The Alfa Romeo GT Junior from the 1970s is one of the most beautiful cars ever made, and those who still own them are lucky individuals indeed. For the folks at Totem Automobili, an Italian firm specialising in restoring classic and vintage cars, the GT Junior needed… something more. They rolled up their sleeves, tossed out the dinosaur-juice engine and electrified the whole shebang with a 50.4 kilowatt-hour battery and an electric drive train. In fact, they did more than that – so little of the original car is left (about 10 per cent) that you may as well call it a brand new vehicle. It has a carbon fibre body and the suspension has been entirely redone, with a Macpherson strut setup up front and a multilink unit at the rear; the rear subframe is totally new. Manually adjustable Bilstein shock absorbers can be found front and rear too, which should make this Frankenstein’s monster a decent track weapon. The GT is also wider, flatter and has a redesigned underbody, in order to improve airflow.
At the business end, you’ll find (and feel) a very healthy 518 bhp and a staggering 100 kgm of torque, both of which rocket the car to 100 kph in 3.4 seconds – and since there’s a system that emulates the original car’s sound and even vibrations, you won’t want for drama. The GT tops out at 240 kph and has a claimed range of 360 km, although we’re pretty sure that will drop dramatically when you mash the loud (silent?) pedal to the floor and keep it there. Inside, you’ll feel like you’re in a 1970s racing movie. Everything is retro styled but modern too (the dials are digital), and you have all the mod cons – power steering, A/C, an audio system, keyless entry and SatNav, among others (we especially love those clamshell seats). Only 20 of these amazing cars will be made, and odds are that they’ve already been spoken for.
