The Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato was the ultimate development of Alfa’s legendary Giulietta. Featuring lightweight bodywork by Zagato and a specially tuned 1.3-liter engine, the cars were surprisingly fast. Just over 200 examples were built and they dominated their class at the Targa Florio in 1964 and again in 1965. This Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato was first sold to Renzo Mascheroni of Lake Como, then went to second owner Giuseppe Picciotto in Sicily. Picciotto was an amateur racing driver who competed in several races, including two Targa Florios. The car later went to Benzo Uzi and then Yoshiho Matsuda, both of Japan, Zagato-collector David Sydorick of California, and Ken McBride of Washington. Its current owner bought the car from the McBride estate in 2013.
In 1956, Elio Zagato acquired a damaged Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce and rebuilt it with a lighter, more aerodynamic body, creating a racing Giulietta to rival larger-engined GT cars. Alfa Romeo later contracted Zagato to build a small run of 200 factory-sanctioned racing cars, and the lightweight Giulietta Sprint Zagato (or SZ) dominated the 1300 GT class in endurance events, circuit races and hill climbs. This Giulietta SZ was sold to Gianni Bulgari of Rome, who raced it with Fabrizio Violati’s Scuderia Campidoglio Motori team in the 1961 Targa Florio and the four-hour Pescara Grand Prix and won his class at the Coppa Gallenga. Bulgari sold the SZ to Scuderia Settecolli for the 1963 Targa Florio, where it was driven by Mario Costantini and Corrado Ferlaino. In 1964, the car was sold to Lorenzo Garcia of New York who is believed to have used it as a daily driver before retiring it.
In 1956, Elio Zagato acquired a damaged Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce and rebuilt it with a lighter, more aerodynamic body, creating a racing Giulietta to rival larger-engined GT cars. Alfa Romeo later contracted Zagato to build a small run of 200 factory-sanctioned racing cars, and the lightweight Giulietta Sprint Zagato (or SZ) dominated the 1300 GT class in endurance events, circuit races and hill climbs. This Giulietta SZ was sold to Gianni Bulgari of Rome, who raced it with Fabrizio Violati’s Scuderia Campidoglio Motori team in the 1961 Targa Florio and the four-hour Pescara Grand Prix and won his class at the Coppa Gallenga. Bulgari sold the SZ to Scuderia Settecolli for the 1963 Targa Florio, where it was driven by Mario Costantini and Corrado Ferlaino. In 1964, the car was sold to Lorenzo Garcia of New York who is believed to have used it as a daily driver before retiring it.
The Alfa Romeo Giulia Tubolare Zagato (TZ), which replaced the Giulietta Sprint Zagato (SZ), was manufactured by Alfa Romeo from 1963 to 1967. The TZ1 and later TZ2 were developed with Autodelta, a company led by Ex-Ferrari engineer Carlo Chiti. The TZs featured Alfa’s 1,570 cc twin-cam engine fitted in a tubular space-frame chassis with aluminum bodywork, disc brakes and independent suspension. Only 112 examples of this special Alfa Giulia were built. This ultra-lightweight TZ was delivered to Switzerland for racer Walter Pauli, who competed with it primarily in hill climbs. The car was never seriously damaged, and its original bodywork, glass, and mechanicals have all survived. In 1987 the car was acquired by another Swiss collector, Albert Obrist, who had it restored in the workshop of Angelo Chiapparini. He sold the car in 1995 to F1’s Bernie Ecclestone, who later passed it to racer John Coombs.
This one-off Alfa Romeo 1900 CSS was first shown at the1955 Turin Motor Show by its designer Gian Carlo Boano, the son of Felice Mario Boano, who founded the carrozzeria. It is similar to the Boano-bodied Alfa 6C 3000 CM that was owned by Argentinian president Juan Perón. Fewer than 2,000 Alfa Romeo 1900 coupés were built, and they were bodied by the factory as well as several carrozzerie, including Touring, Bertone, Farina, Ghia, Zagato, and Boano. This car was originally finished in yellow with a black roof, but the paint was changed in period to Italian red. The original interior with black leather seats and yellow piping remains as a reminder of the car’s original colors. For many years this unique coupé was part of the private collection of Mario Righini near Bologna. It was shown at Pebble Beach in 2015 prior to its restoration, and it has since been freshly restored.
The first Alfa Romeo 1900 saloon was introduced at the Paris Auto Show in 1950. Advertised as the “family car that wins races,” the sporty model included a new 90 bhp, twin overhead cam, straight-4 engine and independent front suspension with Alfin drum brakes. Beginning in 1952 Alfa also produced a shorter chassis that was bodied by several carrozzerie, and these chassis were fitted with larger 1975 cc engines with twin Solex downdraft carburetors that produced 115 bhp. This short-chassis coupé is one of fewer than 30 Super Sprints built by Zagato. It was raced throughout Europe, participating in the Coppa d’Oro, the Coppa Inter-Europe, the Bolzano-Mendola, and the Trieste-Opicina and made three consecutive appearances in the Mille Miglia from 1955 to 1957. Its current owner has entered the car in the Mille Miglia five times and in the Tour de France twice.
Alfa Romeo built thirty-two 6C 2500 SS with elegant Villa d’Este bodies and twenty-one are known to survive. One coupé (chassis 915900) was finished by Carrozzeria Touring in March 1951 for Riccardo Giamundo from Naples, who was then only 25 years old. By 1972, it was registered to an owner in Rome. Subsequently it was apparently stored in the catacombs of Naples, where it was discovered in 2005 alongside many other classics during the excavations of the Tunnel Borbonico. The vehicles had apparently been seized by the local police for tax reasons. When found, this Alfa Romeo was badly damaged and in a derelict condition, but it has subsequently been rebuilt in Italy and Germany.
In 1956, Elio Zagato acquired a damaged Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce and rebuilt it with a lighter, more aerodynamic body, creating a racing Giulietta to rival larger-engined GT cars. Alfa Romeo later contracted Zagato to build a small run of 200 factory-sanctioned racing cars, and the lightweight Giulietta Sprint Zagato (or SZ) dominated the 1300 GT class in endurance events, circuit races and hill climbs. This Giulietta SZ was sold to Gianni Bulgari of Rome, who raced it with Fabrizio Violati’s Scuderia Campidoglio Motori team in the 1961 Targa Florio and the four-hour Pescara Grand Prix and won his class at the Coppa Gallenga. Bulgari sold the SZ to Scuderia Settecolli for the 1963 Targa Florio, where it was driven by Mario Costantini and Corrado Ferlaino. In 1964, the car was sold to Lorenzo Garcia of New York who is believed to have used it as a daily driver before retiring it.
This one-off Alfa Romeo 1900 CSS was first shown at the1955 Turin Motor Show by its designer Gian Carlo Boano, the son of Felice Mario Boano, who founded the carrozzeria. It is similar to the Boano-bodied Alfa 6C 3000 CM that was owned by Argentinian president Juan Perón. Fewer than 2,000 Alfa Romeo 1900 coupés were built, and they were bodied by the factory as well as several carrozzerie, including Touring, Bertone, Farina, Ghia, Zagato, and Boano. This car was originally finished in yellow with a black roof, but the paint was changed in period to Italian red. The original interior with black leather seats and yellow piping remains as a reminder of the car’s original colors. For many years this unique coupé was part of the private collection of Mario Righini near Bologna. It was shown at Pebble Beach in 2015 prior to its restoration, and it has since been freshly restored.
The Alfa Romeo Giulia Tubolare Zagato (TZ), which replaced the Giulietta Sprint Zagato (SZ), was manufactured by Alfa Romeo from 1963 to 1967. The TZ1 and later TZ2 were developed with Autodelta, a company led by Ex-Ferrari engineer Carlo Chiti. The TZs featured Alfa’s 1,570 cc twin-cam engine fitted in a tubular space-frame chassis with aluminum bodywork, disc brakes and independent suspension. Only 112 examples of this special Alfa Giulia were built. This ultra-lightweight TZ was delivered to Switzerland for racer Walter Pauli, who competed with it primarily in hill climbs. The car was never seriously damaged, and its original bodywork, glass, and mechanicals have all survived. In 1987 the car was acquired by another Swiss collector, Albert Obrist, who had it restored in the workshop of Angelo Chiapparini. He sold the car in 1995 to F1’s Bernie Ecclestone, who later passed it to racer John Coombs.
A total of just 41 Alfa Romeo 1900 Corto Super Sport Zagatos were built in the mid-1950s, and this Alfa Romeo (chassis 01947) is one of 28 remaining in existence. The body is made of lightweight aluminum, and the windows, apart from the front windshield, are made of Plexiglas, resulting in a car that is 220 pounds lighter than any of the standard-production 1900s built by Alfa Romeo. Each of the Alfa Romeo 1900 Zagatos is unique, hand-built to a customer’s specification. This car’s first owner, Marco Tonini, raced it in the 1956 Mille Miglia. Then it was sold to Charlie Daniels, an American serviceman in Italy who drove the car in several European rallies, including the one at Monte Carlo, with the Scuderia Aurelia Club. William Kelly, the car’s next owner, also raced it in Europe prior to returning home to South Carolina in 1977. The Zagato has been recently restored to its original Mille Miglia configuration by its fourth owner.
The first Alfa Romeo 1900 saloon was introduced at the Paris Auto Show in 1950. Advertised as the “family car that wins races,” the sporty model included a new 90 bhp, twin overhead cam, straight-4 engine and independent front suspension with Alfin drum brakes. Beginning in 1952 Alfa also produced a shorter chassis that was bodied by several carrozzerie, and these chassis were fitted with larger 1975 cc engines with twin Solex downdraft carburetors that produced 115 bhp. This short-chassis coupé is one of fewer than 30 Super Sprints built by Zagato. It was raced throughout Europe, participating in the Coppa d’Oro, the Coppa Inter-Europe, the Bolzano-Mendola, and the Trieste-Opicina and made three consecutive appearances in the Mille Miglia from 1955 to 1957. Its current owner has entered the car in the Mille Miglia five times and in the Tour de France twice.
Alfa Romeo produced the 6C 2300 from 1934 through 1939. Of the 1,606 cars built about 60 were short chassis equipped with a more powerful, twin carburetor engine. These special 6C 2300s first carried the named Pescara after Alfa’s racing success in the 1935 Pescara-Targa Abruzzo Race in 1935, but this changed after Alfa’s many wins on the Mille Miglia between 1928 and 1938. This 6C 2300B Mille Miglia, with its lightweight body, is one of only four Alfa Romeo 6C 2300Bs, and the only Mille Miglia–style car with coachwork by the Swiss firm of Graber. It was ordered by Martin Mueller, owner of the biggest wheat mill in Switzerland, who kept it until his death in 1958. It went to Italy in 1968 and was later sold to the famous Righini Collection in Bologna.
Enrico Nardi achieved notice in the late 1930s as a racing car designer, constructor, and driver after piloting the first of Enzo Ferrari’s cars, the Auto Avio Construzioni Tipo 815 Spider, at the Mille Miglia in 1940. His association with Ferrari continued after World War II when he worked on the Ferrari 166 MM. In late 1947, Nardi joined with Renato Danese to establish a workshop on the Via Vincenzo Lancia in Turin where they could build racing cars and prototypes for other customers. They also began to construct their own cars for the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, utilizing Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 engines. This car ran in both of these races in 1948 and 1949, although it failed to finish them. It left Italy in 1950 destined for its first American owner, Perry Fina of New York, who campaigned the car in races at Palm Beach, Bridgehampton and Watkins Glen. The current owner purchased the car in 1997 and has continued to race it in vintage events.
The Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 was probably the most technically advanced, modern, and compelling sports car that money could buy in the 1930s, and this particular 8C 2900B (chassis 412020) Lungo Berlinetta with Superleggera coachwork was a seminal work for both Alfa Romeo and Carrozzeria Touring. It was revealed to the world at the 1937 Paris Auto Salon, then appeared at the 1937 Milan Auto Show and at the 1938 Berlin Motor Show. It was also featured in many period magazines and in the Alfa Romeo sales brochure, where it was called the “Coupé Leggero.” It differs from the later 8C 2900 Berlinettas by having a more steeply raked aerodynamic front grille and no running boards. The car is believed to have remained in Germany through the 1950s. It was brought to the United States in 1956. This historic Alfa Romeo was first restored in the 1990s and was named Most Elegant Closed Car at the 2001 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The current owner has now restored the car to its 1938 Berlin Motor Show specification.
The Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 was probably the most technically advanced, modern, and compelling sports car that money could buy in the 1930s, and this particular 8C 2900B (chassis 412020) Lungo Berlinetta with Superleggera coachwork was a seminal work for both Alfa Romeo and Carrozzeria Touring. It was revealed to the world at the 1937 Paris Auto Salon, then appeared at the 1937 Milan Auto Show and at the 1938 Berlin Motor Show. It was also featured in many period magazines and in the Alfa Romeo sales brochure, where it was called the “Coupé Leggero.” It differs from the later 8C 2900 Berlinettas by having a more steeply raked aerodynamic front grille and no running boards. The car is believed to have remained in Germany through the 1950s. It was brought to the United States in 1956. This historic Alfa Romeo was first restored in the 1990s and was named Most Elegant Closed Car at the 2001 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The current owner has now restored the car to its 1938 Berlin Motor Show specification.
The Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 was probably the most technically advanced, modern, and compelling sports car that money could buy in the 1930s, and this particular 8C 2900B (chassis 412020) Lungo Berlinetta with Superleggera coachwork was a seminal work for both Alfa Romeo and Carrozzeria Touring. It was revealed to the world at the 1937 Paris Auto Salon, then appeared at the 1937 Milan Auto Show and at the 1938 Berlin Motor Show. It was also featured in many period magazines and in the Alfa Romeo sales brochure, where it was called the “Coupé Leggero.” It differs from the later 8C 2900 Berlinettas by having a more steeply raked aerodynamic front grille and no running boards. The car is believed to have remained in Germany through the 1950s. It was brought to the United States in 1956. This historic Alfa Romeo was first restored in the 1990s and was named Most Elegant Closed Car at the 2001 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The current owner has now restored the car to its 1938 Berlin Motor Show specification.
The Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 was one of the first Italian sports cars to feature cutting edge Grand Prix racing technology in a production road car. Called the Alfa Romeo Normale when it was first advertised, the car was revealed at the Milan Motor Show in 1925. It was renamed the 6C 1500 the following year, but the first production models didn’t arrive until early 1927. This fast touring car was built on a simple lightweight ladder-frame chassis and fitted with Alfa’s 1,487 cc straight-6-cylinder engine, which was based on the factory’s P2 straight-8 racing engine and was available in three versions: the single-overhead-camshaft Normale, the twin-overhead-camshaft Sport, and the supercharged Super Sport model. Most of these cars were bodied in Italy, but this rare 6C 1500 Sport was bodied by WC & RC Atcherly in England. Amateur race driver Geoffrey Summers commissioned the car, and he raced it at the Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb in 1929. The car was found in Belgium in 2010 by the current owner, who also happens to be the grandson of the coachbuilder R. C. Atcherly.
