1938 Alfa Romeo 8C2900B Touring Spyder

March 26, 2021 Tim Morgan

One of the most timeless and successful ‘teardrop’ designs of the Art Deco era, this Alfa Romeo was not only a very beautiful roadster, but also a potent racer. The grey car pictured above is owned by William Connor and was the second spyder built. It appeared on the stand of dealer Thomson & Taylor at the 1938 London Motorshow. But, it was seven long years before it actually sold in 1945 to Pat Wilkins of Surrey. It subsequently had several owners, including collector John Mozart of California, who restored it to red on cream leather. Mr. Connor purchased the car in 1998 and restored it to its original colors.

Details of the Black Alfa Romeo 8C2900 owned at the time by renowned collector Sam Mann

Connor’s car has made multiple appearances at both the Pebble Beach Concours and The Quail, winning its class at Pebble in 2002 and Best of Show at The Quail in 2003. The 8C2900B was the road going version of the 8C2900A race car. These Alfas were the fastest cars of the thirties, winning countless races, including 1,2,3 finishes at the 1936 & 1938 Mille Miglia (where Alfa recorded 11 victories through 1947) and the 1948 Watkins Glen Grand Prix. It was the supercar of its day, and the 8c series of cars were sometimes referred to as the “8th wonder.“ It was a car that exemplified the best of all worlds – both the fastest and arguably the most beautiful car of the 1930s.

The coachwork by Carrozzeria Touring utilized their patented Superleggera (super lightweight) building technique. The rest of the car’s design was also highly advanced, employing 17-inch hydraulic brakes, fully independent suspension and a 4-speed transaxle. The engine was a dry sump, twin-supercharged, dual overhead cam straight-8 with two Weber carburetors turning out 220 HP (the road versions were detuned to 180 HP). The combination not only created the fastest production car in the world at a 140 MPH, but also one of the best handling. The engine design was the work of Vittorio Jano; the body was by Touring founder Felice Bianchi Anderloni. Touring even utilized an early form of aerodynamic testing, as during design they would attach felt strips all over the car and record how the wind flowed over it.

Because these are coachbuilt cars, there are differences between them. In fact, every car is a bit unique due not only to being handbuilt, but also to customers specifying details they wanted just for their car. Hood louver patterns were often different, as were the rear wheelwell skirts and other details.

Touring built both long (Lungo) and short (Corto) body styles for the 8C2900B. They produced just six Corto bodies and seven Lungo bodies. In all, somewhere between 32-40 cars were produced, equally divided between Cortos and Lungos. Although Stabilimenti Farina also bodied some of the 2900s, the Touring cars remain the most visible today.

The fourth 2900B Lungo (bottom left) to be bodied by Touring was also originally delivered to a buyer in England. After the war it, too, crossed the Atlantic and was owned for a time by Ferrari dealer and NART racing team owner, Luigi Chinetti. Chinetti was also a famous Ferrari driver, winning at LeMans in 1949 after driving all but twenty minutes of the 24 hour race.

Only about 12 of these cars are known to exist of the approximately 32 that were built. I have now seen 5 of the Touring-bodied Spyders. One owned by famous collector Sam Mann (bottom right) sold in 2015 for over $20 million.