Chapter 3

1932 Tipo B (P3) in detail Hayashi in his P3 Judy Giddings polishing her P3, Monterey 1985
In 1932, with the going effect of the "free formula", Alfa Romeo prepared a new car called Type B which was later named P3 as it successfully inherited the fame of the P2. Six cars were built and in August 1933 they were entrusted to the Scuderia Ferrari.
The P3 was Vittorio Jano's great masterpiece. It had been prepared in secret in the Portello factory. This car had an 8-cylinder in- line, 2654 cc 215 bhp, fed by a turbo-supercharger and two vertical carburetors. (later, in 1934 the bore was increased to 68 mm, displacement to 2905 cc, and output to 255 bhp, in '35: bore 71 mm, 3165 cc, 265 bhp)
It came out with a victory on June 9th 1934 at the 200 Miglia of the 2nd Cremona Circuit. The following year it won the world championship.

1938 8C 2900 B
Here's what Dave Sisson wants to say about this car:

This car means a lot ot me and my history personally. It is an AR 8c2900B. Biondetti won the Mille Miglia in it in 1938. It is the car that first made Phil Hill famous in the very early fifties when he races it so fabulously at Pebble Beach and Golden Gate Park. It wasn't the first Alfa I had seen, in 1950, but it was the most impressive. Some of the famous pictures showing Phil Hill driving the car at Pebble Beach coincidentally show me, at age five, with my family watching in the background. This picture was taken in front of the AR Museum Storico at Arese during its banquet for the international AR competitors for the 1987 Mille Miglia.

1938 8C 2900 B

1939/1940 AR 6C2500 Mille Miglia ("Torpedino Brescia") Same car, rear viewAccording to Anselmi and Anderloni, these cars used identical body work to the Auto-Avio 815 prepared for a sig. E. Ferrari.

1942 6C2500 Super Sport Touring
It was made in 1942, body number 4227. Reportedly only 8 or 9 were made from this bodystyle in 1942.
It was comissioned by the Wehrmacht and was brought to Hungary in the '50s by the ÁVO (a kind of secret police). A department of the ÁVO was set to get the goods back from Germany which were carried off during the war. The ÁVO guys just stole any car which they liked :(.
In Hungary it went through different hands. The picture was taken in 1969 or 1970 and shows the car in its original condition. Afterwards a Mercedes 180 rear windshield was installed, the car was converted LWD (with a Polish Warszawa steering wheel), got a new radiator made from scratch and a transmission.
I don't know its original color, but this aluminium bodied car was seen in white during the '60s.
In the '80s it was restored to its original conditions and now it's in the hands of a Hungarian collector.

Next stop: Right after the War: Redesigned 6C2500 and Tipo 159.

Copyright and Copy, December, 1995: