1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B Mille Miglia Superleggera Coupe

The Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 made its debut in 1934 and is ranked among the company's most memorable creations. Power was from a dual overhead camshaft and initially offering 68 horsepower. This was quickly tuned to 76 bhp GT and a short-wheelbase variant with 95 horsepower on tap. With Enzo Ferrari's Scuderia Ferrari, the 6C 2300 achieved success on its second race outing, scoring a podium sweep at the 1934 Targa Abruzzi endurance race held in Pescara. In celebration of this accomplishment, a small batch of 'Pescara' 6C 2300s were produced.

Alfa Romeo continued to refine their model, resulting in the 6C 2300B. It featured hydraulic brakes, fully independent suspension, and a revised lightweight chassis. An updated second series added a new gearbox with synchronized third and top gears plus new chassis mounts. The ultimate high-performance model was the 6C 2300B Mille Miglia, which utilized a shorter chassis and tuned 105 horsepower engine.

Milan's Touring coachworks applied their craft to the 6C 2300 using their proprietary superleggera process of lightweight alloy panels over a light yet strong framework of small-diameter steel tubes. Scuderia Ferrari piloted a Touring-bodied close-coupled Berlinetta 6C 2300B MM - with drivers Boratto and Guidotti - finished 1st in Class and 4th overall in 1937 at the Mille Miglia. Production of the 6C 2300B MM ended with the advent of the 6C 2500 in 1939. In total, just 107 examples of these thoroughbreds were built in all, priced from 79,500 lire new.

This particular Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B Mille Miglia Berlinetta is a late-production example wearing Touring body number 2130. It is currently fitted with a period-correct engine and accompanied by an additional cylinder block stamped 'MM 824047,' which is believed original to the car.

It is believed that the car was purchased new in 1938 by Arnold Delmarco of Yverdon, Switzerland. It car, wearing race-number 43, raced on the 1939 Liège-Rome-Liège Rally, the event's final edition before the onset of war in Europe. Its Swiss registration was 'VB 19361.'

The car's next owner was Luis Esteve of Barcelona who purchased the car in 1945. Perhaps to circumvent the Spanish automobile importation rules, a chassis plate from a 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Turismo had been fitted to the car. This was (again, perhaps) done because only commercial vehicles were allowed to be regularly imported to Franco's Spain from 1939 through the mid-1960s. Bearing Spanish registration 'B 74416,' it remained in Mr. Esteve's care until 1965. It was photographed on May 15, 1947, race-numbered 1, at the Grand Prix de Montjuïc.

The next owner was José Bascones who retained the car for nearly 4 decades. Mr. Bascones used the Alfa Romeo in several classic driving events, including at least two editions of the Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo in 1974 and 1983. Mr. Bascones maintained the car in highly original, unrestored form until 2002 when it was sold to a new owner in Holland. The current owner acquired it in August of 2009.

Of the 107 examples of the Alfa Romeo 2300B MM chassis produced in 1938, not all wore a Touring Superleggera Berlinetta body in the period. Many were given coachwork by Ghia, Stabilimenti Farina, Pinin Farina, and Swiss coachbuilder Graber.

This particular example is the 30th car of the series fitted with the special lightweight bodywork.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2014