Roadside Attraction: Museo Storico Alfa Romeo Part 1, Before and Between the Wars

It was a young century, and as war clouds gathered, scientists and engineers persisted in laying down schemes for a bright future perfected by technology.  This may sound like the news you read early this year, but it was also the news in 1913, as the Italian Futurist movement drew plans for modern cities connected by airplanes and elevated highways. This was the scene into which Alfa Romeo dropped its 40 / 60 hp Aerodynamica, also known as the Siluro (torpedo) Ricotti. Inspired by airships, Count Ricotti commissioned a special body in unpainted, damascened alloy on an Alfa Romeo chassis designed by Giuseppe Moresi.  The body was designed and built by Castagna, and the whole project brought attention to Alfa Romeo, a young company founded in 1910...

The compound-curved windshield and side windows wouldn't appear on any production cars until the Fifties, though they would show up on aircraft before then.  The streamlining effect added 14 kmh to the car's top speed, which was 93 mph.  Portholes lend a Jules Verne effect to the design. Rectangular doors behind the front wheels gave access to the 6.1 liter power unit, an inline four. 

    

A year after Alfa's founding, the Alfa 15 HP Corsa above made 25 hp from its cast-iron, inline side-valve four.  Peak power occurred at 2,400 rpm, and was sent to the rear wheels by a 3 speed transmission.  The 24 HP model below shared the same engine design, but the model name, perhaps reflecting greater confidence by Alfa's engineers, more accurately described the available power. The 24 HP was produced into the fateful year of 1914, in around 200 examples.

The renovated Alfa museum, the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo in Arese, exhibits these and other wonders, from Alfa's beginnings into the modern era...

The RL of 1922-27 was the first sporting Alfa Romeo, and engineer Moresi's engine design was an overhead-valve inline 6 of 3 liters, making 71 hp in this 1925 RL Super Sport.  As with the Aerodynamica, the unpainted alloy body features a lively pattern.  

Ugo Zagato's  firm bodied this 6C 1750 Gran Sport from 1932 in what would become a signature pared-down, lightweight style.  By this time sports Alfa Romeos featured the famous twin overhead cam engine originated by Vittorio Jano, and in this Gran Sport it made 85 hp. Suspension was by rigid axles on semi-elliptical leaf springs, front and rear.

The 8C 2300 Corto (short chassis) features twin, inline 4-cylinder blocks with a detachable head in aluminum.  As in the the 6c 1750, the camshafts are gear-driven, and a 4 -speed gearbox transmits a healthy 155 hp to the rear wheels.  Over 300 examples  of this series  were built from 1931-34.  Zagato*, Castagna and Touring Superleggera* supplied bodies for the series.    

The 6C 2300B Mille Miglia coupe below shows how body designers followed trends toward streamlining after the mid-Thirties.  This car was bodied by Touring Superleggera; the engine features a detachable twin-cam head in light alloy.  Independent front and rear suspension was introduced in 1935, with swing axles at the rear.  106 examples were produced from 1938 to '39.

The ultimate road car offered by Alfa, and the fastest car offered for sale from 1935 to '39, was the 8C 2900.  The 8C 2900B shown below was bodied by Touring Superleggera in 1938.  Engines were 2.9 liter supercharged inline eights, with two separate 4-cylinder blocks, based upon a design used in Alfa's GP cars.  Power ranged from 180 to 220 hp.  Carlo Anderloni's design emphasizes teardrop fenders and curved surfaces converging at a strongly tapered tail.  No more than 42 cars were built of the 8C 2900, A and B series included.

Touring also bodied the 6C 2500 Sport below in 1939. Aerodynamic touches include headlights integrated into the fender contours, and sliding side windows curved in plan.  The 2500 series would become Alfa's flagship after the war.

When Alfa management found out that the 3-liter formula for GP cars would be changed to 1.5 liters in 1940, engineers Gioachinno Colombo (later at Ferrari) and Wilfredo Ricart (later at Pegaso) designed a mid-engined single-seater powered by a supercharged flat-12. In its massing and aerodynamics, the Alfa 512 resembled the Auto Union racers designed by Ferdinand Porsche.

This was an interesting choice, as Alfa's racing team already had a 1.5 liter racer in the 158, a front-engined, supercharged inline 8 introduced in 1938.  The new 335 hp flat twelve had a short stroke by comparison, and the flat configuration suited the goal of keeping mass low and centralized...

The result was a driving cabin sandwiched between the radiator and the fuel tank.  World War Ii ended the 512 program, and only one of 2 chassis completed received a body. In the postwar era,  Alfa's front-engined 158 and 159 racers would win championships...

Alfa introduced the Freccia d'Oro (Golden Arrow) in 1946 as their first postwar car.  It was a coupe version of the 6C 2500, built on the 120 inch Sport wheelbase, and unlike other versions of the 2500 bodied by specialists like Touring and Pinin Farina, it was fitted with bodywork designed and built by Alfa Romeo.  The savings from standardization made this the most popular 6C 2500 by far, with 680 examples built before production ended in 1951.  By then Alfa was involved in mass production of an even more standardized car, the four cylinder 1900 sedan parked behind the Freccia d'Oro in the photo below.  The Golden Arrow became famous in the USA for a not-so-golden moment:  one was blown up in a scene from "The Godfather", in 1972.  This would not happen today, even in a big-budget film...

The 6C 2500 SS coupe below was a postwar design by Touring Superleggera, and was first shown at the Villa d'Este concours in 1949.  Carlo Anderloni's body design predicted Fifties styling trends, with ribs formed around the wheel arches that visually lowered the car as well as adding stiffness to alloy panels.  Indented curves bordering the hood and deck forms help unify the form.  Only 3 dozen of this design, named for the Villa d'Este, were built before production ended in 1952...

The 2500 series was the last hand-built, prewar chassis offered by Alfa Romeo before the firm launched the mass-produced 1900 Series at the dawn of the Fifties.  The story of that decade at Alfa will be the subject of Part 2.

*Footnote:

The history of Zagato-bodied Alfas was summarized in a photo essay entitled "Body by Zagato Part 2: Five Decades of Alfa Romeos", posted May 6, 2020. Bodywork by Touring Superleggera on Alfa chassis was featured in "Touring Superleggera:  The Italian Line Travels Light", posted September 30, 2020.

Photo Credits: 

All photos were generously provided by George Havelka.