Every now and then as part of being a car club member you get access to some very special things. At the start of this month club members were invited to visit a private collection of racing cars and memorabilia – a collection that is not open to the public. Bruce and I arrived at the stated address at the stated time – to a nondescript warehouse building, and walked through an unmarked door. Inside the building is a display collection of lovely old motorcycles, road cars, and racing cars, along with various pieces of motorbilia – period posters, race photos, signage, petrol bowsers and other tasty decorations. There was also a full workshop including most of a machine shop for the manufacture of irreplaceable items.
Centre stage for us though was the replica 1939 Alfa 6c2500 Spider Corsa, which completed construction last year and was first displayed at the Albert Park GP this year. This car is an incredibly detailed reconstruction of one of the two cars which ran in the ’39 Mille Miglia, but were then destroyed – apparently literally chopped up – possibly to prevent the advanced design of electrical fuel injection falling into the wrong hands. This car is built on all correct 6c2500 chassis, engine and drivetrain components, with replica fuel injection remanufactured, and a body modelled painstakingly from photographs and built by hand in Australia taking over 3500 man-hours.
It was fantastic to hear the story of the project and the history of the original cars, and it is very clear that this is a very special car indeed and one of a kind in the world.
Many thanks to the owners of the collection for allowing us to come and spend a fine afternoon drooling like loonies, much appreciated.
