About ten years ago I went to inspect in person a car like this, painted in silver, and I was stunned by the dark brown leather interior. The owner told me about this almost mythical “Lusso” specification I had never heard of; at the time I honestly thought it was an urban legend, until I saw this other car. My ignorance has just been given a very elegant lesson.

Born in the mid-Sixties as the evolution of the first Giulia Sprint GT, the GT Veloce received the 1.6-litre all-alloy twin-cam with improved breathing, good for around 109 hp and paired with a five-speed gearbox – serious numbers for a compact coupé of the time. Light, well balanced and communicative, it quickly became the car of choice for young enthusiasts, club racers and gentleman drivers who wanted something more refined than a basic sports car but just as involving on a mountain road.

The example we are looking at pushes all the right buttons for anyone who cares about originality. It’s a 1967 “Lusso” version, fully restored over three years with matching-numbers mechanicals and obsessive attention to period details. The colour combination alone basically makes it a unicorn: Blu Chiaro Metallizzato with Testa di Moro leather, a factory shade chosen by very few buyers when new, which today gives the car a quiet, discreet elegance far from the more obvious red. We also like the way the restoration has been documented: photographs, invoices, Alfa Romeo Certificate of Origin, original logbook and complementary papers all travel with the car, turning it into a complete “package” of history rather than just a shiny object. A Giulia Sprint GT Veloce 1600 this correct, in such a rare colour scheme, sits in that sweet spot between design icon, driver’s car and long-term collectible. It’s the kind of coupé we’d open the garage for even when we have no time to drive – just to enjoy looking at it. Find it for sale at €68,000 (today $78,000) here in Lusciano, Italy.