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Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Lungo Touring Spider, #412027, 1938

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Significance
Technology
Production
Aesthetics

Location:
St. Michaels Concours d'Elegance, 2008
Radnor Hunt Concours d'Elegance, 2015

Owner: Oscar Davis | Elizabeth, New Jersey

Prologue:

Chassis #412027 has since moved to a new owner. 12cylinders retains the owner who displayed the car at the time of photography.

Image Source 1-11: Nikon D750 (24.3 MP) photographed in 2015

Image Source 12-14: Nikon D200 (10.2 MP) based on photographs by E in 2015

Image Source 15-20: Nikon D200 (10.2 MP) photographed in 2008

I remember my feeling when we first encountered #412027, my excitement over seeing a 2900B and the mere privilege of photographing the car. The car's backstory lingered in obscurity some while after, at least in my limited view. But by now we've recollected omissions and somewhat rectified missed opportunities to illustrate the car and its details.

More recently, I corralled a copy of Automobile Quarterly's piece on #412027. Though mainly an owner history, I find the car's connection to Egypt in the years leading up to the Suez Crisis the most historically significant point. Some great classics wandered far across the earth, and this 8C is one such car. I've also been able to answer some long-standing questions, and take an appropriate perspective on what we see here in these illustrations. Worth the wait, I hope.

Of the images, this set improved with camera technology, where the edit and illustration possibilities available with better sensors, larger resolution, and 16-bit processing eclipse early digital technology in terms of precision. Still, I enjoy working with older media, particularly images E contributed with the super-wide lens, which comprise the three colorful pieces in the middle of this gallery (12, 13, 14). As to the oldest images (15 - 20), they provide a retrospective on old processes, comparison points that illustrate the gap between first-generation tools and better pro-sumer equipment. Interestingly, the last shot (20) emerged as one of these accidental Michel Zumbrunn images. The lens actually took on some moisture, which softened the original image, and I was not sure I could draw a decent car from the template. The posture looked good, though, and I'm still fond of that shot in retrospect, how it worked out.

Overall, it really has been a struggle to compile a 20-piece gallery for an automobile that deserves better than a higgledy-piggledy approach. From the newer stock, the real gems are the motor shots. This 8C motor sits atop the list of the most beautiful I've seen, deserving of more attention than paid here. The wings-up, hood-up look also offers lovely subject matter, as in the second front-quarter perspective (2) and the fascia (6). The tail perspective (7) took a long time, first to figure out what I wanted to do, and then to figure out how to achieve it. The same can be said for the right profile (11), which uses an old flank detail mapped from a 2008 photo for the background. In the same respect, note that the motor used in the composite image (12) is a different shot than seen in the medium image (14). I will not replicate content. In any case, please forgive the hodgepodge approach; it has been about 13 years of puzzling over pictures that should have been better from the start, but this is an important piece of the Alfa Romeo portfolio and hopefully worth the extra time.

References:

Automobile Quarterly, Volume 37, Number 1, October 1997, "Milanese Masterpiece" by Jonathan A. Stein, The Kutztown Publishing Company, Inc. Kutztown, PA, pages 102-109 [Note: D.L. George Historic Motorcars performed maintenance and restoration work on #412027 from the 1980s to early 1990s. At the time of Automobile Quarterly's publication in 1997, the firm was known as D.L. George Coachworks.]
Automobile Quarterly, Volume 11, Number 2, Second Quarter 1973, "The Immortal Alfa Romeo Two-Nine" by Peter Hull and Simon Moore, The Kutztown Publishing Company, Inc. Kutztown, PA, pages 181
Classic & Sports Car, April 2007, "On Cloud Two Nine," by Mick Walsh: Ralph Lauren's 1938 8C 2900-B Mille Miglia Spider.
Cromo Classico: What once was perhaps the best online article on the 8C 2900 is no more.

The 2900B is a detuned version of the racing-derived 2900A, intended for grand touring and fitted with bespoke cockpit luxuries and custom coachwork for the ultra-exclusive customers fortunate enough to bring home a sampling of Italy's top Grand Prix technology. Both aesthetically and technically, the 2900B is a masterwork. Engineering comes from the famed Vittorio Jano—responsible for fantastic achievements throughout his tenure at Alfa Romeo, later with Lancia and Ferrari—while the body comes from Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni's Carrozzeria Touring, and chief designer Aquino Gilardi. This car bears a direct influence on the great sports cars of the 1950s, hardly surprising with its independent suspension and transaxle gearbox.

But as for Alfa Romeo, the firm would not retrace a path so far advanced as this in the post-War era for quite some time. Conflict gutted Italy and pressed its leading state-sponsored automaker toward volume rather than luxury. This is why, in the world of classic cars, Alfa Romeo is the apogee, whereas to the average person on the street, the name conjures up an image quite different, one populated by little red Duetto spiders and spritely volume production coupes.

The Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Itinerary: Italy to Egypt to Switzerland to America

For most of its life, chassis #412027 has been a world traveler. Automobile Quarterly reports that the earliest confirmed sighting dates to 1942 in Cairo, with Major Raymond Flower. A life in Egypt explains how this 8C escaped destruction during World War II. An automobile broker of sorts, Flower owned the car for a few years, saying, "I once drove it from Cairo to Alexandria down the desert road in a little over an hour and a half. But of course it was not suitable for Egyptian roads and absolute murder in the Cairo traffic." He sold the car on by 1945, but did not transfer any documents alongside. And while the car itself managed to escape conflict once again, the ensuing Suez Crisis engineered by British and French forces on behalf of the new Israeli state led to the loss of any records left behind.

The 8C next appeared in Switzerland in late 1948 to 1949, where it remained until 1960, traveling to its first American owner. The 8C then passed in various states of disassembly through many people from Chicago to Minneapolis to California to New Jersey, before being sold back to Switzerland in 1994 as a complete and partly restored automobile.

Under Swiss ownership, chassis #412027 rose to prominence in the classic car world, winning the Coppa d'Oro Villa d'Este at the 1996 edition of the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in Italy following a lengthy international restoration. The work involved mechanical upkeep, refurbishment, and reversal of aged but incorrect modifications. During the car's first trudge across the United States, D.L. George of Cochranville, Pennsylvania took on the work while in the custody of its then-New Jersey owner, supplemented by a thorough overhaul at Tony Merrick Racing, Ltd of England commissioned after the car migrated back to Europe. Of course, the 8C later returned to New Jersey as part of the Oscar Davis collection, where we were fortunate to see the car on numerous occasions. With the passing of Mr. Davis and dissolution of his collection, #412027 has once again moved on.

Most helpfully, Automobile Quarterly covered #412027 in October, 1997, whence the car looked almost exactly as when we photographed 20 years later. An article about #412027 also appeared in the French magazine, Automobiles Classiques, issue No. 93 from October, 1998. For that piece, the car wore pressed disc wheel covers. The well known photographer Michel Zumbrunn produced images for that French article. His is a style I seemed to ape not so incidentally early on, as our on-location processes overlapped. I merely illustrated what he erected, paying attention to how he used light.

Color Conflict: Decoding Paint History for Alfa Romeo Chassis #412027

Among the more intriguing anecdotes about #412027 is that its owners differed on the car's original color, which was either orange, light red, or dark blue. Post-War photographs from Switzerland show the car wearing a light, though probably non-original color, possibly red. While in the US, Walter Weimer of Minneapolis undertook a test build himself to confirm he had purchased a complete car, and concluded "it very definitely was originally orange," though dark blue also seems possible by traces found during later restoration.

The car's first US stint provided a red lacquer coat by Fred Hoch of New Jersey, prior to the car's gradual update by D.L. George Historic Motorcars of Pennsylvania. At last the 8C's major restoration in the UK produced the car in a deep, midnight blue, along with the correct Alfa grey undercarriage (just visible in our main image) and lovely antique cyan on the engine block. The depth of the body color is bewildering, and I am happy to confirm the car is not actually black. In sunlight, the reflective effect of the sky accentuates the blue tint, but the effect lessens drastically under cloud cover.

Cut Metal: Post-Production Retrofits and Repairs

In its early life, this 8C wore four rows of louvres on the top of the bonnet, and also a set of extraneous grilles fitted to the broad valance inside each front fender. D.L. George removed and repaired the bonnet louvres in the early 1990s, whereas Tony Merrick Racing Ltd. removed the auxiliary grilles and repaired the front valance a few years later, preparing the car for Villa d'Este in 1996.

Some mystery surrounds the origins of the extra grilles. Automobile Quarterly cites Fred Simeone as identifying Touring stamps on the two pieces, though Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni confirmed they were not original to the car. Both George and Merrick also identified hardware to fit skirts over the rear wheels. For much of its life, chassis #412027 had done without, but with confirmation of original equipment, Merrick crafted new skirts to fit the body. Apart from the corrected front valance, corrected bonnet, and rear skirts, the rest of the coachwork remained straight.

During its complete restoration, Merrick did not remove the main steel body section. Suggesting that the condition of #412027 had been good enough at the time not to necessitate a frame-off restoration upholds a certain originality about the car. Although rebuilt and repainted, the finish and patina look slightly worn at close inspection. The condition may not fit high-gloss expectations among the concours crowd, but fits this 8C's story beautifully.

Alla Spesa: Integrated Streamline Styling Common to the 8C 2900B

The term alla spesa refers to the practice of drawing the disparate components of the body into one cohesive form. By the end of the classic era, designers in North America and in Europe experimented with smooth shapes, with plenty of lexicon developing alongside. For example, the 1939 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B chassis #412043 was dubbed, "la Balena." Sporting a narrow, nearly homogenous body, the shape of la Balena is sleek, but not particularly pretty. On the other hand, the famous 8C 2900B Le Mans Berlinetta from one year earlier, chassis #412033, features a similar degree of alla spesa ingenuity, but through a wholly classical shape that is as proportionately correct as it is aerodynamically inspired. Between the two, the road-going 8C 2900B Touring Spider depicted here would seem at home next to the Le Mans Berlinetta.

High Belt Line: Restrained Chrome on Touring Superleggera Spider Coachwork

The two thin chrome strakes that begin at the nose and travel along the length of the car counteract the Alfa's stocky proportions. In profile, the strakes help the 8C 2900B appear long and arrow-like, even when in perspective the full fenders act as broad shoulders at the front, and cat-like haunches at the tail. The strakes keep the lithe attitude happening at these offset viewing angles. Also, the simple addition of chrome helps the eye measure the relation of the fenders to the belt line—the height is nearly equal. And this leveling of wheels and windscreens still works today in modern automobiles, deepening the driving position in the cockpit. The arrangement might aid aerodynamics, but moreover promotes the entire spider aesthetic by giving the car a low, gripping stance.

Sleek Angles: Approach and Departure Style

The angle of entry against the wind and the angle of exit off the tail create a pleasing symmetry. On the fascia, the grille is well seated within the front wings, and matches the angle of attack portrayed by the fenders and fairings, whereas the tail is well shaped from the stout deck, out over the shoulders, and down to a point that joins evenly with the rear skirts. These dramatic angles are the product of early wind analysis, which—as there were no wind tunnels yet—was accomplished by attaching cloth strips to the car and then photographing it at speed. So Touring fabricated body panels according to what they discovered by observation in stop-motion photography.

Last Updated: Mar 18, 2024

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