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1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 news, pictures, and information

Hardtop Coupe
Coachwork: Viotti
 
Alfa Romeo derives its name from a combination of the ALFA Company and Nicola Romeo. Romeo acquired the ALFA Company (Lombard Cars Inc) in 1915. Their early reputation as builders of solid thoroughbred performers led to postwar expansion in production. Early production examples include wonderful sports and racing machines, among them, the 8C 2300.

The superb 2300cc engine is the handiwork of Vittorio Jano, who joined Alfa Romeo from Fiat in 1923. The straight eight-cylinder design uses two identical four-cylinder blocks, with a dry sump oiling system. The two-piece crankshaft rides on ten bearings and has camshaft and supercharger drives located mid-block. It produces 142 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and feeds a four-speed gearbox. There are large finned drum brakes at each corner.

This example began life as a Touring-bodied LeMans racer. It finished third in 1933, driven by Brian Lewis & Rose-Richards. Afterwards, it was shipped to Italy and transformed by Viotti to an elegant coupe. This is the only 8C 2300 Alfa with Viotti coachwork. The car has a documented history, uses all the original parts, chassis and spectacular Viotta coachwork.
Spyder
Chassis Num: 2111035
Engine Num: 2111035
 
The car is believed to be one of the four cars built by Alfa Romeo to compete in the 1932 Mille Miglia. Although #2111035 did not race the Targa Florio, it is a close representation of #2111033 that did run the race in May 1933. #2111035 was used to promote the victory of Alfa Romeo in the Mille Miglia and then sold in October 1932 to Domenico Augusta whose family was involved with the legendary motorcycles and more recently the helicopters. The current English license plate AMO 999 was given to the car when imported to England in 1937 where it campaigned in several motoring events. After changing owners in England, #2111035 was brought to the United States. It is reckoned as the most original of the four 1932 works cars.
Spyder
Designer: Zagato
 
One of four Monza produced in 1932, this car was sold to Alfa works driver Geofreddo 'Teddy' Zehender. It finished fifth in its first appearance, at the Monaco Grand Prix - four laps behind winner Tazio Nuvolari - and raced at least 11 other times that year, winning at the Comminges Grand Prix. In 1934, only one Alfa Romeo Monza was equipped with hydraulic brakes. It is known that Nuvolari drove a specially-equipped Monza with hydraulic brakes in the 1934 Mille Miglia. Is this the car? The experts cannot agree. E.G. Salice drove this car in the 1935 and 1936 Mille Miglias. Not long afterwards, the car went to the Wild Brothers, who raced it extensively, including the 1937 and 1938 Mille Miglias.
 
The legendary Alfa Romeo 2.3 liter straight-eight engine made its first appearance in the 1931 Mille Miglia. One of the remarkable characteristics of the 8C 2300's is that the cars performed equally well in racing, grand touring or just going shopping. There were three series of the 2.3 liter engine. The first was produced in 1931, and the second and third series were made from 1932 to 1934. At the time, these cars were priced at 80,000 to 125,000 lire.

The car displayed here, a Series II, was originally purchased new by Andrea Mario Piaggio of the Piaggio family, which was famous for its aeroplanes and later, its scooters. It was used as a road car until October 11th, 1951 when it was parked and no longer driven.

In 1958 the car was donated to the Museo dell' Automobile Carlo Biscaretti in Torino, Italy. At that time the museum already had a fully restored Touring body Spider, so the body was removed from the Piaggio 8C 2300 and the rolling chassis was put on display until 1995. The body was sold to Brian Brunkhorst, but it took him nine years to persuade the museum to sell the chassis. The chassis and body were then re-united and ultimately sold to the current owner, who has entered this car in the 2005 Copperstate 1000 (where it won the Director's Award), the 2500 Alfa 8C Tour of the Rockies, and the 2006 Louis Vuitton Classic Boheme Run (Budapest to Prague).
Spyder
Coachwork: Touring
 
Designed by Vittorio Jano as a replacement for the 6C 1750, the racing versions of the 8C 2300 had multiple wins at LeMans, Spa, Targa Florio, and the Mille Miglia. Built from 1931 to 1934, the chassis was fitted with stunning coachwork by Touring, Zagato, Brianza, Castagna, Figoni and others.

Perhaps the greatest tribute to the legendary 8C series is that Alfa Romeo has named its latest supercar the '8C Competizione.'

The 8C 2300 displayed here, which was bodied by Touring, was displayed by Alfa Romeo at the Paris Automobile Salon in 1932. Sold new in England, it was raced at Brooklands and Shelsley Walsh. Second owner Harry Rose drove the car to Monte Carlo a few times to watch the Monaco Grand Prix.

The car came to the United States around 1940 and later joined the collection of Maryland Senator A. Lofstrand. The current owner acquired the car in 1991. The car was extensively researched including a visit with Luigi Fusi who was one of the Alfa Romeo designers during the period, before the restoration, which was completed in 2003.

Following a recent restoration, this car has been driven by the owner on two 1,000 mile tours for Alfa 8C's in the Rockies.
Roadster
Coachwork: Touring
 
This Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 was the fourth factory team car for the 1932 racing season. It was driven by Pierre Louis Dreyfus and Antoine Schumann at Le Mans, but the car crashed early in the race and was unable to finish. The Alfa factory then sold the car to Alfredo Koch in Italy. He entered it at LeMans again in 1933, but once more it did not finish. Afterwards the car was sold to an English collector. This long chassis Alfa has a straight 8-cylinder engine of light alloy with twin overhead camshafts, one carburetor, and a Roots supercharger. Alfa commissioned the custom coachwork from Touring of Milan, which built many of the factory team cars.
Corsa Corto Spyder
Coachwork: Zagato
 
In the 24 hours of Spa there were two 8C 2300 Corsa Corto Spyders, one with a high radiator and one with the lower version. On that particular day, these two Spyders, both bodied by Zagato, Scuderia Ferrari used the most famous logo in the world, the prancing horse emblem, for the very first time. One came in 1st on that day; this ca arrived in 2nd place on 7 cylinders. The car continued to race for the Scuderia Ferrari Team in many events.
Spyder
Coachwork: Touring
 
This Alfa Romeo was first displayed at the 1932 London Motor show and sold to Alfred (Alfie) Rose, the son of the founder of Roses of Gainsborough, the well known engineers.

The Roses of Gainsborough were an extremely successful engineering company who, amongst other things, were the first to develop machinery to mass produce cigarettes and who were, early in the 20th Century, producing high quality motor cars - the Rose National - in limited numbers.

'Alfie' Rose commissioned the Carlton Carriage Co. to build a drophead coupe body. Alfie used the car extensively during the 1930s touring France and Italy with it and doing the odd amateur hill climbs and sprints. The car was laid up in the garage at his country house and sadly, the engine suffered severe frost damage in the cold snap in 1947. It was then sold to the Goslings Garage for 85 British pounds. From the 1950s through the 1970s, it was purchased several times and each time it remained unused until purchased by the current owner in the 1970s.

The remains of the car were restored by Paul Jayne as a short chassis spyder in the 1990s, using the engine and gearbox from another short chassis spyder that had been crashed in Italy in the 1940s.

It competed in the 2009 8C Alfa rally in Tuscany.
Spyder
Chassis Num: 2111042
 
Chassis number 2111042 was given a road-car body after its racing career ended. The work was performed by Papler in German. By the 1960s, the car was given another body - a replica Monza body. In the 1990s, the Monza was treated to a restoration. After the work was completed, the car was shown at the 1999 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

The early history of the car believes to include racing as a Works Monza. Alfa Romeo used the car in early 1932 and was later sold to Raymond Sommer who continued its Grand Prix racing career, as well as competing in sports car races. In Sommers capable hands, the car was victorious at the 1932 GP de Marseille.

The car was later sold to Juan Zanelli, an amateur Chilean racer, who raced it with some success over the years that followed.

In modern times, the 8C Monza is regularly exercised in historic racing.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jun 2012
Vittorio Jano was responsible for the design of the magnificent engineering marvel, the 8C 2300. The name was formed by following Alfa Romeo's naming convention; the 8C represented the eight cylinder engine while the 2300 represented the cubic-capacity. The engine is comprised of two four-cylinder engine with the cylinders aligned in a row. Central gearing drives the overhead twin camshafts. A Roots-type supercharger was used to force air to the carburetor aiding in the production of 140 horsepower. Further modifications to the OHV engine increased the horsepower output to nearly 180.

The first 8C 2300 made an appearance in prototype form at the 1931 Mille Miglia. Two Grand Prix 8C 2300 models were later entered in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza where they finished first and second. In honor of this achievement, Alfa Romeo used the name 'Monza' on all their 8C 2300 Grand Prix vehicles. In 1932 the 8C 2300 became a dominant force, winning at Targa Florio followed by three consecutive victories at Le Mans. It was undefeated at the Grand Prix circuit, defeating the powerful Mercedes SSK and SSKL models and brining an end to their dominance. It achieved many prestigious victories such as the Spa 24 Hours and the Monaco Grand Prix and more. Compliments of the vehicles capabilities and durability.

The 8C 2300 was available in a wide variety of body styles including short and long wheel-based chassis. The long wheelbase was dubbed 'Lungo' while the short-wheelbase were 'Corto'. The Lungo models were suitable for traveling on the open roads at high speeds while the Corto models were smaller, lighter, and more agile, suitable for racing, many being prepared by Scuderia Ferrari. The Lungo series produced 140 horsepower with a 4.25 final drive. The Spider Corsas often featured a 165 horsepower engine built specifically to satisfy customer specifications. A 3.76:1 or 4.08:1 final drive was left to the customer to select.

As was customary at the time, many of the automobiles were supplied to custom coachbuilders such as Pininfarina, Figoni, Touring, Castagna, and Zagato. The results were uniquely designed and eloquently outfitted automobiles that were as much works of art as they were high performance machines.

The 8C 2300 was produced from 1931 through 1933. During their production life span only 188 examples were produced. By today's standards, many 8C 2300 models easily sell for over a million dollars.

8C 35
The Alfa Romeo 8C-35 was a Scuderia Ferrari works car which raced at Monza, Modena, Nurburgring, Lucca, Monaco and more. They were driven by famous drivers such as Dreyfus, Farina, Brivio, and Nuvolari.

One of the most historical races for the 8C-35 was at Coppa Cieno. Nuvolari's Alfa Romeo Tipo C 12C-36 suffered a broken transaxle after only two laps. He ran to the pits and got into an 8C-35. By the time Nuvolari re-entered the race, he was already seven laps down. By the time the race concluded, Nuvolari was in first place.

8C 2900
The 8C 2900 was built in two series, the 2900A and the 2900B. The 8C represented the engine size, a straight eight powerplant while the 2900 represented the size of the engine, 2905 cc. The engine was created by mounting two four-cylinder alloy blocks on a single crankcase. With the twin Roots-type superchargers attached, the 2.9-liter engine could produce between 180 hp for the 8C 2900B and 220 hp for the 8C 2900A. The suspension was all-independent with wishbones in the front and the rear had swing-axles.

The Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A was a two-seater with Grand Prix style bodywork. They were purpose-built to race and win at Italy's famous Mille Miglia. In 1936, three examples were entered and were able to capture a first through third finish. A year later, they repeated their success again capturing the top three places. The success of the 2900A spawned the decision to create a road-going version that Alfa Romeo could supply to its customers. The 8C 2900B models were built upon two different wheelbases and had bodies that were very aerodynamic. Similar to the 2900A mechanically, the 2900B models were given a de-tuned engine that produced 40 horsepower less than the 2900A but still fast enough to be claimed the fastest production vehicle in the world with a top speed of nearly 110 mph. The Corto were short 2800mm wheelbase version while the Lungo were the long 3000 mm wheelbase versions. As was customary at the time, custom coachbuilders were often tasked with building the bodies. The 2900B had most of its coachwork handled by Touring of Italy. The vehicles could be purchased in Berlinetta, Roadster or Spyder bodies. These supercars were not only fast but they were expensive too. Since they were mechanically capable to match most vehicles on the racing circuit, many of the 2900B models were raced. Alfa Romeo constructed 13 examples of the 8C 2900B but with the 220 hp engine and most with Roadster bodies. In 1938 and in 1947, the 2900B with the 220 hp engine were able to capture the checkered flag at the Mille Miglia.

During its production lifespan, only 41 examples were produced. Three wee type 8C 2900 A with the remaining being the type B.

8C 2900B Spyder
Evolving from the successful 1936 8C 2900A, the 2900B is the highly cultured son of the grand champion athlete. Hidden under the long and graceful hood lives an engine with a racing heritage. The 2900 cc straight eight cylinder supercharged masterpiece features dual camshafts, dual magnetos and dry sump oiling. Despite reduced compression compared to 2900A, it still produces an astounding 180 horsepower, delivered through a four-speed gearbox.

Two of Italy's finest designers provided appropriate coachwork for the 2900B, Carrozzeria Touring and Stabilimenti Farina. Only thirty examples were produced and each is somewhat unique.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2006
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