Alfa Romeo had introduced the larger engined Giulia 1750 GT Veloce road car, which formed a good basis for a second generation GTA. The rules were changed and now stated that a minimum of 1000 cars needed to be produced for homologation, but the derived racer could be modified a lot more. The engined was bored out to displace just under 2 litres and wide wheel arches were riveted on the steel body to accommodate fatter tires. Despite the bigger displacement the cars were officially still referred to as '1750', but the letter 'm' for 'maggiorata' or enlarged was added to the GTA suffix.