Harry Metcalfe is a very chatty man. God love him, he does like to talk about cars. But even he seems to be barreling through the garage portion of his latest video in order to get behind the wheel of this 1966 Alfa Romeo GT Veloce 1600.
The point of the video is to find out whether the smaller 1600 engine can hold a candle to the larger, later models. And the answer, to Metcalfe’s surprise, is yes.
Supple and soft, and yet somehow still focused, the Sprint GT Veloce manages to be exciting at low speeds. Metcalfe can be seen rowing through gears, revving the engine up into the high revs, giggling happily, all while not going very quickly at all. Metcalfe likens it to a naked sportbike with no faring.
“Once you’re in that gale at 70 mph on a motorbike, you don’t want to go any quicker,” says Metcalfe. “But if you get on today’s sports bike with the option of faring type things it feels nothing. You’re always going too fast than you really should be [sic].”
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And it manages it all with a 1.6-liter inline-four making just 107 hp. The 2.0-liter that Metcalfe mentions in the video, meanwhile, made a meaty 130 hp from its engine. That power was reached at a slightly lower 5,500 RPM, though. The 1.6, meanwhile, is a little rev-happier, reaching its peak output at 6,000 RPM.
The smaller engine was still powerful enough to get you all the way up to 115 mph and the experience doesn’t leave you feeling short-changed, says Metcalfe, even if you’re used to the larger engine.
Keeping it all in check, meanwhile, was a set of disc brakes that, apparently, still feel pretty good.
If Metcalfe has any complaints about the car, it’s the prices, which are rising. And that’s always been a bit of a problem for the Sprint GT Veloce. The slightly later, slightly more powerful 1750 GT Veloce cost £2,248 in 1968, while an E-type Jaguar could be had for £2,225. Surprisingly, both are the equivalent of just less than £40,000 in today’s money or just under $55,000 in Yankee bucks.
