1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS news, pictures, and information

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With the combination of Vittorio Jano, 6C design and Bruno Trevisan performance upgrades, the reliability and performance along with fully independent suspension made the pre-war Alfa 2500 models one of Europe's most superb road machines.

The 6C 2500 SS Corsa was a light sports/racing car using the Super Sport chassis and had an engine tuned to give 125 horsepower instead of 110 bhp making it capable of 125 mph.

The profound transformation of the car carried out at Scuderia Ferrari in Modena qualified it as a model in its own right; the car's wheelbase was reduced substantially and its engine power significantly increased. The coachwork was either done in-house of by Touring.

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Chassis Num: 913213
Engine Num: 923871

This is a 1939/1940 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 with chassis number 913213 and engine number 923871. It is fitted with a Mille Miglia Spider body. The chassis was originally fitted with a Touring 5 seat body. The Super Sport engine is correct to the current body; complete with the three side draft Weber carburetors.

This car has run the California Mille Miglia and the Monterey Historic races and participated in various Concours events. It won the Mille Miglia at the Palo Alto Concours in 2005.

Ken Shaff and I (Conrad Stevenson) bought this car in 1991 as a total project --- it had not body but lots of spare parts, so this really is a resurrection or recreation made from original pre-war parts. The chassis #913213 is a 1939/1940 and was registered in Madrid(Spain) at some time in the 1950s. The insurance tags are still on the firewall. The engine is also a pre-war Super Sport motor, correct to the body configuration that the car now has.

This body style is known as a 6C 2500 SS Corsa. These Mille Miglia race cars have 6 cylinder twin cam normally aspirated motors using three single barrel side draft Weber carburetors, wheras the other Alfa Romeo 8 cylinder cars were supercharged. While the 2500 models had substantially less power than the supercharged cars, their better fuel mileage enable them to carry less fuel and be lighter as result, a benefit for the longer events. Unfortunately the Mille Miglia was shortened during the war.

Ken Shaff pssed away after this car ws completed but he and I ran the car in the California Mille Miglia (2004) and a CSRG event at Sears Point/Infineonraceway in 2005. More than anything this car is a tribute to Ken Shaff who was regarded by anyone who knew him as a true gentleman and a greatly missed friend.

The Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 was introduced near the end of the 1930's. The 6C name was derived from the engine size, an inline-six while the 2500 represented the engines cubic-centimeter displacement size.

The engine was a version of Vittorio Jano designed six-cylinder engine. The 6C was available in a plethora of body styles and wheelbases and was produced during two different times in history. Most of the coachwork was handled by Touring of Italy or by Pinin Farina. The body styles ranged from coupes and convertible to four-seater salon. In 1939 Alfa Romeo introduced the SS version, a short-wheelbase model, dubbed 'SS' for Super Sport, that had a high-compression 6C engine rated at 105 horsepower. It was the top-of-the line 6C model that married style and performance together to create the perfect road-going vehicle.

World War II had interrupted production for many automobile manufacturers. During this time many switched their efforts to support the war, such as building engines for marine and aircraft or by producing vehicles that were suitable for war time. When Alfa Romeo resumed production, their vehicles were similar to those they had offered in 1939. The main difference was that Alfa Romeo now bodied the cars themselves rather than providing the rolling chassis for custom coachbuilders to body. The designs had become standard but they were still based on sketches and designs produced by coachbuilders such as Pinin Farina and Touring. Pinin Farina built the exclusive bodies such as the Cabriolet. These vehicles were elegant and stylish and had a price tag that matched. Touring built the Coupes which became known as the Villa d'Este in 1949 after winning the famous Concours d'Elegance Villa d'Este. When outfitted with the Superleggera, meaning light weight, bodies they were capable of speed of over 100 mph.

The engines were similar to the Jano designed six-cylinder power plant, capable of producing 110 horsepower. Independent suspension was installed to soften the ride while improving performance and handling characteristics. A four-speed manual transmission was similar to the one used prior to the onset of the war.

The history of the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 automobiles are extensive. The various designs and body-styles matched with their mechanical capabilities make these one of the finest Alfa Romeos ever produced.

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