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1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B

The Alfa Romeo was a replacement for the 6C 1750 and interim 6C 1900, and combined race car engineering with grand touring styling. It was a more affordable alternative to the 8-cylinder Alfa Romeo and made its debut in 1934, ranking among the company's most memorable creations. Coachwork was provided by some of the finest coachbuilders of the era including Castagna, Zagato, Touring, Pinin Farina, and James Young. Three versions were offered including (in ascending order of specification and performance)Turismo, Gran Turismo and competition Pescara models.

Produced through 1938, 760 examples were of the rigid-axle 6C 2300 and 840 of the B-model (6C 2300B) with an independent front suspension and rear swing axle, along with hydraulic brakes.

The Alfa Romeo 6C

The '6C' name references the straight-6-cylinder engine and '2300' was for its displacement size (2,309cc). The first of the series was the 6C 1500 of 1927 which would set new standards for lightweight, high-performance motorcars. It combined a low and lightweight ladder-frame chassis suspended by semi-elliptic springs with a Vittorio Jano-designed, 1,487cc displacement engine. Several carrozzeria created coachwork for this chassis including Zagato whose Spiders would come to epitomize the springs 6C series.

A more powerful version, dubbed the 6C 1750, was introduced in 1929 with a displacement size of 1,752cc. It would win every major racing event it entered during the 1929 season, including the Grands Prix of Spain, Belgium, Tunis and Monza, along with the Mille Miglia, the Ulster TT, and the Brooklands Double Twelve. During the 1930 season, it won the Mille Miglia and Spa 24 Hours.

The final derivative of the original 6C 1500 arrived in 1933 before the arrival of the 6C 2300 the following year. Known as the 6C 1900, it was built solely on a 115-inch 'Gran Turismo' chassis. The 6C 1500 chassis had wheelbase sizes that ranged from 114.2 to 122 inches and the 6C 1750 had a 108.1 to 124.4-inch wheelbase platform.

The lightweight and performance credentials bestowed upon the 6C 1500 continued and evolved through 1750, 1900, 2300 and 2500 models.

The Alfa Romeo 6C 2300

The 2300's six-cylinder DOHC 2,309cc engine featured an integrally cast crankcase and cylinder block topped by an aluminum-alloy cylinder head. The Turismo version produced 68 horsepower at 4,400 RPM and the Gran Turismo delivered 76 bhp at 4,400 RPM - both had a single carburetor. The Prescara had two carburetors and produced 95 horsepower at 4,500 RPM.

The 6C 2300 B was unveiled in 1936 at the Milan Auto Salon and broke new ground for the company with its independent suspension that lowered the center of gravity of the car and improved its handling. The introduction of hydraulic brakes was a vast improvement. The wheelbase of these cars was now standardized at 3 meters (118.1 inches), with the optional long (Lungo) chassis variant at 3.25 metres.

The independently sprung 6C 2300B were built through 1938, when they were re-badged from Turismo, Gran Turismo and Pescara to Lungo, Corto and Mille Miglia. The 'Mille Miglia' name was in recognition of Alfa Romeo's 1st in Class in 1936, 1937 and 1938 at the event. The Mille Miglia versions had 20 additional horsepower while the racing versions had 30 more hp. The increase was from a 7.75:1 compression ratio and twin single choke Solex 35-40FH carburetors driving through a 14/61 rear axle.

The 6C 2300 made an auspicious competition debut in 1934 at the Giro d'Italia when Gran Turismo models (forming the basis of the Pescara version with 95 horsepower) featuring tuned engines and special bodies placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd. At the 24 Ore di Pescara in August, three examples would finish the race in 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

The Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B was replaced by the 6C 2500, which would remain in production (albeit, halted during WWII) through 1952.

by Dan Vaughan

Mille Miglia Superleggera Coupe by Touring
Chassis number: 815025
Engine number: 823823

The Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 engine was used for road, race and sports cars made between 1925 and 1954. Bodies for these cars were made by many coachbuilders, including Castagna, James Young, Zagato, Touring and Pinin Farina. Starting from 1933 there were also a 6C with a factory Alfa body, built in Portello. As a replacement to the 6C 1750 and interim 6C 1900, the 6C 2300 chassis combined grand touring and race car engineering. The real highlight of the car was its Vittorio Jano-designed engine. All three versions of the 62 2300, the Touring, Granturismo and Pescara, were fitted for the first time with independent suspension on all four wheels. These were identified as the 2300B. Front springs and hydraulic damper units while the rear end was given swing axles controlled by torsion bars.

Carrozzeria Touring of Milan patented the superleggera design using ultralight alloys and components with aluminum panels over a cage-like steel frame. The Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 was created by Vittorio Jano as a cheaper alternative to the 8-cylinder Alfa Romeo combining grand touring style with race car engineering. Production continued until 1939 when it was replaced by the 6C 2500.

Mille Miglia Superleggera Coupe by Touring
Chassis number: 815.092

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 Dan Vaughan

Mille Miglia Superleggera Coupe by Touring
Chassis number: 815053
Engine number: 824007

The front engine, rear wheel drive 6C derives its name from its six-cylinder engine. This 2300 Series was the 4th generation, produced from 1934 to 1939. This Mille Miglia model was designed by Vittorio Jano. The 2.3-liter, naturally aspirated, overhead valve, and 6-cylinder engine makes 105 horsepower with a top speed of 90 mph.

In the 1930s, Alfa Romeo produced some of the greatest cars ever made, like the 6C 2300. Originally introduced in 1934 with a 60 horsepower Dual Overhead Cam straight 6, tuned versions soon followed with 76 horsepower, followed by a short wheelbase 95 horsepower model. The next development model B featured a newly designed chassis, with individual front suspension, rear swing axle, and hydraulic brakes.

The ultimate version was this Mille Miglia model, with just 107 built on the short chassis in 1938 and 1939. The car was fitted with period-correct Carello head and taillights, along with proper Bosch driving lights. It has its original Bosch ignition key, a prewar Pirelli key fob and the original brass 1938 Automobile Club dItalia tax stamp. It has genuine Alfa Romeo-brand rear shocks and NOS Triple-Carb Solex carburetors found only on the Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia cars.

This example was the ultimate 'barn find.' It was purchased in 1956 by a reclusive Swiss collector and shorted at his chateau - untouched for the next 34 years before being sold. It became known as the 'Sleeping Beauty' and underwent an extensive and detailed restoration in the 1990s.

Mille Miglia Superleggera Coupe by Touring
Chassis number: 815053
Engine number: 824007

A total of 107 examples of the 6C 2300B Mille Miglia were built with the majority fitted with either Spider or Berlinetta coachwork by Touring of Milan. This Touring-bodied Berlinetta left the Portello works in April 1938 with its first known (recorded) owner being Herr Hoffer of Geneva in 1946. In 1953, it was sold to Jean-Louis Fatio, also of Geneva. At the time, the car wore a 'light greyish green' exterior with 'red leather interior.' While in Monsieur Fatio's custodianship, the car was resprayed dark blue. In 1957, the car was sold to fellow Geneva resident Michel Dovaz, who would re-register this Alfa Romeo in France in August 1958 and retained it for the next three decades.

In 1990, the car came into the care of Dutch Alfa Romeo collector and dealer Douwe Heida who treated it to a much-needed restoration. It was returned to its original color scheme (as could best be determined) of light blue. Ownership later passed to Belgian Alfa Romeo aficionado and Pebble Beach judge Raoul San Giorgi in 1997 and sold it two years later to Dutch collector Paul Koot. After four years, the car was sold to David Smith of America. A second comprehensive restoration soon commenced which included the body removed from the Superleggera tubing and sympathetically restored prior to refitment to the frame. The work took two years to complete and upon completion, it wore a black color scheme with a dark green leather interior.

While with Mr. Smith, the car was given an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce-sourced five-speed gearbox with a BMW clutch assembly to improve its touring capability. (The correct-type Alfa Romeo Gearbox (number 843047) remains with the vehicle).

It has the correct bumpers, stamped '2087', which correspond to this chassis - number 815053. The car was fitted with period-correct Carello head- and taillights, along with proper Bosch driving lights. It has its original Bosch ignition key, a prewar Pirrelli key fob and the original brass 1938 Automobile Club d'Italia tax stamp. It has genuine Alfa Romeo-brand rear shocks and NOS Triple-Carb Solex carburetors found only on the Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia cars.

The car rides on aluminum Borrani wire wheels - a period option - has hydraulic brakes, swing axles and torsion-bar suspension.

In 2007, the car was awarded a Best in Class award at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It won a CCCA Senior Badge at the Nationals in Bellevue, Washington in January of 2008.

When the car was sold in early 2008, it entered the Oscar Davis Collection. In 2009, it won the Pre-war Sports Car class at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.

by Dan Vaughan

Mille Miglia Spider Corsa by Touring
Chassis number: 815001

This 1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B MM Spider Corsa is the first chassis of the series which was built under the supervision of Vittorio Jano for Count Giovanni Lurani of Scuderia Ambrosiana. The car was driven by Lurani's star driver, Franco Cortese in the Italian Sport Nazionale category. Cortese won the Italian championship in 1938 winning seven of the eight races in which he entered and was a class winner in the 1938 Mille Miglia. Sadly, out of the nine racing 6C 2300Bs from the late 1930s only one body has survived. During the war, the car was modified and fitted with a new convertible body by Pinin Farina and many years after the war, its racing pedigree emerged in the 1970s and its then owner John Coombs rebodied it back to its original racing configuration. Its current owner has driven this historic Alfa many times in the Mille Miglia Storica and has finished every time.

Mille Miglia Cabriolet

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 name 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.

The 2.3-liter version of Vittorio Jano's engine was a continuation of excellence and perfection. The 1500 was the first increment, and it truly created recognition for the Italian based manufacturer. The 1750 and 1900 soon followed, then came the 2300 which offered just over 70 horsepower initially. Its construction was very similar to its predecessors, utilizing two overhead camshafts actuating two valves for each cylinder. It was formed using a cast-iron block and light-alloy head and mated to a four-speed gearbox with drum brakes on all four corners.

The first car to house the 2300 engine was the 63 2300 which made its inaugural debut at the 1934 Milan Motorshow. The body was courtesy of Castagna in four-door saloon configuration. A short-wheelbase Gran Turismo version soon followed, as did a higher compression version of the engine offering nearly 100 horsepower. These sporty versions were called the Pescara model and only sixty examples would ever be produced. The long wheelbase versions were called the Turismo's, the shorter Gran Turismos were known as the Pescara's. Within a few years, they would simply be known as the SWB and LWB for 'short' and 'long' wheelbase respectively.

Time brings about improvement, and very little time transpired before a 'B' version was introduced. In 1935 the 6C 2300B was introduced which brought new changes to the suspension and chassis, and mild improvements to the already potent powerplant. The suspension was independent in both the front and rear with swing axles in the rear and wishbones in the front.

In 1937 a Pescara emerged from the Mille Miglia with a class victory; in its honor the Pescara's name was changed to MM.

Production of the 2300 continued until 1939 when it was replaced by the 6C 2500 which would remain in production, except during war time, until 1952.

by Dan Vaughan

In the early 1930s, Alfa Romeo was in financial trouble. It was rescued by the Italian government who took control of the company in 1933 through the Istituto Riconstruzione Industriale (IRI). The day-to-day operation of the racing program was given to Enzo Ferrari. With the racing program well managed and the concerns of the marketplace put to rest, the Alfa Romeo engineers were free to create some of the most elegant and technology advanced vehicles of their day.

The Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 was introduced in 1934. They featured a dual overhead cam six-cylinder engine that produced nearly 70 horsepower. This figure rose rather quickly as racing versions soon emerged, bringing horsepower closer to 100 bhp. With the help of Enzo Ferrari, the 6C 2300 did well in competition; its first victory made at the Targa Abruzzo distance races in Pescara in 1934 where they swept the field. In honor of this accomplishment, a small series of these were produced as the 6C 2300 Pescara.

For 1935, the 6C 2300 was given hydraulic brakes, a fully independent suspension, and a lighter, more modern chassis. These changes resulted in a name change, now dubbed the 6C 2300B. Future changes to the series included a new gearbox with Synchromesh on the third and top gear and improved frame mountings.

The top-of-the-line 6C 2300B was Mille Miglia version, built on the short chassis with a 105 horsepower engine. Perhaps the most memorable were those clothed by Carrozzeria Touring, one of which took first place in the Turismo class of the 1937 Millle Miglia and 4th overall. There were only 107 examples of the 6C 2300B MM produced between 1938 and 1939.

by Dan Vaughan

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 engine's cubic-centimeter displacement size.

The engine was a version of Vittorio Jano designed a 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 a 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 wartime. 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 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 lightweight, bodies were capable of speeds in excess of 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 this one of the finest Alfa Romeos ever produced.

by Dan Vaughan