The Giulia SS ('Sprint Speciale') started life as the Giulietta SS at the Salon di Torino 1957. Franco Scaglione designed the SS for Bertone as an evolution from his BAT 5, BAT 7 and BAT 9 aerodynamic studies. The design went through several changes before being launched to the press at Monza in June 1959. By this time it was becoming clear that the SS was too heavy, even in an aluminium-bodied form, to be a competitive racing car and in 1960 the Series II Giulietta SS was launched reconfigured as a grand tourer Power came from the Giulietta 1,290cc dohc 4-cylinder engine tuned to give 116bhp, but in March 1963 the engine was changed to the new 1,570cc Giulia unit and models re-badged as Giulia SS. Production ended in 1966 after 1,400 Giulia SS and 1,366 Giulietta SS were sold.