Alfa Romeo has launched a pair of delightfully retro specials

You might have noticed Alfa Romeo likes giving the Giulia and Stelvio frequent licks of paint. The special editions are coming thick and fast, suggesting either the cars aren’t quite selling at the rate of knots expected – and thus need a little help – or that Alfa has an enviable heritage just brimming with great opportunities to inject some zing into two of the most sensible sectors of the car market.

The truth perhaps lives somewhere in the middle, but who are we to complain – this latest pair look pretty spiffing. And of course their names are utterly iconic – the Giulia and Stelvio GT Junior editions wear a name familiar from some pert little Sixties sports cars.

They also wear a similar colour, ‘Lipari Ochre’ clearly influenced by the GT 1300 Junior that Alfa conveniently found to park beside them for the marketing pics. Which to really enliven the left side of your brain, were taken in front of the Duomo in Milan. If you can’t hear Nessun Dorma in your head, you aren’t reading this story properly.

The Junior specials are based on the Giulia and Stelvio’s Veloce trim level, and get new alloy wheel designs to complement the paint scheme as well as new trim inside, the GT 1300’s side profile etched into the dashboard and ‘GT Junior’ stitched into the headrests.

Power options are a 207bhp diesel and 276bhp petrol engine – the latter three times as powerful as that original little Junior. Though if that comes as a surprise, then perhaps you know the GT 1300’s shape better from the 240bhp Alfaholics GTA-R…