1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Cabriolet Décapotable Coachwork

2,336cc DOHC All-Alloy 8-Cylinder Engine
Roots Supercharger
142bhp at 5,000rpm
4-Speed Manual Transaxle
Semi-Elliptic Leaf Spring Suspension
4-Wheel Drum Brakes

*Rare and elegant one-off cabriolet coachwork by Carrosserie Joseph Figoni
*One of seven road cars bodied by Figoni on the 8C 2300 chassis and one of five survivors
*Superb sweeping lines coupled with legendary Vittorio Jano-designed mechanicals
*Extremely advanced and sophisticated engineering and staggering performance
*Stunning example of one of the most collectible, pre-war motorcars

THE LEGENDARY 8C

Alfa Romeo's first eight-cylinder road car was introduced in 1931 as a successor to the 6C 1750. This was the legendary 8C 2300, designed by the equally legendary Vittorio Jano who was one of the first automotive engineers to create high-performance cars that were tailor-made for sustained full-throttle running on high-speed roads – all with the purpose of keeping Alfa Romeo at the forefront of international motor racing. Jano succeeded: the 8C would prove a formidable weapon, winning race after race in the first half of the 1930s, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times with among others, Luigi Chinetti, Tazio Nuvolari, and Raymond Sommer as drivers.

The heart of this formidable machine is its supercharged, straight-eight, twin-overhead-camshaft engine, which Jano arranged in effect as two four-cylinder units in tandem with the cam-drive gears amidships. Bore and stroke were 66 x 88 mm giving 2,336 cc, while the twin-lobe Roots-type supercharger was driven at 1.33-times crankshaft speed. The Corto (short) chassis had a wheelbase of 2.75 meters, and the Lungo (long) version one of 3.1 meters. Boasting a four-speed manual gearbox and powerful drum brakes all round, these Alfa Romeos were genuine 100 mph cars, reliably producing over 140 horsepower at 5,000 rpm.

1934 was the last year of manufacture of the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300.

ALFA ROMEO IN FRANCE

Alfa Romeo had established itself in Paris in the rue Marbeuf in 1924, and a young racing mechanic named Luigi Chinetti joined the fledgling operation the year after. Relations between France and Italy deteriorated in the latter half of the 1920s as Italy fell into dictatorship under Benito Mussolini. France imposed increased customs duties on Italian luxury items such as expensive motorcars. Sometime around 1930, Alfa Romeo established an assembly facility for imported knock-down kits at 150 rue Victor Hugo in Levallois-Perret. The kits were brought in as spare parts at a much lower rate of taxation than a finished chassis would have been subjected to, although it is believed that the imports were virtually complete rolling chassis that required little work in Paris in order for them to be registered and roadworthy.

CARROSSERIE JOSEPH FIGONI

Joseph Figoni opened his small coachbuilding enterprise in Boulogne-Billancourt outside Paris in November 1923. In the beginning, work was subcontracted from established companies, but after a handsome Bugatti and a few elegant Ballots had been shown to acclaim at the Parisian summer concours, Figoni quickly gained a reputation for light and stylish bodywork that enhanced the handling and roadholding of the chassis it was mounted on. More than 70 Bugatti chassis were bodied in the early years, followed by an equal number of Delage. By 1930, Figoni had become the place to go for those who liked fast cars with wind-cheating lines. Only very rarely was formal coachwork specified by a client.

Figoni's close relationship with Alfa Romeo France began with the first order placed by the famous race driver Raymond Sommer in May 1932 for the modification of his 8C 2300 (chassis 2111018) to Le Mans specification. Sommer won the race with Luigi Chinetti as co-driver, and a body by Figoni was soon the hot inside tip on the circuits. Two complete Alfa Romeos were bodied in August, namely 8C 2300 chassis 2111024 and 6C 1750 chassis 101014866. After that, the Figoni shops became something of a mechanical beehive, buzzing with Alfa Romeo activity as a who's who of racing drivers, wealthy patrons, as well as the Garage Mallet, the Parisian Alfa Romeo concessionary, placed orders for bodies on Alfa chassis, had cars fixed, refurbished, and reworked. Most of the activity was race-related, but from 1932 to 1935, Figoni bodied seven 8C 2300 road cars: one faux cabriolet, five cabriolets, and one roadster. One car is lost (chassis 2311211), the faux cabriolet has had its roof removed (chassis 2111024), and one is now fitted with a replica Zagato Spider body (chassis 2211080). The rest survive.

CHASSIS 2111025

On December 16, 1932, a Parisian named Roger Goldet was invoiced by Figoni for a lovely cabriolet décapotable, mounted on a first series 8C 2300 long chassis no. 2111025. The chassis is believed to have been purchased directly from Alfa Romeo by Goldet, which was unusual at the time. The finished car was stunning, and at 35,675 Francs the costliest Alfa Romeo body made by Figoni. Imported Vaumol leather, the most expensive double-dyed quality supplied by Conolly, was specified, as well as an upholstered top, special windshield wipers, blue "Ontario" paint over blue "Lotus", and six painted wheels with discs to match.

The earliest known image of the chassis shows it bodiless with Goldet behind the wheel before it was brought to Figoni, already registered 1613 RG3. On June 23, 1933, the car was shown by Comtesse Vera Boréa at the Concours d'Élégance Féminine en Automobile held at the Longchamp racetrack. It is undeniable that the svelte Comtesse complemented the car and not least its festoon of flowers that draped the side window, top, and windshield—a throwback to the earliest concours where cars were so heavily garnished that they virtually disappeared beneath the blooms. However, no frippery could conceal the gorgeous proportions of 2111025 with its long hood, sweeping fenders, classic separated trunk, twin rear-mounted spares, and beautifully painted wheel discs, all shaped into a cohesive whole by the superbly elegant sweep panel that began at the center of the leading edge of the hood at the radiator and passed all the way back to the lower leading edge of the rear fender. Bravo!

The car received a major going-over in the Figoni shop in the beginning of February 1935. This included welding of the fenders as well as various body repairs including doors, repairs to the wheels and topcloth, and possibly a repaint due to the body repairs. The work was likely in preparation of Goldet selling the car, which he likely did sometime in the latter half of 1935.

In June 1935, a short chassis third series 8C 2300 Touring Spider raced at Le Mans, driven by Raymond Sommer and Raymond d'Estrez de Saugé. It ran as number 15 and was fitted with the fenders, outside exhaust, and Le Mans specification rear body section created for Sommer by Figoni that had raced in 1932, 1933, and 1934 on various chassis. 1935 was the last time Sommer's Figoni body was seen at Le Mans. He had won the race twice with it in 1932 and 1933, but this time both Sommer and his Figoni creation were out of luck: the car retired after 69 laps and approximately 590 miles.

Importantly, number 15 was chassis 2311212, and not chassis 2311234 as listed in The Legendary 2.3 by Simon Moore. According to Bugatti expert Pierre-Yves Laugier, chassis 2311212 was registered 625 RG7 and is the Touring Spider cataloged as 2311234 by Moore. This registration number dates from October 1933, and it is likely that 2311212 was imported from Italy to France as a complete Touring Spider and not as one of the knock-down kits that were assembled in France.

It is not known when Sommer took possession of 2311212, but it is most likely that the car passed to him sometime after late February 1934, when the dealer Garage Mallet had Figoni prepare it for sale. It is quite possible that the sale to Sommer was masterminded by Luigi Chinetti who had sold him the Le Mans winning chassis 2111018 in 1932, a deal that cemented their friendship. On April 13, 1935, Sommer drove 2311212, still registered 625 RG7, in the Paris-Nice Rally, and then at the Le Mans race on June 15 – 16 of that year.
After Sommer's Le Mans participation, it is uncertain what happened to 2311212. As mentioned above, Figoni had performed substantial repairs to long chassis 2111025 in February 1935 on behalf of its owner Roger Goldet. These repairs were performed by Figoni two months prior to Sommer's participation in the Paris-Nice rally in 2311212 and four months before the car ran at Mans. In other words, there does not seem to have been any connection between the two chassis prior to the 1935 Le Mans race. Further, it is not known to whom Goldet sold 2111025, nor is it known what Sommer did with 2311212 shortly after Le Mans.

In addition, while it has previously been assumed that the car Sommer drove in 1935 was 2311234, this has now been disproven as discussed above. In light of current information, a reasonable scenario seems to be that the two cars suffered damage independently of each other and that the damage was separated by a number of years. Chassis 2111025 likely suffered an impact before the War, possibly when still in Goldet's ownership, and was repaired. As Simon Moore rightly points out on page 154 of The Legendary 2.3, when the 8C 2300 that was fitted with engine 2311212 was restored in the mid-1980s, it was found that:

"...one chassis rail had grey under the top coat of blue, whereas the other one had an original red coat next to the metal underneath the grey and blue.....the front of the frame on the passenger side was stamped 2111025.....(and) a chassis number (was) stamped.....behind the driver but someone has tried to obliterate it! It looks like 221106X with the 'X' probably a '2'. And that could be a chassis wrecked at Le Mans. The chassis has been professionally strengthened".

The Touring Spider, chassis 2311212, remained in Sommer's ownership during the latter half of the 1930s, but was in deteriorated condition by the time hostilities broke out and likely no longer on the road. After the armistice, Sommer then possibly discovered 2111025 in Paris in 1945 or 1946, now either with a broken or missing engine. A quick fix for him to get 2111015 on the road would have been to mount the engine from 2311212 in the newly found car. Since he perhaps had no clear title to 2111025 but retained the one for 2311212, it was an equally quick fix to mount the firewall plate from that car onto 2111025 which was still the long chassis bodied by Figoni.

Indeed, Simon Moore writes on page 743 of his book that "...'Sommer's Le Mans car' was said to be lying around at the back of Luigi Chinetti's shop in Levallois, Paris after the War". This would account for its eventual disappearance: after Sommer likely removed its engine, the car was broken up and used to keep other cars running. The Touring-bodied short chassis 2311212 can therefore presumably be regarded as lost.

One car was therefore constructed out of the two, and since this car received the powerplant and some major mechanical components from 2311212, it was given that identity. In this way, the chassis fitted with engine number 2311212 today also has an Alfa Romeo Paris plate on the firewall plate stamped with chassis and engine number 2311212. The car that exists today is consequently an amalgamation of chassis 2111025 and 2311212, that retains its original Figoni cabriolet décapotable body, trunk, hood, and fenders.

After its re-assembly, the car left Paris, and Sommer kept it until his death. It was painted gray and was a familiar sight on the Côte d'Azur before the War. Sommer was killed racing on September 10, 1950, and in 1962, famed Bugatti hunter Antoine Rafaelli bought the car from a lady friend of Sommer's. Rafaelli sold the car in 1965 to Paul Sac who resided near Marseille. He had it painted in two shades of blue. Some technical modifications were made at that time, including the fitting of 16-inch wheels and hydraulic brakes.
The car was entered by Sac in the 1986 Christie's Monaco Auction, where it was acquired by Robert Rubin of New York who commissioned a comprehensive restoration by Chris Leydon in order to it back to its original specification. In 1990, Rubin sold the car to London classic car dealer Nick Harley as part exchange for a Maserati 8CTF. Later in the 1990s, it passed to a private collection from which it is now being offered.

CONCLUSION

This 8C 2300 is available for the first time in more than two decades. It is a classically beautiful one-off cabriolet by one of the world's greatest coachbuilders, mounted on one of the world's greatest pre-war chassis. It is one of seven Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 road cars bodied by Carrosserie Joseph Figoni and one of only five survivors. It should be noted that while important modifications have taken place, evidence points to these having been performed in period and within the generally accepted ten-year timeframe from the date of manufacture of the chassis in order for such changes to be regarded as original in a concours setting. This very important 8C 2300 Cabriolet Décapotable by Figoni is awaiting its next custodian and will be a centerpiece of even the most important collection.