Museo Stradale

Dominic's Auto Museum
One man's passionate quest to survey finest motorcars in the world

This car is currently part of the Simeone Foundation Museum in Philadelphia.

Photographed: Radnor Hunt Concours d'Elegance, 2007.

A Return to Candor: I've been on a perspective kick lately, trying to reel in the gross exaggerations and foolish praise that tend to follow cars of this calibre. Make no mistake, the 8C 2900-A is one of my favorites, and it is truly noteworthy for being both a show car and a winning race car. However, in the spirit of levity, we shouldn't get carried away, (oh, hah-hah). Instead, let's place the 2900-A accordingly.

Check the thumbnail of the BMW 328 Roadster over on the right. Now, we're not speaking in terms of direct rivals, but more along the lines of good compare and contrast partners. In spite of tending toward behemoths, the classic era did serve to grow the concept of smaller capacity, high-performance cars. Bugatti and Alfa Romeo were fast to catch on to this trend, picking up where Harry Miller left off in America, and by the end of the decade BMW threw their hat into the ring with an altogether smaller concept—smaller overall package, simplified running gear, and total factory support to the privateer. What a wonderful little car to throw about, and it always looked so pretty, a decent contrast to the changing stripes of the 8C 2900-A series.

The 2900-A is a race-bred car. Of course, in period this didn't mean it couldn't become a fantastic touring car. The difference was simply in its clothes. Where the 328 was an all-purpose road or race package, and where the 2900-B was a more deliberate luxury sports-touring proposition, the 2900-A dressed for the occasion. Cigar-shaped coachwork and cycle-fenders describe the Mille Miglia examples—how this car would have run in 1936 and '37—whereas the road-going attire is much more Touring Superleggera. It's all quite remarkable, how body work was shuffled around between motor shows and racing teams, though certainly not a practice exclusive to Alfa Romeo.

What is exclusive is how a Mille Miglia winner can be so elegant. This was truly the Italians' race, and few cars would be so beautiful, rebodied or not, to have won it outright after debuting at the Paris Motor Show. When events stack up one after another like this, enthusiasts take note. A Paris show car and Mille Miglia winner? Wow.

Still, the 2900-A does not quite garner the attention of the now astronomically valued 2900-B Touring Spyder. The body isn't quite so filled out on the 'A,' remaining narrow in the bonnet and thin along the flanks, and just generally lacks the complete shape of the 2900-B. All the same, most of the 'B' versions sold to the public were de-tuned road cars—still formidable given that the starting point is a Grand Prix motor—but we're slightly below the prestige of these very rare 2900-A cars when it comes to racing merit. Throw the looks in on top of that and the formula is powerful.

I do feel that the 2900-A is no less impressive than the 'B,' and in many ways even more so. At the very least I wish the topic were more frequently discussed as "2900" instead of one exclusive from the other. Thankfully, here in our little corner of the internet, we can do just that.

First in Fashion: Back in 1936, Alfa Romeo drafted a smart roadster for the Paris Auto Show. That design is what you see in the illustration, a well proportioned roadster with lots of fine details like a mix of louvres and vents on the long bonnet, a single panel sweep down across the flank, smooth skirts integrated with the running gear tucked closely against the body, and a clean integrated spare compartment at the rear. This configuration, executed by the Alfa Romeo factory, is derived from the smaller capacity Touring Spyders that preceded it, and is of course much closer to the immortal 2900-B Touring Spyder produced the following year.

But between the 2900-A and 2900-B, the former is rarer, with only a handful built in 1936. And in some sense the 'A' is more of a pure sports car in that all variants of the 2900-A were intended for racing. As it turned out, the Paris Motor Show was just a quick stop for the 2900-A Spyders—just those three that were, as was later pieced together, intended for the Mille Miglia.

Second in Competition: After Paris, Alfa Romeo stripped off the coachwork, fitting a typically tight sports-racing body to the frame and a set of cycle fenders to the wheels. The cars were then turned out to three driver-mechanic teams for the 1936 Mille Miglia—these being Count Antonio Brivio with mechanic Carlo Ongaro, Nino Farina with mechanic Giuseppe Meazza, and Carlo Pintacuda with mechanic Aldo Stefani. These three cars with these three pairs finished the race in that order, Mille Miglia specialist Pintacuda managing third place in spite of making repairs necessitated by a faulty carburetor. This car, chassis #412003, was the number two finisher, with Nino Farina at the wheel.

For the 1937 Mille Miglia, these three cars returned. This time, Carlo Pintacuda claimed victory alongside mechanic Paride Mambelli, while Farina and Meazza again managed second place overall in this car. Farina, who will later become the first Formula 1 World Champion, had been bested twice, although the Mille Miglia was a certain forté for Pintacuda—in fact it was his zenith. The teammates, however, formed a famous caravan to the finish of the 1937 race.

After pummeling every existing record through the early stages of the 1937 race, (and in spite of the fact that it was run in a deluge), Carlo Pintacuda lost his headlights heading into the evening. Pintacuda slowed until Farina caught up with him, and Farina then paced Pintacuda for the remainder of the race, providing enough light to see Pintacuda to the victory he deserved.

Third in Sales: By 1937, the 2900-B was in the works. A proportionately high number of the B-series cars would be made, most of them intended for road use with heftier custom bodies by Touring and Pinin Farina, along with a less aggressively tuned motor. But, Alfa still had the three Paris show car bodies, and had plenty of demand to sell those cars the public had seen a little more than a year previously. So, the three 2900-A Mille Miglia cars were re-bodied in their original skins and sold to the public, and probably without an explanation about what they'd been doing lately.

The sale in 1937 sticks the model year to the car, as it was common practice to date a classic in the year it was sold, rather than the year it was built. Disagreeable, but that's the way it worked; just ask the Duesenberg people.

As of writing, all three Mille Miglia Spyders have been restored to Paris Motor Show form. All three can be seen together in the Victory by Design Alfa Romeo special, although this example currently resides in Philadelphia's renowned Simeone Collection.

Technology: Sweeping the top spots at back-to-back Mille Miglia was no fluke, for these A-series cars represented the pinnacle of the 8C Alfa in endurance racing. The motor—Vittorio Jano's 32-valve, dual overhead cam, twin supercharged straight 8-cylinder—is producing upwards of 220 horsepower at 5,000 rpm. Comprising two of his short 4-cylinder blocks joined together with a common crank, the motor is perfectly balanced, which is quite important considering the immense torque a straight 8-cylinder produces. A well built straight 8-cylinder might have been standard fare at Packard, for instance, but such a motor was never expected to do much past 2,000 rpm.

Here we have a high revving, alloy head, supercharged motor. It's shape is long, but its mass is manageable at just 2,905cc. The 8 cylinders keep a typical 2-4-2 configuration, but the fact that the unit is really two conjoined blocks means there is no great torsional strain placed on the motor. What might typically happen in a powerful straight 8-cylinder is the shaft be spun with so much torque that it begins to exert stress on the valvetrain. This can throw the timing and, ultimately, toast the motor. Jano's solution: Get the power of a straight 8-cylinder, but balance it perfectly to avoid such issues.

Fin: The engineering involved in the 8C 2900 motor was costly. So, not surprisingly, the Italian government paid for much of it. A racing version of the 2900-B followed for 1938, with Clemente Biondetti winning the Mille Miglia that year, (just ahead of another hard charging Pintacuda drive). An amazing streamlined Le Mans Berlinetta was built as well. Perhaps the highest evolution of the car in terms of engineering, it was certainly the fastest 8C 2900, but didn't have a chance to realize success on the international motor racing scene.

Thus, the 2900-A Mille Miglia remains the most successful variant of the lot. And, thanks to its Paris Motor Show debut, it is also among the most glamorous. For a single car to spearhead notoriety of both the competitive and fashionable kind is quite remarkable, and no other 8C Alfa did both to such a degree.

Sources:

Classic & Sports Car, April 2007, On Cloud Two Nine, by Mick Walsh: Ralph Lauren's 1938 8C 2900-B Mille Miglia Spyder.

Dennis David GP History, A great informational site with detailed information and historic photos.

Cromo Classico, Perhaps the best internet article on the 8C Alfa can be found here.

Supercars.net, For many years a go-to site for information.

Victory by Design, by Tony Maylam and Alain de Cadenet: This car, chassis #412003, appears in the Alfa Romeo film.

 

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