Vintage Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Project Car Is Almost Too Pretty to Look At
Alfa Romeo has to be the carmaker that has made the most romantic and lovely-to-see cars in the history of Earth. That said, Alfa hasn’t aways made the most reliable or driveable cars, but who cares. Let’s put our American mindset of good and bad aside and pickup the mantle of the Italian way of valuing beauty over function. Doesn’t that feel better already? Once you slow down and take some time to really study this Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 project car, you’ll see just that this car is completely insane. Sit down, relax your face, and do your best to soak up as much of this view as humanly possible.
The Alfa Romeo 6C was a game changer
The Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 developed from the earlier 6C 2300. As with all good things, the 6C 2500 came right before the kickoff of WWII. However, the 6C has been around since 1925.
The 6C designation is a model, but it more directly stands for six-cylinder. The number that follows the 6C, is the engine displacement in cubic centimeters. Alfa debuted its first 6C at the 1925 Milan Auto Show. The new engine designed by legendary Italian engineer Vittorio Jano. The six-cylinder engine was one of the best engines of its time. As such, Alfa ran Grand Prix models as well as some more friendly street versions.
Some of the earlier models like the Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 used smaller engines but the engine’s size would grow incrementally over the years, when it peaked with the 6C 2500. Silodrome says that although Alfa Romeo did make some of its own bodies, it often used coach building firms. This is a big part of why Alfas always look so damn good. Among the legendary coach builders that made car bodies for Alfa Romeo are names you might recognize like, Pinin Farina, Zagato, Touring Superleggera, Castagna, and James Young.
Feast your eyes on this Vintage Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Project Car
The Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 was the largest engine Alfa ever put in the 6C despite it coming out in 1938 and the 6C staying in production until 1954. Given this long run in which Alfa continuously bettered the model, the 6C is one of the most sought-after collector cars in Europe.
According to Silodrome, the 6C 2500 drew its strength from a 2.5-liter (2,443cc) inline-six with double overhead cams, two valves per cylinder, and either single or triple carburetor arrangements depending on the specific model. The 6C was a hot little number for 1938. Not all 6C 2500s made the same power. The amount of carburetors spraying fuel would greatly affect the horsepower the driver had access to. The standard single-carb model made 90 hp, but if you stepped up to the triple-carb model, the 6C could make a whopping 145 hp. The triple-car 6C 2500 Competizione could hit a top speed of 124 mph. This was fast fast for the time.
This achingly beautiful car saw a very short production run at first thanks to the start of the war. Although, production did resume during the war, but only in very small batches. The 2500 resumed proper production in 1946. It remained a popular model until it was replace by the Alfa Romeo 1900 in 1954.
How much is an Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 worth?
The Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 is a rare and valuable Italian sports car. Due to its production issues at the start, pre-war models can fetch quite a bit more than post war models. That said, the average value of the 6C 2500 is somewhere around $500,000.
Obviously, the one we are looking at here is not as valuable given its lack of originality and condition but that’s what makes it special.
The 6C 2500 project is so cool. It consists of an original 1951 6C 2500 chassis a Tipo 6C 2500 Sport engine block and assorted engine parts, and an aluminum body in the style of a 2900B Mille Miglia Spider built by Steve McFarlane’s Coachbuilders.
The Bonhams listing mentions that the car comes with a host of various engine parts as well. In its current shape with the mix of repro and original parts, Bonhams estimates that the project might fetch somewhere between £50,000 – £70,000. Check the Bonhams listing for more details.
