1934 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Series III Longo Le Mans

Upon first glance, the 1934 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Series III Longo Le Mans appears almost delicate and anything but dangerous. Its deep Mediterranean Blue paint and graceful open cockpit design lull you back to a time when vintage European sports cars owned the roads; when Italian drivers sported goggles and thin leather helmets while touring through the countryside, dodging more cows and potholes than traffic.

That daydream to days gone by is shattered when owner John Ridings Lee of Dallas fires up the engine of one of his most prized collectibles. The Alfa's supercharged engine sends a shudder racing through your bones. The throaty roar is distinctive enough to turn heads from hundreds of yards away, and announce to the world that a unique piece of machinery is getting ready to roll.

It's an explosive introduction fitting for the Alfa, the world's original muscle car.

The Alfa's historic power and speed evolved from an early business misfire. The origins of the famed Alfa Romeo company lie in the Darracq Italiana motor works, founded in 1907 by Milan aristocrat Cavaliere Ugo Stella. The company's original purpose was to serve as an Italian base from which to build and sell the French line of Darracq cars. When the Darracq failed to build an Italian customer base, Stella and his group of Italian investors relocated the plant from Naples to the Milan suburb of Portello and set out to produce their own line of automobiles.

The company's new name Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (which translates to Lombardic Anonymous Automobiles Factory) was a bit of a tongue twister, so the group settled on the more marketable acronym of A.L.F.A.

The 24 HP, named for its horsepower, rolled off the line as the very first auto to carry the Alfa name, at a cost of 12,000 lire. Models providing more horsepower, the 40-60 HPs, soon followed.

Alfa's foray into auto making was interrupted in 1915 when the company's factory was required to produce military hardware for World War I. It was during this time that the company also merged with a group of investments controlled by Nicola Romeo.

When the war ended in 1919, car production resumed and Alfa continued to raise the bar for performance cars, especially upon the arrival of a new designer. The company's hiring away of a Fiat engineer named Vittorio Jano proved to be a turning point. Jano was recruited and recommended by racing driver Enzo Ferrari.

Jano's designs immediately earned a reputation for performance and reliability, but his best work was yet to come. His 1929 6C 1750 was a beautiful two-seater that combined form and function to win acclaim and races. As awe-inspiring as Jano's 6C 1750 was, it would become a mere stepping-stone to Italian automotive greatness.

In 1931, Jano created a variation of the 1750's 65x88mm bore and stroke a step. He added two more cylinders to the 1750 to create the 8C 2300, a 2300cc eight-cylinder, dual overhead cam motor. Supercharging the 8C with a Roots-type blower mounted low on the engine's right side that breathed life through a Memini dual-choke carburetor increased the car's displacement by a third.

The 8C 2300 instantly established itself as the king of European races and hill-climbing competitions. The car was capable of better than 140 mph in the 1930s, a time when roads more twisting than the Visconti serpent featured on the Alfa Romeo crest were constructed of cobblestones, bricks and assorted surfaces, producing harrowing rides.

Legendary driver Tazio Nuvolari, known to racing enthusiasts as Il Montavano Volante or the Flying Mantuan,  grabbed the attention of the auto racing world when he drove a 8C 2300 to victory in the 1933 Mille Miglia, the famous 1,000-mile race from Brescia to Rome and back. In fact, the first 10 cars across the Mille Miglia's finish line were Alfa Romeos. An 8C 2300 also was driven to victories at the 24 Hours of LeMans, the Italian Grand Prix, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Spa 24 Hours.

Restored to original glory

The roar of the 8C 2300 still echoes today in priceless restorations like Lee's. Unbuckling the original dark brown cattle hide strap latches allows a view of the mechanical history that lies beneath the car's hood.

The 8C 2300's split engine is actually made up of two four-cylinder engines with cylinders aligned in a row. Its alloy cylinder block features steel cylinder liners. The cylinder units are separated by a central gear train that drives the car's camshafts, supercharger and generator, as well as, oil and water pumps. This configuration allowed Jano to take advantage of the car's two-piece castings and minimize valve-timing aberrations from the camshaft twist by keeping the camshafts short.

A dry sump system lubricated the engine's 10-main bearing two-piece crankshaft. Coil and distributor, and single spark plugs, created ignition.

With a nominal 6.5:1 compression ratio, the 8C could run on gasoline with 80 octane for daily driving. When racing, the Alfa also could run on a mixture of alcohol, benzol, gasoline and castor oil. Racers and mechanics soon learned that mixing in 88 percent doses of ethyl and methyl alcohol not only improved cylinder cooling, but also raised tuning with a boosted 120 octane.

Lee's supercharged Alfa musters 300 horsepower and a top speed of 134 mph. The maximum power of restored Alfa Romeo 8C 2300s ranges from 130-175 hp at 4,000-5,400 rpms, depending on the models and upgrades.

The artisan-crafted 8C chassis was designed for simple yet elegant function. Two C-section side rails, connected by a series of cross members, form the frame. The rear mounts for the engine and gearbox assembly were part of the frame. Alfa originally offered two wheelbases for the 8C. The 3,100 mm long-chassis Lungo or LeMans  provided four-seater configuration necessary for the 24-hour races that required four bodies. The 2,750mm Corto or Mille Miglia  short-chassis sported an open coupe coachwork.

A third chassis, Spider Corsa or Monza  chassis, featuring shorter front springs with short dumb irons located forward of the radiator, was introduced in late 1931. Its 2,650mm wheelbase was the result of repositioning the front axle 100 mm back, and made the car better for tight tracks.

The 8C's original shock absorbers were lever-type friction units, but Alfa eventually upgraded the susspension with a hydraulic system. Of course, for those who were racing the 8C 2300, the ride quality came second to speed.

Surviving the War

Sitting in the cockpit of Lee's Alfa provides a trip back in time. The car's original tachometer survived its first owner's penchant for the grueling hill-climbing events that were popular in Italy, France and Germany at the time. Gianfranco Peduzzi, a resident of Como, Italy, first registered the car in 1934. Lee obtained the brackets necessary to raise the Alfa's front fenders into the hill-climbing configuration that Peduzzi used. It is configured this way in our photos. Or he can lower the fenders in a road configuration for one of the many rallies he drives.

Lee's Alfa has survived more than its share of harrowing moments. In 1941, a subsequent owner involved the car in an accident when farm equipment broke loose from a tractor outside Milano. The car was declared demolita  (translation: totaled). The car was then hidden before it could be confiscated during a wartime metal hunt ordered by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

When the war was over, the Alfa found its way to the famous Pininfarina coach-building company where it was fitted with a drophead coupe body. Its reverse-rake nose, bulging fenders and chrome trimmings resembled a 1937 Graham in front and an 8C 2900 from the rear. Legend has it that Prince Bernard of the Netherlands commissioned the work at Pininfarina on behalf of an anonymous friend in the Netherlands government.

In 1951 the Alfa was sold, with its engine still dismantled, to a university student who had the car repaired to the extent that he could drive it to and from school. Seven years later, New York car collector Jim McAlister purchased it. Lee first happened upon the car in the 1970s while making a television commercial in New York. When I saw this car the first time, I loved it. And I wanted it,  Lee says.

Lee's initial attempts to acquire the car began a long distance love affair that spanned the globe and three decades. In the 80s, Lee again came across the car in Geneva, Switzerland. When two offers went for naught, Lee did not give up. Twenty years later, he arranged a three-way transaction with Friedhelm Loh that left him minus a 1958 California Spyder, but the owner of an Italian motor legend.

Lee sent the car to DBM Engineering in The Netherlands, who rebuilt the engine, transmission, rear axle and brakes in time for the 2001 Alfa Tour of the Rockies in Montana. In 2004, Lee commissioned Bobby Smith of Smith Coachworks in Gainesville, Texas, to return the 8C 2300 to its original competition configuration. The company had to rebuild around the car's original firewall and cowl, adding the hood, doors and metal work.

Lee's Alfa is loaded with the details proud collectors love. Every detail has been researched to make it cosmetically and mechanically authentic. For instance, unique wire connectors must be detached to allow the deck lid to be opened. Lee tracked down the original headlights and 19-inch wheels at the shop of a restorer in Zurich.

Lee's Alfa won first place and Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Quail Concourse and was awarded the first-place Rolex Award.

He plans to enter the car in the 2000 kilometer European 8C Rally from Lake Como in Italy to San Tropez in the south of France, taking the car back to where it began it's long and storied life..

The roads Lee and his Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 cruise today are themselves technological wonders. But no one notices the pavement when the 8C 2300's engine announces its presence with a blast from the past.