This year Alfa Romeo is 100 years old and that occasion will be marked at all the major events. The history of the legendary Italian manufacturer can be divided in two distinct parts. Up until 1952 Alfa Romeo built some of the finest cars of the period that were raced with great success in all the major races. After winning the first two Formula 1 World Championships, the company realised its survival depended on scaling up production so a brand new line of more affordable cars was launched. Although now available to the masses they still had the same pedigree as the great pre-War cars. Kicking off our celebrations we take a look at one of the company's finest cars today.
Arguably the greatest Alfa Romeo road car of all time is the 8C 2900B introduced in 1937. It shared its Grand Prix derived chassis and engine with the 1936 and 1937 Mille Miglia winning 8C 2900As and can very well be considered the very first supercar. With independent suspension on all four corners and a twin-supercharged straight eight engine, the 8C 2900 really was a racing car for the road. Around thirty road cars were built, first with a 2800 mm and later with a slightly longer 3000 mm wheelbase. Touring built a majority of the bodies for these exclusive cars and offered an open and closed version of the same basic design. On the short chassis they built six 'Spiders' of which four have survived. All of them are pictured in our 24-shot gallery, which illustrates a detailed article. Underlining the 8C 2900's exclusivity is that two of the cars featured were originally owned by royals; Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and the Maharajah of Indore, who was one of the richest men in the world. One of the other examples was the first ever Alfa Romeo to win the much coveted 'Best of Show' at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance back in 1985. Pebble Beach will once again honour Alfa Romeo this year, and three of the Touring Spiders are pictured at Pebble in 2005 when Alfa Romeo was also the featured marque. We caught up with the ex-Prince Bernhard car at Goodwood earlier in the month and that car will be one of the stars of the Concours d'Elegance during the upcoming Festival of Speed.
All of these cars have very interesting histories and these are fabulously chronicled in Simon Moore's masterpiece the 'Immortal 2.9', which has recently been updated and reprinted. It's a highly recommend read for all Alfisti and car enthusiasts in general.

Enjoy the links:

1937 - 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Corto Touring Spider - Images, Specifications and Information