Alfa Romeo 6c 1750 GTC Fifth Series Cabriolet, 1931
Alfa Romeo 6C
Alfa Romeo 6C•
•35 مشاهدة
Chassis No.: 101014832
Engine No.: 101014832
Estimate: US$800,000 - US$900,000 USD
- 1,752cc DOHC Supercharged Inline 6-Cylinder Engine
- Single Dual-Throat Memini Carburetor
- 85bhp at 4,500rpm
- 4-Speed Manual Transmission
- 4-Wheel Drum Brakes
- In the esteemed collection of Alfredo Celli for many years
- Restored in the 1990s by Dino Cognolato and Gianni Trelli
- Former Louis Vuitton Concours Class Winner
- Usable, sporting and practical fasting tour car
From 1931 Alfa Romeo offered the 6C 1750 GTC the chassis, axles, suspension, brakes, steering, wheels, half-shafts and gearbox of which were all different to earlier 1750s, and were akin to the 8c 2300, making them virtually an 8C with a 1750 supercharged engine! Not surprisingly, as a result today many 6C 1750 GTCs have been converted into 8C 2300 cars - usually with chassis shortened. There are very few matching-numbers original survivors of the model, still with original coachwork.
The 6C 1750 model's sporting career, included a win in the saloon class by a GTC in the 1931 Mille Miglia (Minoia). Their mechanical longevity has extended far beyond its production, which ceased in 1933.
THE MOTORCAR OFFERED
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s there were two coachbuilders with whom Alfa Romeo shared the closest ties, Zagato and Touring both of Milan. As the brand developed, it was these companies that could interpret the chassis best, and in this period clothed the cars that left the nearby works with the most beautiful fashion. Some would say that the Touring 'Flying Star' 1750 is the most perfect expression of this period, and it is from those same design studios that exquisitely rendered bodies such as this cabriolet would also emerge. Touring executed several "Coupe Royale" coachbuilt bodies on the 6C 1750 GTC chassis of which this is possibly the only original survivor - with history known since 1949.
Chassis 101014382 is a 5th Series car which would have been delivered in 1931, it was one of only 66 examples supplied that year, in a three-year production run that amounted to 159 units. It is understood to have been sold new in its home country where it survived the war years and first surfaces in collector circles in October 1949 when the Alfa was imported to the UK and registered KXO 590. An old advertisement on file shows it to have been offered for sale through Character Cars of Wimbledon for the princely sum of £625 towards the end of 1950, a very high price for the period. The sales pitch notes it to have recently been repainted, reupholstered and the brightwork replated. Interestingly, that 1950 advertisement shows the car fitted with a rearwards-sloping radiator, as now fitted.
A chain of British owners ensued, Arthur Finch between 1961 and 1962; John Cameron from 1963 to 1970 and possibly the noted collector and racer Hamish Moffatt after that. In 1983 it returned to Italy to join the collection of the Medici Brothers briefly, before settling in the long-term custody of noted collector Alfredo Celli, who would keep the car for nearly 30 years. In that time, it was registered with the Automotoclub Storico Italiano and received a FIVA Passport.
By 1995, it was somewhat tired, and the decision was made for it to be treated to a refreshment, an exercise which led to full blown restoration. The owner was able to enlist the services of Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni, the second generation of the founding designer of Touring. In the course of the process, it was revealed that the cabriolet top which in the interim post 1950 had for some time been sealed in a closed configuration, should indeed be fully convertible and it was returned to its original drophead Coupe Royale form.
The bodywork and cosmetics were entrusted to Dino Cognolato's esteemed workshops, who carried out the reversion of the coachwork and in doing so were able to reveal its original color scheme, which the car now wears once more. While the mechanical aspects were handled by the respected engineer Gianni Torelli, whose versatile skills have handled the extremes of high revving dual cam Italian sub 1 liter power units right up to the gargantuan Bugatti Royale of more than a dozen liters.
The completion of this work occurred in 1996, after which it was first displayed at the then popular Luois Vuitton Classic at the Parc de Bagatelle in Paris, where its condition was immediately appreciated with a class win of the 'Grandes Classiques des annees 20 & 30'.
After a two more decades in that ownership during which it continued to be shown and enjoyed it was offered for sale and the Alfa arrived the sympathetic hands of a noted connoisseur and long-time 'Alfisti' in the UK, from which it is offered today. Being an aficionado for the brand, and familiar with the aesthetics of these cars, he elected to revert to the canted version more normally seen on the 8-cylinder cars, although the Celli-fitted upright GTC radiator accompanies the car. He also fitted a longer rear axle ratio (from an 8C) and the car cruises very easily in excess of his home country legal limit of 70mph, with a safe top speed of about 90mph, all the while being docile enough for casual road use.
This supercharged grand touring Alfa Romeo offers a wide range of options of use from the Concours lawns to long distance tours, or even the Mille Miglia in a comfortable, fully convertible form and inimitable style. Much as it was in period, as Luigi Fusi commented in his reference work on the marque - "This car was in high demand by an elite of amateurs who liked comfort, combined with sport touring features".
