Alfa Romeo C Super Sprint Zagato

brand

alfa romeo

mileage

/

year

1954

engine

1900 cc

After the car was left without parts by Armando, the rest of the car in poor condition was sold in 1986 to Umberto, now also deceased. His son Claudio inherited the car. Claudio vaguely remembers the car. The car had body damage, the hood was missing, the grille with Alfa logo, the aluminum grilles with position lights at the front, the trim around the windows, the dashboard, the door panels were missing. Mechanically, some parts were also missing. We know that the brakes and carburetors did not match the original. Was this done because the car was used for races during his racing period or was it done on purpose. In 1989, Umberto decided to restore the car and started with the bodywork and painting, making a new hood grille, etc. The restoration took until the year 2000 before the car was roadworthy. Probably the car was partially or fully REBODIED during the restoration. Umberto planned to start a car museum because of his large collection of 90 cars. Many of these cars were not perfectly finished due to lack of time in searching for original pieces. This is the reason why the cars are not finished and do not have the original appearance. When the car was ready to drive in 2000, the car was inspected by a well-known Alfa specialist (author of the book on historic Alfas) Mr. Tabucchi from Pistoia.

This Alfa Romeo 1900 SZ Zagato was sold new to Gentleman Racing driver Giuseppe Crespi from Vigevano and registered the car on August 7, 1954. The chassis number is 17045 and with this number we can say that this car is the first built 1900 SZ Zagato. The car originally still has a 4-speed manual transmission, later this became 5-speed manual transmission. The car is registered with license plate PV41433 (PV stands for Pavia). Giuseppe Crespi used this car for some races and won the first year the Stella Alpina race in 1954. He also came second in the Coppa delle 6 ore race in Orbassano.
He drove the Stella Alpina again in 1955, it was the last year this race was organized. There are only a few photos of these races in his original colors, probably light blue and dark blue but it is hard to see in the black and white photos. On June 13, 1957 Giuseppe sold the car to a race track in Torino called Scuderia Racing Sport sarl di Torino. They re-registered the car with license plate TO23235. It is said that the car was used for races, but unfortunately no racing history has been found. Over time the car became damaged and was sold to a Tuscan dealer who specialized in race cars, mostly Alfa Romeo's. His name was Mr. Armando Ciuffi from Tavernelle Val di Pesa (Firenze region). This man has since passed away, but it is known that he used this car as a donor car for similar cars. At that time, the value of this kind of car that one gets today was not known.

The car was approved and registered by the Amministrazione dell immatricolazone. The car was registered in the name of a then friend Alberto from Brescia. Car was given the license plate ZA249KD, who currently still has the car in his name. After a few years, the friendship between Alberto and Umberto broke down. Umberto decided to register the car in his name with his company Autostoriche Internazione Oligoclub from Milan. The car retained its license plate. Umberto drove the car in several races and rallies such as Gran premio di citta di Arezo, giro di scilia, targa presider and coppa borzacchini. In 2008 Umberto suffered serious health problems, so the car was in the garage for a long time, so we can speak of a barnfind.

Umberto died on December 29, 2016 at the age of 90. His dream of establishing a museum never came true, but his collection of 90 cars was divided among the heirs. This Alfa has not been driven since 2008. It is rust free and still has its beautiful patina.

All those license plates the car had can be found on the car's papers. Recently, Claudio changed ownership and put the car in the name of another company, Automito associazione Culturale from Fabrio.