1939 Alfa Romeo Tipo 256

Sold for $4,000,000 at 2014 Gooding & Company : Pebble Beach Concours.
In many respects, a true sportscar is something of a wolf in sheep's clothing. From the outside they can appear merely elegant, luxury-based, sophisticated, even a bit docile at times. But, the heart that rests within beats with the passion and drive of a fearsome war horse ready to charge into the fray. This balance certainly reflects the enigma that is the 1939 Alfa Romeo Tipo 256 Cabriolet Sportivo.

Being an Alfa, a pre-war one at that, chassis 915026 started out life as one of the factory's racing Tipo 256s. In fact, the car would start out its life with coachwork designed and built by Carrozzeria Touring. Being that it is described as a Tipo 256, it means this particular car represents one of the last collaborations between Alfa Romeo and Scuderia Ferrari. Enzo's outfit in Modena prepared and outfitted the Tipo 256s which boasted of Alfa's 2.5-liter six-cylinder engine producing upwards of 125hp at nearly 5,000rpms.

The Tipo 256 was produced in response to new regulations. Not only would these new regulations see the supercharged Alfa Romeo's come to an end, but it would also be the last collaboration between Ferrari and Alfa since the Second World War was right around the corner.

But this particular car would serve two lives. It is widely held that this car was driven to victory in the Corsa dello Stelvio by Mario Tadini, an Alfa Corse factory driver. This victory would come in July of 1939 and would be about the only documented race in which the car took part in before the outbreak of the war. Thus would begin the car's second life.

Not long after the victory in the Corsa dello Stelvio, 915026 would be sold to Sigfrido Koelliker. Koelliker certainly had the means to purchase the latest from Alfa Romeo. Known as 'Gigi', he was an heir to a milling and textile empire. He would form a partnership with Lombardi Automobili and would later become Lombardi and Koelliker. He would have the car delivered to Pinin Farina in 1940 where it would undergo work to fit a whole new body to the Tipo 256 chassis.

It is taken as fact the resulting body style was penned by Count Mario Revelli de Beaumont who worked for a number of different coachbuilders, including Pinin Farina. Not surprisingly, his design would reflect the influences of the day. Teardrop front and rear fenders highlight an aerodynamic, and yet simply-elegant, enveloped design. This streamlined car, which would include 'suicide' doors and innovative 'V' windscreen, would be a brilliant amalgamation of performance and styling. Farina himself would be proud of the creation and would even advertise this very car in an issue of Auto Italiana in July of 1940. Not long after this, the famous football star and racing driver Piero Dusio. Unfortunately, the war would provide little opportunity for its beautiful, evocative lines to grace the road.

Following the end of the war, 915026 would pick up right where it left off. The car would leave Dusio's ownership and would change hands a couple of times and would finally end up in the United Kingdom under the ownership of Ann Phillis Wood. Arriving in England, the Alfa Romeo would end up in a 1949 issue of The Motor. Soon afterward, the car would return to the continent and would be owned by a handful of Swiss residents, including one Karl Weber who would actually compete in a number of hillclimbs with the Pinin Farina-bodied Sportivo.

The car would prove it still had what it took to succeed and that it wasn't just a looker. In 1951 Weber would finish 4th in the Tiefencastel-Lenzerheide Hillclimb and would follow that up a couple of years later with a 2nd place result in the Swiss National Slalom. Nearly fifteen years old, the Alfa still demonstrated it had what it took to get up a mountain in short order.

The car would remain in Weber's ownership all the way up to 1988 when it was given by Weber to his mechanic where it would remain in his care until 2008 when it came to be owned by its current owner.

By Jeremy McMullen

Sold for $2,755,000 at 2019 Gooding & Company : Pebble Beach.
This is the last of five racing Alfa Romeo 6Cs fitted with Alfa's most powerful 120 horsepower Tipo 256 racing engine which were built in 1939 under the direction of Enzo Ferrari. First built with a Super Sport Spyder Corsa body for amateur driver Gian Moria Cornaggia Medici, this Alfa placed in eight races in 1939 as well as the Mille Miglia in 1940. In 1941 it was sold to its second owner, race car driver Guseppa Guidiri di Pietro Giorgia. Not overly enamored with the car's performance, he commissioned a new lightweight body from Touring of Milan and the two year old open racing car became a road going coupe. This car had ten Italian owners before it current owner bought it in 2012 and he has now restored it to its 1941 Touring Coupe configuration in its original color.

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 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 Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2006