Historical Icon: 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Series III Super Sport Spider

Calling any Alfa-Romeo built with racing in mind “clunky” seems like sacrilege. Yet, Alfa’s early 1920s product was a tall, 3400 lb touring car called the RL – well-suited for the era’s rough roads but barely nimble. A factory-forced diet resulted in a lightweight version that won the Targa Florio in 1923 – Alfa’s first international race win. From then, privateers ran their RLs up hills and across dales, placing consistently but never achieving the significance of the Targa Florio experience. Adding urgency to the issue, World Championship rules had changed, capping engine displacement at 1500 ccs. A new approach was needed, and Vittorio Jano was just the man for the job. Rather than beginning with a road car, Jano used Alfa’s P2 Grand Prix car (which he also designed) as the basis for a fresh model, called the 6C. As important as the RL was in the pantheon of Alfa’s success, the 6C was doubly, maybe triply important, reinforcing and furthering Alfa’s strategy of selling road cars that could also go racing. And as meticulous as the 6C’s engineering was, the chassis also enticed the world’s best coachbuilders into proliferating small-batch variants that have become wildly valuable. This example is lined up for the New York Rétromobile Gooding Christie’s auction in November of this year. No description is available yet, but that didn’t stop me, because chassis #0312957 was previously for sale at Bonham’s in 2023. Perhaps a thing or two has changed since then, but we’ll run with what we have from the old listing….

The RL went racing with a monstrous six-cylinder; depending on exact displacement (there were several), output ranged around 90 to 120 hp. The Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus imposed a 1.5-liter cap starting with the 1926 World Championship Series; consequently, the first 6Cs were considerably downsized in the displacement department, and made just 44 hp in “normale” form. But output climbed rapidly with carburetion, dual overhead cam construction, rising compression ratios, and finally, the addition of a supercharger. Soon, the tiny six was generating 84 hp. Once again, racing rules shifted, this time to a fuel efficiency standard that made manufacturers unhappy enough that races turned to Formula Libre – “run what you brung”. Without the displacement cap in play, Jano boosted the six-cylinder’s displacement to 1750 ccs; the application of superchargers, more cams, and different carburetors resulted in output ranging up to 102 hp. To improve handling, the fuel tank was repositioned. This car is one of 52 Super Sports made with a supercharger. A four-speed manual gearbox and four-wheel mechanical drum brakes round out the componentry of this beautiful machine.

The interior features a galaxy of gauges marching across the curved dash, pedals with embossed letters “Alfa” and “Romeo”, a wide-diameter steering wheel, cut-down doors, and a fold-out windshield. So many of its characteristics typify pre-war sporting cars, but few pre-war cars can hold a candle to the 6C 1750’s racing pedigree, with its countless successes from 1929 on, including two consecutive Mille Miglia wins.

The 6C was a full ten inches shorter in height than the RL, depending on the coachbuilder. This car was bodied by Zagato; others were clothed by Touring, James Young, Caravini, Castagna, Pinin Farina – all maintaining the long, low, and lean profile that helped lead to wins at the track. In terms of value, I’ll be keen to see what estimate Gooding Christie’s settles on here: chassis #0312957 failed to sell three years ago at the low end of its $1.6 to $1.9 million range. A Gran Sport “in the style of Zagato” sold for less than $400k recently; this tourer sold for far less than its estimate. The established pattern shows a tendency to overvalue the cars ahead of the auction – which does no one any good.