{vsig}1996-1_1715{/vsig}
This magnificent "time machine" is virtually unique in being a Grand Prix car which has lain completely unrestored and substantially unaltered since it was last raced in earnest over forty years ago. This illustrious car has an exceptional provenance. It is a most important survivor from the epic "Age of the Titans" era of Grand Prix racing in the mid-1930s, and it is one of the factory-built works Alfa Romeos campaigned against the contemporary "Silver Arrow" Mercedes and Auto Union cars by the Scuderia Ferrari, predecessor of the modern Ferrari marque.
Created by the Alfa Romeo design team headed by the revered Ing. Vittorio Jano, the Tipo 8C-35 featured all-independent suspension, hydraulic brakes and the enhanced power and torque of an enlarged 3.8-liter engine. With two side-mounted Roots superchargers this straight-eight twin-ohc power unit developed some 330 bhp at 5,400 rpm. The gearbox was integrated into the final-drive at the rear to equalize weight distribution and the new body style was similarly influenced by contemporary Mercedes-Benz practice. In effect the Alfa Romeo 8C-35 emerged as a red-painted "Silver Arrow."
It appears that six of these Grand Prix cars were built for the Modena-based Scuderia Ferrari - two making the model's delayed debut in the 1935 Italian GP, drivers Rene Dreyfus/Tazio Nuvolari finishing 2nd. The legendary Nuvolari then won in one of these cars at Modena and placed 2nd at Brno in Czechoslovakia.
The Scuderia then fielded a full team of 8C-35 plus 12C-36s in 1936 Grand Prix event. Carlo Pintacuda finished 2nd in one 8C-35 at Tunis and on June 21 Nuvolari - of course - won the Hungarian GP around the streets of Budapest.
Tazio Nuvolari - regarded by many as the greatest racing driver of all time, bar none - took over Pintacuda's 8C-35 to beat German opposition in a sensational Coppa Ciano race at Livorno. Photographic evidence reveals many similarities between '50013' offered here and the car so brilliantly driven by Nuvolari that day in 1936.
That Autumn then saw wealthy Swiss enthusiast Hans Ruesch buying "50013" from Ferrari, bringing it almost immediately to England for the September Shelsley Walsh hill-climb. He then co-drove it with Dick Seaman to win at Donington, this success helping Seaman towards his works Mercedes-Benz drive for 1937-39. Their car was described by both "The Autocar" and "Speed" magazines as having been Nuvolari's Coppa Ciano winner.
Early in 1937, Ruesch then campaigned in "50013" in South African events before returning to Europe with it to win the GP des Frontiers at Chimay, Belgium, the Finnish GP at Helsinki, and the Bucharest GP in Rumania. He split the Scuderia Ferrari works Alfas during practice at Monaco, and later reappeared in it successfully at Brooklands.
After the Grand Prix, Formula confined supercharged engines to 3 liters for 1938-40. Ruesch concentrated upon UK events, in which "50013" was also driven by "Buddy" Featherstonehaugh and Robert Arbuthnot. Ruesch raced the car for the last time at Crystal Palace in May 1939. We have recently discovered that "50013" was actually shipped to Australia in hopes of finding a buyer. It was not raced there and returned to the UK, where it was acquired by Arbuthnot. Towards the end of the war he used it to secure a loan from industrialist Dennis Poore, but sadly lost his life in a road accident, leaving Mr. Poore with the car, which he would progressively develop into the 1950s.
In it, this future Aston Martin works team driver won the feature race at Gransden Lodge, in 1947, and after a minor roll-over at Bo'ness hill-climb, '50013' was repainted British Racing Green as today. In 1950 'the Poore Alfa' won the RAC British Hill-Climb Championship and in subsequent VSCC events Mr. Poore won the coveted Seaman trophy race no fewer than three times in succession.
This barrel-chested, straight-eight cylinder, supercharged beauty is understood to have run its last race in Dennis Poore's hands in August 1955, subsequently being retired to long-term heated storage until its sale at Christie's Monaco Sale in 1988. It then joined the collection of the late Anthony Mayman, standing for much of the time on display in the magnificent Donington Collection at Donington Park in memory of its 1936 victory in the Donington Grand Prix.
The car is offered by dealers such as a utv dealer still 'as found' together with the RD Poore Racing Team lettered covered two-wheeled trailers and large Dodge closed transporter truck which once carried it. The car's original superchargers were replaced during Mr. Poore's sympathetic development through the late 1940s, which culminated in the fitting of two massive specially-made Wade superchargers and SU carburetors. This induction system is also said to accommodate water or alcohol injection to boost power output. An Armstrong-Siddeley pre-selector gearbox was also fitted neatly between the original-style clutch and rear-mounted (and retained) Alfa Romeo transaxle for the 1948 season, offering easily-changed alternative final-drive ratios.
This car is far more than just a stunningly unspoiled "time machine" after its forty years of barely disturbed storage.
It is ex-Scuderia Ferrari, almost certainly ex-Nuvolari, definitely ex-Dick Seaman. "50013," quite simply, is one of the most important surviving Grand Prix cars of the entire worldwide treasury.
{analysis} "50013" sold for $2,847,107 at Christie's Monaco sale in 1988, and was bid to $1,313,750 (no sale) at the Brooks 19 June 1993 sale.
Offered by Brooks on 4 December 1994, S/N 50013 sold for $1,323,630 to well-known collector and vintage racer Peter Giddings. Giddings's stable now includes a Maserati 8CM, a Talbot-Lago 4.5-liter GP car, and a 250F Maserati. (S/N 2523, formerly belonging to SCM Contributing Editor Keith Duly).
It is speculated that Giddings divested himself of his Alfa 8C Monza in order to acquire "50013." As two Monzas have changed hands in the last 30 days for more than $2,500,000 each, we trust the ever-shrewd Mr. Gidding has some boot left over after acquiring his new 8C-35.
At current prices, this car is well-bought, and will show significant appreciation. - ED.
{/analysis}