Alfa Romeo GT Coupe | Showpiece of the Week

The prettiest touring car ever made? Gotta be up there...

While there's been the odd foray into tin top racing in the 21st century, and now the F1 involvement, Alfa Romeo's truly iconic motorsport successes are now an awfully long time ago. People still get jolly excited about Gabriele Tarquini's British Touring Car Championship win in a 155, but that was 25 years ago. The sportscar triumphs were half a century ago, the Grand Prix glory even further back.

Yet still, the fondness and affection for Alfa Romeo as a motorsport brand continues unabated. Part of that will be down to the scale of what the brand achieved, part will be down to the romance associated with Italian marques that go racing - one for the cliché swear jar - and some of the appeal must be down to how pretty the cars were.

Handily, this Alfa GT Junior adheres to all those criteria. The original Giulia Coupe racer project was first devised in 1965, with this Junior made nearly 50 years ago. The idea was in response to the Mini's dominance of 1300cc touring cars in the early 60s, something that the Alfa swiftly reversed from its debut in 1968. How? Well, it was pretty simple really. The more powerful GTA had dominated European Touring Cars from 1966 to 1968, so the GT Junior simply downsized that recipe, using a similar layout and a smaller, 1,290cc version of the 1,570cc twin-cam.

The spec must have sounded exciting back then; nowadays it seems out of this world. The GT Juniors were famous for their short-stroke, high-revving engines, the cylinder bore of the 1.3 actually 10mm greater than the stroke (78mm against 67.5). This meant the little Alfas screamed along, all the way to 9,000rpm, making more than 150hp in the process. With a close ratio gearbox as well, it's going to be peaky, demanding, and totally absorbing, the perfect tool to go chasing those pesky Minis.

This particular GT was sold new to Germany in 1970, where it competed in a host of events during the 70s - "too long to list", says the advert, with endurance races at the Nurburgring and Hockenheim amongst others. More recently it's been overhauled and restored, ready to race in immaculate condition (and a fantastic livery).

Chassis 775897 is being advertised as "a worthy competitor for historic racing, rally or club tours", where the possibilities are extensive. As well as marque specific racing, the GT will be eligible for the Peter Auto Historic Touring Cup - which looks like being the coolest touring car series on the planet - and, surely, a host of other classic series. There'd be no excuse for not competing with it, basically, given the possibilities, as well as the Alfa's provenance and race ready condition.

And imagine what that would be like. Not just being involved with historic touring cars, but do so racing in an Alfa Romeo from perhaps the brand's very best era. While of course not a cheap entry into the sport, as a lighter, smaller race car it should be less punishing on its consumables than some of the V8 bruisers it will share track space with. Add to that the fact it will be the best-looking car on the grid - no arguments, please - and the GT's desirability is off the scale. Don't forget, either, the good work being done by continuing to race old Alfa Romeos - if they aren't out on track, how will people know of the memorable historic achievements? It must get out on circuit, basically, and the sooner the better...

See the original advert here.