The cars in this archive are more than data, and now and then we are lucky enough to study one closely. RCA 379B is a 1964 right-hand-drive Giulia Spider, featured here by the kind permission of its owner — a friend of the archive. It is not our car, but a well-documented, original UK example like this is exactly the kind of car these pages are written around.
Built in Milan, delivered to London
The car was built on 17 January 1964 and delivered on 30 May 1964 to Alfa Romeo in London — a right-hand-drive home-market car from new. It is a Giulia 1600 Spider of type 101.19, the right-hand-drive designation, and it left the factory in Biancospino (Hawthorn White), the colour it still wears today. These build and delivery details have been confirmed by the Alfa Romeo Historic Archive in Milan.
Why it survived: a life in the sun
Most Giulia Spiders have battled rust all their lives; this one largely escaped it. For decades the car lived in the dry climate of the Canary Islands — paperwork places it in Tenerife by 1982 — and those long years away from the damp are why an original UK car of this age is, unusually, structurally sound and free of the corrosion the model is known for. It returned to the UK and was re-registered here in 2016.
A documented restoration
After returning home the car was recommissioned, and then in 2019 given a major, documented programme of work. The bodywork was already structurally excellent, so rather than patch tired thirty-year-old paint, the car was stripped completely and repainted in its correct original colour, with the engine bay and boot stripped and repainted too. The engine and gearbox were removed; the gearbox was rebuilt and the engine refreshed and detailed, and a long list of mechanical parts renewed — cooling and heater hoses, thermostat, engine and drop-link mounts, seals and exhaust mounts, new headlamps, and ignition and service items. It was finished with a new mohair hood, a fresh carpet set and new quarter-glass windows.
A note on the engine
One honest detail — and a neat illustration of a theme from our identity article: although the car was born a 1600 (type 101.19), it now runs a larger 1750cc Alfa twin-cam. The 101-series and later 105-series engines interchange readily, and the bigger unit gives noticeably stronger, torquier performance while staying firmly in the Alfa family. In engine displacement it is therefore not a matching-numbers car — but it is a well-sorted and very usable one.
As it presents today
The result is a striking car in its original colour: straight panels and a top-class paint finish, a clean and well-detailed engine bay, and a cabin that pairs new carpets with nicely aged seats and trim. It drives as a properly sorted Giulia Spider should — a strong engine holding good oil pressure, a smooth gearbox, and the tight, precise feel these cars are loved for.
Provenance
A rare right-hand-drive UK car, still in its original colour, with early history confirmed by the Alfa Romeo Historic Archive and a documented recent restoration: RCA 379B is an unusually well-credentialled example, and a genuinely useful reference point for this archive.