Alfa Romeo has a long history of building beautiful and sporty cars that were as capable at the track as they were on the street. Racing has been an important part of the company’s 102 years of history. The company has almost always offered street cars with technology taken directly from their race cars, which they often designated as Super Sports. These cars were top of the line for their day and are now very sought after. This 1949 Alfa Romeo 6c 2500 Super Sports is very solid and after being under the care of the same owner for the past 35 years is being offered here by Fantasy Junction.
The 6C 2500 was introduced in 1938 and immediately saw racing success. With full independent suspension and a very durable engine, these cars offered impressive handling and durability on the street or at the track. The street going 6Cs were offered with a variety of coach built bodies in several performance levels. This car is the range topping Super Sport, which is based on a shortened chassis. Only 173 of these beautiful and nimble 6C 2500s were built in ’49 and only 458 were built in total.
All 6Cs were powered by Alfa’s 2.5 liter twin overhead cam inline 6, but horsepower varied depending on the model. The Super Sport came with three Weber Carburetors strapped to it and produced 105 hp. With the light weight Superleggera coach work by Touring, the Super Sport was capable of speeds over 100 mph. Sadly this car’s number matching engine is missing, but the current engine is a Super Sport from the same era.
The previous owner started the restoration process on this car back in the ’70s, but never finished it. It appears that parts of the interior have already been restored, but just the pieces needed to drive the car. Some of the mechanicals have already been gone through and the car currently starts, runs, and drives. Thankfully all the hard to replace pieces are still on the car and should help with the restoration process. The seller claims that the car is primarily in need of a cosmetic restoration and that the car is very sound otherwise.
The 6C has become one of the most collectable Alfa Romeos and these cars are now demanding a premium. Fantasy Junction is asking an impressive $250,000 for this Alfa, but restored examples have been selling for more than double that at auction. A cosmetic restoration of this car is going to be costly, but cheaper than a complete frame off restoration. This car is eligible for a wide variety of events, including the Mille Miglia and the California Mille. We would love to see this car driven at one of these prestigious rallies in its current condition. It would be an interesting departure from the highly restored vehicles that usually are at these events.
Why was it built with the right hand drive?? Solely for export?
Most Italian cars were rhd through the early 50’s. I believe the conventional wisdom was that it was advantageous for mountain driving.
It is a beautiful old car and it is surprising that Alfa was able to build something that beautiful so soon after the war when most Italian companies were building scooters.
I’ve never met an Alfa 6C I didn’t like. Now where’s that spare quarter million I had yesterday…
Wonder if Mercedes copied the “eyebrows” over the wheel openings onto the 300SL and 300SLR?
These 6C cars were among the most powerful and luxurious cars in Europe after WW2. Owning one said that you were wealthy and had excellent taste. In making them, Alfa was simply continuing what they had done before the war. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough wealth—or the will to spend it on luxury cars—available in Europe to support Alfa’s previous approach to carmaking, so these beautiful Alfas were soon to be no more. This was a time when a family was very fortunate to have a Fiat 500, and many less fortunate families got around on bicycles.
Alfas grew smaller and had mainly 4-cylinder engines because Alfa was moving toward higher production numbers as a way to survive. In other words, Alfa went downmarket. Fortunately they did not succumb to the approach of making small sedans for everyman, and the world had access to (relatively) inexpensive Italian sports cars.
This must be one of the last unrestored 6c cars left. These were largely ignored for years while collectors focussed on sports cars. But now that so many of the most desirable open sports cars have been found and restored these small coupes and sedans are coming on the market. The bodies and trim pieces are essentially handmade, so skill is needed to restore them properly, but once restored they are true automotive works of art.
I love cars featured @ Fantasy Junction, but there is little upside here, as the seller knows what they have and this is priced accordingly.
A friend saw a comment I made about this car and said there’s one parked outside his apartment building this moment. Checking into it. Shipping costs and restoration may make it cost-prohibitive as it is in Russia.
Beautiful car and it remindes the good old times .