chapter 10
This page is dedicated to the memory of Pat Braden who died on August 25, 2002.
Chapter 11
Pre-War Passenger Cars
With the 8C2900 we reached the pinnacle of
Alfadom. Simon Moore has made the wise observation that the 8C2900B sport car
was the progenitor of the post-war Grand Touring coupe, a form refined
post-war most notably by Ferrari. At the beginning
of the second world war, Alfa had reached a level of achievement which was
virtually unmatched by any other marque, excepting Bugatti. While the Type 55
and 57 Bugattis were fabulous sport cars, Bugatti was a private company hard
hit by the depression. It virtually ended its existence as an auto producer
with the war. Alfa, on the other hand, was a bureau within the Italian
government and a favorite ride for Mussolini, so its future was rather more
assured. Consider the other sporty continental manufacturers of the pre-war
era. In Italy, Lancia was dedicated to passenger cars and Maserati to grand
prix cars. A few Fiat Balillas received bodies from Zagato, but offered puny
performance by comparison. OM offered some sport cars but was generally
undistinguished. Outside Italy, the Mercedes-Benz SS sport cars were huge
compared to Alfa, yet hardly faster. And the Mercedes and Horsch sedans of
the late 1930s were all, as one journalist has coined the term,
"peasant-crushers." The fastback coupe form was not limited to Italy. There
was a 540K Mercedes Autobahn Tourer which had the same general configuration
as the 8C2900B coupe, and in France, the Type 57 Bugattis were also similar.
England was filled with sporty cars but few offered performance which
approached Alfa and certainly none the reliability. Triumph constructed a
knock-off of the 8C2300, incidentally, but I think none of those survive.
Also, a sporty car in pre-war England was most likely open, not closed. Of
all these sporty cars, the BMW 328 Rennsport came closest, perhaps, to the
sporting level achieved by the 6C1750 Alfas, but it was completely outclassed
by the 8-cylinder cars.
So, in 1929, if you were wealthy and wanted a sporty car, the proper marque
was Alfa Romeo. The 6C1750 is still (
arguably) one of the most desirable sports car in the world, and it was
followed by even more exotic 8-cylinder cars, the
8C2300 and
8C2900B.
These Alfas were more than just fabulous: they were also fabulously
expensive. Exactly how expensive is hard to say: though we know how much the
chassis cost, the relative value of the money is hard to establish. What
exactly was a dollar worth in 1930? When I owned my 1750, I was told that it
sold new for about $3500: my parents paid exactly that much for a house in
Michigan about four years later. As a rough guide, then, you could choose
between buying a 1750 Alfa at 59,500 lire or a middle-class house. The 8C2300
was significantly more, at 91,000 lire. In gross terms, I'd estimate that in
today's terms, a 6C1750 would probably have cost about $150,000, and an
8C2300 about $200,000. At 115,000 lire, the 8C2900B would be well over a
quarter-million of today's dollars. What we have not talked about so far are
the "bread and butter" Alfa sedans of the 1930s. It is clear that Alfa knew
it would need a cheaper car to stay in business through the depression. Fusi
gives us the details of a unit-bodied 1935 4-cylinder 1.5 liter car which
would have anticipated the Giulietta by 30 years, but the car never entered
production. For 1933, Alfa extended the life of the 6C 1750 sedan by offering
a bored-out, aluminum-alloy headed version called the 6C1900. But then it
was time to introduce a new car.
In 1934, Alfa introduced an entirely new six cylinder engine, made to
much less ambitious specifications than the 6C1750: the 6C2300. It was
a 76-horsepower six offering the displacement of the 8-cylinder sport car,
but with cost-saving innovations as a single-plate clutch, partial chain
drive for the camshafts and the deletion of a supercharger option. Don't
misunderstand: these cars were still expensive, with the 6C2300 sedans
coming in at 44,500 lire compared to 58,000 lire for the 6C1900.
Continuing the guestimating, the 6C2300 was still over $100,000, but
that price also got you a body with your chassis. A comparison of sales
over three years shows how successful the cheaper model was:
Year
1932
1932
1933
1933
1934
1934
Model
6C1750
(all models)
8C2300
6C1750
(all models)
8C2300
8C2300
6C2300
(all models)
Number Produced
514
68
319
89
7
692.
Success, however, was short-lived:
especially considering the fact that the 8C2900As were factory racers.
That is, in 1936, Alfa Romeo sold only five automobiles to the general
public.
Year
1936
1936
Model
6C2300B
(Pescara)
8C2900A
Number Produced
5
While the sporting Alfas offered dramatic styling, the sedans' lines were
much less venturesome. In fact, there was very little more than a longer
hood line to distinguish an Alfa sedan from other cars of the era -- until,
that is, you either raised the hood or lowered the accelerator. In contrast,
the sporting version of the 6C2300, with dual carbs and 95 hp, had much
more modern styling, with fully-rounded, aerodynamic fenders. These
cars swept the first three places at the 24 hours of Pescara and thus were
immediately dubbed Pescara models.
Though the new 6-cylinder cars were intentionally cheapened, Alfa
couldn't keep from adding technical innovations. In 1935, the 6C2300B
models appeared with fully-independent suspensions, the same year that
Alfa introduced Dubonnet independent front suspension to the Tipo B.
In the same year, the Tipo C received a virtually identical front
suspension to the 6C2300B. This suspension featured short trailing arms
with large shock absorber unit enclosing the front coil spring and
working on an upper transverse link. At the rear of the passenger cars,
there were longitudinal torsion bars, telescopic shocks and a swing axle
with trailing links.
This is the time that I need to say some things about independent front
suspension (IFS). The first car with IFS was the sliding-pillar 1922
Lancia Lambda, a milestone vehicle which also introduced the unit body.
In the 1920s and '30s, with the use of supercharged engines,
manufacturers were able to generate much more power than either the
chassis or tires could handle. The Tipo B came very close to having an
independent rear suspension (IRS), but is settled instead for a very light
rear drive design which still minimized wheel hop and the tendency for
one of the rear wheels to lift under acceleration. Keeping the wheels on
the ground is the main goal of any suspension, and by 1930, speeds had
risen to the point that maintaining traction had become a significant
challenge. The solution, of course, was to allow each wheel to move
independently over the ground, unaffected by the undulations of the other
wheels.
Independent suspension virtually reversed the characters of the frame and
suspension. The idea of the original "ox-cart" frame was a stiff
suspension and supple frame. Independent suspension required just the
opposite: a supple suspension and rigid frame. In the solid-axle era, a
flexible frame was relied on to provide acceptable ride quality. A lot of
research went into frame tuning to avoid resonances, and some designs
even included weights at the ends of the frame rails to help manage
vibrations. The compromises achieved with supple frames and rigid
suspensions produced quite a comfortable ride and offered the advantage
of a very robust suspension. That was the reason why manufacturers
didn't flock to IFS in 1923: the traditional system was working quite
well. Furthermore, it was less likely to break at high speeds over rough
roads. I remember when the TD MG introduced independent front
suspension in 1952: there was a lot of discussion if it would be as strong
as the TC's solid front axle.
The advantages of IFS were not exploited until the Germans introduced
it on the W25 grand prix car of 1934. While the Auto Union cars also
used fully-independent suspension, their handling problems were so great
as to obscure any advantages of independent suspensions. The Mercedes
move was both tentative and secretive, for the W25 suspension travel
was only 1.75 in. and so covered by bodywork that its actual workings
were well hidden. The W25 proved unreliable, but its huge power reserve
and innovative suspension quickly made it a model after which other
manufacturers patterned their race cars. The W25 was to suspensions
what the 1912 GP Peugeot was to engines. After 1934, fully independent
suspensions were a requirement of successful race cars, and a desirable
feature on the most exotic passenger cars such as the 6C2300B.
The W25 and 6C2300B both used a swing axle, which means that there
is one joint near the ring and pinion around which the axles pivot. The
disadvantage of this design, as VW and Porsche owners can attest, is that
it causes a significant camber change. The W125 Mercedes of 1937
corrected many problems with the introduction of a double A-arm front
and deDion rear suspensions.
The 6C2300B picked up the modern styling cues of the Pescara, and it
is with this model that Alfa really entered the modern era. In fact, if
there is a story to be told about the 6C2300 series, it is about bodywork.
Certainly there were also considerable advances with clutches,
transmissions and suspensions in the era, but the foundations of what we
find beautiful in modern, aerodynamic bodies was laid in the late 1930s.
Alfa was clearly one of the leaders in styling, and a real appreciation of
this era can only be gained by looking at photographs -- or the cars
themselves as they are lined up at Arese.
Though "cheaper" Alfas, just think what the 6C2300B sedan offered for
1935: twin-overhead-cam engine with aluminum-alloy head, freewheeling
4-speed transmission, fully-independent suspension with telescopic shock
absorbers, hydraulic brakes, and a top speed of 70 mph. With its
semi-fast-back styling, the 4-place Berlinetta bodied by Touring can
fairly be called the first 2+2 GT Alfa. In 1938, a new gearbox was
introduced which featured fully-meshed (that is, non-sliding) silent helical
gears with synchronized third and fourth speeds.
In 1937, a true fastback body by Touring appeared on the 6C2300B and
two horizontal carburetors were fitted -- so far as I can tell, this is the
first instance of twin side-draft (though single-throat) carbs being fitted
to a naturally-aspirated Alfa. With a compression ratio of 7.75:1, the
engine developed 105 hp at 4800 rpm.
For 1939, Alfa enlarged the engine to 2443 cc as the
6C2500 and offered
a "Super Sport" model with three downdraft
carburetors, giving an engine output of 125 hp. This would be the production
model which would see Alfa through the rigors of the post-war reconstruction.
KTUD Alfa Romeo main page!
Copyright March, 1996
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