High-dollar restomods are nothing new, but for decades, the market was saturated with “Eleanor” Mustang GT500s and Porsche 911s. These days, however, there are a variety of classic shapes hiding modern powertrains, ranging from the Volvo P1800 Cyan to the Lamborghini Murcielago Eccentrica. Even Alfa Romeo’s gorgeous little GTV 1300 Junior of the 1960s and 1970s gets in on the fun thanks to Totem Automobili. The Italian firm’s latest creation is called the GTSuper “Jarama,” which Totem says blends the soul of an old Alfa Giulia with the exotic performance of a modern supercar.

There’s A Little Alfa In There

Starting with an original Alfa Romeo 105/115 coupe – known throughout its model run as the Giulia Sprint, GTV, and several other model names – Totem merges the frame with its own carbon-intensive monocoque and CNC aluminum front and rear subframes. Gone, however, is the donor car’s solid, coil-sprung rear axle, replaced by a four-wheel double wishbone suspension crafted from billet aluminum. Totem also ditches the original Alfa Romeo twin-cam four-cylinder engine, a sad thought given how sweetly the little motor sings. The wistfulness doesn’t last long, however, since the automaker swaps in a wild-sounding, twin-turbocharged 2.8-liter V6 sourced from Italtecnica Engineering that even blows the Busso V6 out of the water.

In the standard GTSuper, the engine makes a brilliant 600 horsepower, but for the Jarama, that number comes up to 670. Looking like a science fiction spaceship engine, the seamless, carbon-trimmed engine block makes all the right noises and punts the wide-body Alfa to 62 miles per hour about 3 seconds, a quarter the time of its 1300 Junior forebear. Speaking of, the Totem special edition is built to commemorate that little car’s victory at the 1972 Jarama 4 Hours, an endurance race at the Spanish track that helped secure Alfa Romeo’s class victory in the compact Division 1 segment of the European Touring Car Championship.

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An Homage To A Giant-Slayer

That class-winning 1300 Junior took fourth overall at Jarama, finishing close behind three Division 3 vehicles with engines that were more than double the size of the teensy Alfa – and well ahead of several faster vehicles. The Totem tribute seems to extend only to its name, however, as the GTSuper “Jarama” shares little with the race winner. While the original No. 33 car wore red and white paintwork, the Totem’s carbon fiber body is coated in a deep, lustrous Cervino Blue. Inside, the tan Connoly leather and “Pied de Poule” cloth upholstery coordinate beautifully with the bodywork, especially when the rhomboidal carbon fiber weave peeks through the door jambs.

Despite the GTSuper’s interior already feeling special enough, the Jarama takes things a step further by making the trim and switchgear unique. Everything is CNC-machined, from the turn signal stalks to the radio knobs, giving the cabin a rich, technical feel. That’s quite intentional, as Totem Automobili only intends to produce 40 examples of the GTSuper Jarama. Pricing hasn’t been released, but given the base car costs 539,000€ ($583,172 at current exchange rates), don’t expect the limited edition to come cheap. Still, that’s half the price of the Eccentrica Diablo, so if you want modern Italian performance with plenty of style, the Totem Jarama almost looks like a bargain.