the body parts are now molded in blue. Tooling, for the most part, has held up well with very little flash and minimal mold seams. Some of the details are a bit soft or simplified but remain satisfactory. Cartograf decals supply gauge faces for the dash and license plates from five European nations.
The nine-part engine assembly is broken down into typical left and right halves with a separate rocker cover, oil pan, front cover, and associated add-ons. The detail is decent for what can be seen, but if I were to build another, I’d replace the carburetor.
I started the chassis by gathering all the major components of the frame itself and gluing them together. This made adding the front suspension components a little more difficult, so you may want to stick with the sequence in the instructions. There are a few sink and ejector-pin marks that needed filling before I sprayed Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black as a base color. Suspension components were painted gloss black, and the exhaust received burnt metal. Real springs are provided for the shock absorbers.
I used flocking to simulate carpeting on the floor inside. No backs are provided for the seats, so I closed them with styrene sheet. The instructions show painting the dash panel black, but the pictures I found showed it to be body-colored. A nice touch is the separate chrome bezels for the gauges. With the decals added and a drop of clear gloss on top, the gauges look great. The side windows are molded in the full-up position, and while people do drive top down and windows up, it’s not the norm. So I cut them down flush with the top of the doors. There is a top-up option, and the fit is good. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything to hold it in place.
The body is molded with separate doors, hood, and trunk without any hinging mechanism or detail inside the trunk to be seen. I glued the doors and trunk lid in place to ensure proper fit. The body parts are molded in blue, but, and it may be cliché, I like my Italian sports cars red. After priming the body, I painted it with Cobra Motor Paints Red Wine (No. A.MIG-0315) topped with Cobra 2K clear. Large mold seams marred the bumpers, so I stripped the plating, sanded them smooth, and sprayed them with Alclad II Chrome (No. AC-107). The other chrome parts needed only minor touchups with a Molotow Liquid Chromepen.
Mating the body to the chassis was the most difficult part of the build. The fit is very tight, especially at the front of the door jams and dash. Slide the front in first and rotate the rear up and in, and it will snap into place.
All in all, I’m quite pleased with the finished product. The Italeri 1/24 scale Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider 1600 plastic model kit builds up well for a vintage tool. Yes, some cleanup and test-fitting were required, but nothing that can’t be overcome with just a couple of minutes of work. If you like vintage sports cars or are an Alfa fan, be sure to check this one out!