Cars: 30
Images: 284
Alfa Romeo
Established 1910: Milan, Italy
Welcome to the Alfa Romeo portfolio. Alfa are a major focus for this 12cylinders project. But it's been a struggle going on over 15 years now. Some cars I photographed with far less attention than they deserve, and others I lost entirely. I will not ever spend as much effort re-working old material as I have with Alfa, just to solidify the opening chapter. But the effort uncovered a plan for what 12cylinders should be—portfolios that provide context for the principle artefact of the 20th century. No better starting point, Alfa Romeo are largely responsible for the sports car as we know it. By developing small-capacity, high-performance road and race cars in the classic era, Alfa drafted the blueprint for volume sports car production. Alfa won races through technical sophistication, challenged the might of the Germans on the world's stage, and built cars of alluring, heartbreaking character.
The Alfa Romeo portfolio is the basis for Phase 1 of this 12cylinders project. I liken the concept to a book, as opposed to a website, much as if Automobile Quarterly compiled a marque history with definite beginning and end points. Ours covers classic 6C and 8C models, with a modest look at significant post-War cars. I pay keen attention to the Alfa motor as an art piece, more so than contemporary sources. That said, the selection will improve as I unearth better analogue sources and bolster the technical descriptions. The result is far from definitive, but finally I feel that we've got a solid start.
Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Super Sport Speedster, #0312901, 1929
Singular in its unattributed coachwork, this 6C 1750 is one of few surviving 1929 Super Sports. The car carries a colorful history through a lifetime of spirited outings.
10 images
Mar 27, 2024
Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Spider, Zagato, 1930
A quick look at the Series IV Gran Sport, up-rated from the Series III Super Sport, though at present mere primer for the stories to follow.
6 images
Feb 9, 2024
Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Spider, Zagato, #8513045, 1930
An early supercharged spider with lightweight Zagato coachwork, the perfect formula for small capacity sports racing.
20 images
Feb 12, 2024
Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Spider, Zagato, #10814368, 1931
In many ways the archetype of the modern sports car, this 6C Alfa belonged to L. Scott Bailey, founder and editor of Automobile Quarterly, very much the inspiration behind this 12cylinders project.
4 images
Feb 12, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Corto Mille Miglia Spider, Zagato, #2111015, 1931
A Mille Miglia competitor from 1932 to 1934, this 8C twice finished in the top ten. The car wears lovely Zagato coachwork, an extension of the 6C design when many Alfa racers turned to Touring.
11 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Corto Mille Miglia Spider, Zagato, 1932
A beautifully reconstructed 8C, the chassis suffered damaged prior to the second World War and had not been resurrected until recently.
5 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Corto Mille Miglia Touring Spider, #2211071, 1932
The cornerstone of our Alfa Romeo portfolio, the 1932 Paris show car, and one of the finest 8C 2300 Touring Spiders known today following restoration by Indy racing engineer Gordon Barrett.
25 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Gran Sport Testa Fissa, Zagato, #10814406, 1933
Anna Maria Peduzzi's 1933 Mille Miglia class-winning car, driven for Scuderia Ferrari. One of six 1500 cc Testa Fissa cars, and the very last 6C 1500 built.
5 images
Feb 12, 2024
Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Cabriolet, Castagna, #121215037, 1933
The Castagna-bodied 6C 1750 serves a grand touring purpose, small-scale luxury compared to likes of Isotta-Fraschini and Lancia.
14 images
Mar 27, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Cabriolet Lungo, Figoni, #2311207, 1933
One of perhaps seven Figoni-bodied 8C drophead coupe cars, rare for its French coachwork in an era of heavy import taxation.
6 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Cabriolet Lungo, Castagna, #2311214, 1933
The ultimate expression of the dominating 8C racer turned touring car. Elegant and exclusive, the direct predecessor of the great 8C 2900B Touring Spider.
8 images
Mar 19, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Lungo Le Mans Torpedo, Touring, #2311201, 1933
The second of Lord Earl Howe's 8C 2300 Tipo Le Mans race cars, this one prepared for the 1934 edition, and later the charge of the Kidston family.
3 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Mille Miglia Spider, Castagna, #2211072, Unrestored, 1933
Modified for speed competition, this 8C participated in the Brooklands Fastest Road Car contest, and later passed to artist Charles Addams; it remains in unrestored, period hot rod condition.
4 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza, Zagato, #2211112, 1933
The quintessential pre-War racing car, last of the great bi-posto racers. This chassis is the Count Castelbarco and Franco Cortese car from the 1933 Mille Miglia, which caught fire before the race.
16 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Speedster, Eagle Coachworks, #2311237, Unrestored, 1934
First a Castagna drophead coupe, amateur racer Roy Gibson commissioned a custom boattail speedster. The car later passed to Alfa historian Angela Cherrett, who kept it in original condition.
12 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B Pescara Berlinetta Speciale, Pinin Farina, #813812, 1937
A striking work of Art Deco design, Pinin Farina made a beautifully streamlined berlinetta of this rare 6C Pescara. This is the 1937 Milan show car.
8 images
Feb 13, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A Mille Miglia Spider, #412015, 1937
One of three, this chassis served as the Paris show car and two-time Mille Miglia runner-up with Nino Farina. Light, powerful, and retrofitted with its Paris coachwork, a race car in runway fashion.
8 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B MM Touring Berlinetta, #815053, 1938
The Sleeping Beauty Alfa Romeo often referenced for its barn find fame, the car's story is poignant. On its own merits, the 6C 2300B is the herald for Touring's Superleggera coachwork.
6 images
Mar 27, 2024
Alfa Romeo 6C Monoposto, Conrado Volpi, 1938
Built by Conrado Volpi for future Formula 1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio, El Maestro gifted the car to friend Alberto Crespo, who won an Argentine National Championship with it.
4 images
Feb 20, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Corto Touring Spider, #412018, Unrestored, 1938
An original, unrestored short chassis spider, one of a handful of great 8C Alfas to pass through Tommy Lee in Los Angeles. Of late, perhaps the only preservation car to win a major concours event.
8 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Lungo Touring Spider, #412027, 1938
The pinnacle of classic era sports cars, with dual overhead cams, twin Roots superchargers, and a five-speed transaxle. Among the first to venture into supercar territory.
20 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Mille Miglia Touring Spider, #412031, 1938
The ultimate 8C: Clemente Biondetti's 1938 Mille Miglia winner with the Tipo 308 Grand Prix motor, one of two Touring Spiders to survive intact, now part of the Simeone Foundation.
40 images
Mar 28, 2024
Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Touring Berlinetta Aerodinamica, #915080, 1939
An original Tipo 256 chassis with a re-creation of the lost Mille Miglia and Le Mans berlinetta coachwork, completed under the supervision of Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni.
3 images
Mar 18, 2024
Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Touring Berlinetta Villa d'Este, #915902, 1950
Bridge between the classic era berline and post-War GT, this chassis is the later variant of Anderloni's lithe reinvention. One of about 32 cars, #915902 is connected to Lake Como and Enzo Ferrari.
2 images
Mar 27, 2024
Alfa Romeo 1900 C Sprint Supergioiello Berlinetta, Ghia, #AR1900C-01531, 1953
One of three Super Jewel survivors on the 1900 C platform, #01531 is a showcar whose history begins in Milan. Ghia's design and Alfa's part-unitary platform are both modern advancements.
6 images
Mar 29, 2024
Alfa Romeo 1900 CSS Cabriolet, Ghia-Aigle, #AR1900C-01959, 1955
The first of the Ghia-Aigle Alfas, a unique Michelotti design, but also indicative of the marque's prestige cars in the post-War era.
4 images
Mar 27, 2024
Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, Pinin Farina, #AR1495-06843, 1959
The grandfather's gift Giulietta, a second-series Tipo 750 with a long family history, beautifully restored, every centimeter as fashionable as the prototipo.
5 images
Feb 13, 2024
Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale, Bertone, #AR10120-00243, 1960
Franco Scaglione's handiwork drew upon many influences, not only his BAT exercises, but Gioacchino Colombo and Wunibald Kamm as well.
10 images
Feb 13, 2024
Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2 Berlinetta, Zagato, #AR750106, 1965
Shown in its 1966 Targa Florio attire, this T-Zed won its class at the Nürburgring 1000 Kilometers later that season, also competing at Monza and Sebring.
4 images
Feb 13, 2024
Alfa Romeo 1750 GT Veloce, Bertone, 1969
Enthusiast's choice, the 1750 GT Veloce replaced the Giulia Sprint GT Veloce, starting a decade-long production run of quick-driving mass-market Alfas.
7 images
Feb 13, 2024