The roadgoing version of the awesome 8C2900B (S/N 412029) is in the foreground, and behind it is the Le Mans entry for 1938 (S/N 412023) which attracted much attention. 8C2900 Alfas are perhaps the most desirable Alfas ever produced.

These cars were the ultimate in pre-war Alfa Romeos, and therefore the world. Forget the recent F40s, disregard the McLaren F1 road car. These Alfas were raced on the track and won. They were built for the rich and the noble with various coachwork. While the large majority of their stunning coachwork was designed, built and signed by Zagato or Touring, some of the Alfa chassis elicited the best designs from other coachbuilders such as Pinin Farina, Figoni and Castagna.

The 8C series cars were raced by the best drivers in the world at the time. Campari, Borzacchini, Caracciola, Chiron, Dreyfus and of course Tazio Nuvolari all raced 8Cs in one guise or another. The "factory" cars were prepared and raced by Scuderia Ferrari run by Enzo Ferrari, as the competition arm of Alfa Romeo.

Another effort on the track was the lone 8C/2900B Le Mans in the 1938 French 24-hour race. Raymond Sommer entered and drove this coupe; a closed-bodied car was rare at the time and attracted much attention. The Sommer coupe caught much more attention in the race by leading until it retired with a broken engine. But the car did win the Spa 24 Hours after Le Mans. This actual car is in the Alfa Romeo Museum after being owned by an individual, the late Mike Sparken.

After the devastation of WWII, struggling to survive, Alfa Romeo had little choice but to offer the pre-war 6C2500 in various forms. Of these, the Touring Ville d'Este was the most attractive model. Less attractive were the Freccia d'oro, or Golden Arrow, and the Farina bodied coupes. (S/N 915924)

The 6C/2500 which began production in 1934 and continued well after WWII, has, as the name reveals, a DOHC in-line six with 2,443cc in the pre-war tradition. The model exhibited was the "Villa d'Este", named in commemoration of winning the Gold Cup at the 1949 Concours d'Elegance held at Villa d'Este on the shores of Lake Como in Italy. Carrozzeria Touring's "essence of beauty" is apparent with it's traditional Alfa grille and the dashing flush side, the latest trend in the 1940's.

The 158 GP appeared in the late '30s in voiturette racing, the class just below the full- size Grand Prix cars. These supercharged 1500cc racing cars became the prime form of formula racing in the post war era. Alfa's weapon, now named the 159 GP and fitted with two stage superchargers had 425hp at 9300rpm howling out from the straight-eight DOHC engine.