GT Veloce in the economic and competitive pressures of the age.

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

In AD7-081 Sidney Gage says kind things about the GT Veloce evolution thread,
thank you. But he ends "And has anyone mentioned the cloisonne quadrifolio
badge on the C pillar which ended in 1967? Trump card."

Yes, I think it has been mentioned, at least obliquely, but it didn't end in
'67. It ended with the last of the 1750s in 1971, morphing into a snake badge
with the 2000. And it had started with the Sprint GT Veloce, which was
introduced at the Geneva motor show in March 1966, the sources say, not with
the Sprint GT which was launched September 9th (anniversary!) 1963.
Personally, I am strongly partial to understatement on badging, logos and the
like, and strongly partial to purity of form, and like the cars much better
without the badges. Content to be in a minority on that.

Sid Gage mentions the competitive pressures of "'69-'74: BMW 1600 and 2002,
Porsche 912, VW/Porsche 914, Fiat 124 (indeed), Datsun 2000 and 240Z, and
more." The literature of the period suggests that a very major part of the
coupe's appeal in northern European markets (apart from the qualities it
shared with the T.I. and later 105 sedans) was its combination of refined and
sophisticated form with a genuine two adults + two bambini + luggage capacity,
which was not really offered by most of the cars he mentions. 

Indeed, "The playing field changed dramatically for auto makers between 1967
and 1975" for the reasons he mentioned, but I'm not sure just where that takes
us. In round numbers, however, the books give
21,700 Sprint GT (1963-1965)
14,250 Sprint GT Veloce(1965-1968)
106,350 Giulia GT Juniors (1300 & 1600) (1966-1975) 
47,500 1750 GT Veloces (1967-1972)
32,300 2000 GT Veloces (1971-1975) 

However bad the global recession in the 1970-71 period may have been it
doesn't seem to have been particularly harmful for the 105/115 cars. Indeed,
the combined figures for the Juniors and 1750s seem very healthy compared to
those for the Sprint GT Veloce.

Fuller numbers in the books, of course, for those who enjoy analysis.
Displacement popularity curves, stepnose totals, and price variants, as well
as the effects of competition of newer cars (including the Alfettas) are open
to endless interpretations of correlations, and lots of good clean fun.

John

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