[alfa] Picking nits, again

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The other day I raised a question about an "Alfa-engined MG special" illustrated and described in an article in the October Alfa Owner. The aspect which aroused my curiosity was the use of what appeared to be SU carburettors on the side of the Alfa engine on which one normally finds an exhaust manifold. Jim Steck informs me that the engine is in fact an MG engine. That makes sense, but it still seems surprising that neither the author nor the editor appears to have noted the discrepancy. But hey, nobody's perfect.
 
Misery loves company, they say. The October "Alfacionada", the newsletter of the Southern California chapter of AROC, arrived with a cover photo, and another inside, of an "Alfa 8C 2900" at Pebble Beach with a stunning coupe body by "Viotta" (sic), wearing a green ribbon which the caption writer thinks denotes a class win. It is a lovely car, and may be an 8C 2900, but I have to wonder.
 
The body is well known, and its history is covered in a chapter in Volume Two of Simon Moore's encyclopedic history of "The Legendary 2.3", the companion volumes to his "The Immortal 2.9". The Alfa 8C 2300 #2311203 (not a 2900, a very different chassis design) took third at Le Mans in 1933 with a four-seater (to comply with regulations) open body by Touring. After a short racing career in Britain and the low countries it returned to Italy and was rebodied by Viotti (with an "i") sometime before August 1935. In 1996 the Viotti body, said to be both heavy and deteriorated beyond practical salvage, its wood frame badly rotted, was removed and replaced with a replica of the original Touring Le Mans body. The rebodying was quite controversial at the time, although it has become almost routine on any Alfa, Mercedes, Bentley, or other prized classic with a less attractive and valuable body than the most desired versions. Moore wrote that he hoped the Viotti body would eventually be restored (or replicated in Aluminum) and reunited with 2311203, and probably everyone except the owner would have agreed with him.
 
So there is an open question (at least in my outsider's limited knowledge) of what chassis is under the Viotti coupe today.  In the best of all worlds it would be a 2300. A 2900 seems very unlikely  any which might be rebodied would be much more likely to receive a copy of the Mille Miglia cars. A 6C, either 2300 or 2500, would be quite possible; except for the 2900's transaxle the size and general layout of the frame and suspension of the 1935  1945 6C cars is quite close to the 2900's and some, both originals and replicas, would be hard to tell apart from a 2900 without lifting the hood. And there remains the question how a mongrel would win a ribbon at Pebble Beach.
 
The editor of Alfacionada may take comfort that even Luigi Fusi, in his book on the cars of Vittorio Jano, misidentified the Viotti 2300 as a 2900  but he was working with a shambles of photos, some certainly misidentified. Since then Moore has brought a very high standard of scholarship to the generally greatly increased interest in vintage cars, and institutions like the Pebble Beach concours have exposed the cars to relentless scrutiny. One shouldn't be too critical of the occasional error that sneaks into a club newsletter, and I hope the AROSC crew take my questions as meant. If anyone knows more of the later history of this interesting and attractive car I would appreciate hearing of it.
 
John H.
Raleigh, N.C.
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