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SLIDER: 1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B MM

The Alfa Romeo 6C name was used on road, race, and sports cars produced between 1927 and 1954 by Alfa Romeo; the “6C” name refers to the six cylinders of the car’s straight-six engine. In the early 1920s Vittorio Jano received a commission to create a lightweight, high performance vehicle to replace the Giuseppe Merosi designed RL and RM models. The car was introduced in April 1925 at the Salone dell’ Automobile di Milano as the 6C 1500.

The larger-engined 6C 2300 was produced from 1934 to 1938. It was designed by Vittorio Jano as a lower-cost alternative to the 8C. Although fitted with a larger engine, it continued the previous car’s chassis. In 1935 a revised model, the 6C 2300B, was presented. In this version the engine was placed in a completely redesigned chassis, with independent front suspension and rear swing axle, as well as hydraulic brakes. 760 examples of the rigid-axle 6C 2300 were produced and 870 examples of the B-model.

While the far more exotic 8Cs—increasingly in ultimate 2.9-litre form—continued to attract praise for their overall wins in events such as the Mille Miglia, the new 6C 2300B model proved no less impressive in the smaller-capacity categories. In the 1936 edition of the race, Cattaneo and Donati won the over-2-litre un-supercharged class in their 6C 2300 Pescara. The following year Boratto and Guidotti finished a remarkable 4th overall and another 2-litre class win, only beaten in the overall classification by the 8C 2900s of Pintacuda and Farina, and the Delahaye of Schell. This achievement led Alfa Romeo to rename their top-of-the-line model as the 6C 2300B Mille Miglia in preference to its previous Pescara denomination. The 6C 2300B Touring Spider of Cortese/Fumagalli took a further class win in 1938, the final Mille Miglia before the outbreak of war.

The 6C 2300B Mille Miglia that we see here was presented in 1938 and only produced that year. This was the last of the extensive series of 2300B. It had the chassis of the 6C 2300 Pescara increased by 10 horsepower and was able to reach 170kph. Carrozzeria Touring of Milan built many of the bodies on the 2300B MM, but this example is bodied by Graber of Switzerland.

Photo by Peter McFadyen. See his website: http://petermcfadyen.co.uk


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