La Passione 6C2300-6C2500 Alfa Romeo

Review by Pete Vack

La Passione 6C2300-6C2500 Alfa Romeo 1934-1953
Hardbound, 357 pages, 550 color photos 11 x 9.5 inches
Author: H.-J.Döhren
English and German
ISBN 978-3-00-063184-9
Alfa Point 2019

From Europe, order here:https://www.millenove.de/buecher-bestellen
From U.S. order from don@bugattibooks.com at 941-727-8667

Oh, those big ugly monsters we used to hate. We were never quite sure of what they were, this or that, somewhere between the superlative 8Cs and the diminutive Giuliettas and yet not quite 1900s. And in fact the 6C2300/2500 cars which are the focus of H.-J. Döhren’s latest book, were not made for young middle class post war car enthusiasts, but as one of the most expensive cars on the market, they were boulevardiers designed for the classiest and richest of clients who could appreciate the coachwork, revel in the size and luxury, and own the latest in automotive technology from DOHC engines to full four wheel independent suspension. No fools they.

On the other hand, many, in fact most, of both series were overweight, huge, and, with nominally only 110 hp on tap, relatively slow. Even the new owner of a post war Ville d’Este sold it quickly, saying that it lacked the racing characteristic expected in an Alfa Romeo.

The majority of the cars – in the case of the 2500 – were in-house designs like the Freccia d’ Oro, which is not exactly ugly, but then no one minded when a nice example was blown to smithereens for the Godfather movie in 1972. (But was it really blown up? Readers?)

But perhaps we young enthusiasts missed the boat. Today, any 6C Alfa is worth a small fortune, and can be appreciated for what is was intended to be, not derided for what it is not. The custom coachwork is largely of the immediate post war period, an age of freedom and experimentation, and the results varied from the hideous to the gorgeous, from plain jane berlinas to sensuous berlinettas and copious cabriolets.

Alfa Romeo La Passione 6C2300-6C2500 is H.-J.Döhren’s second Alfa book, and perhaps even better than his previous Alfa Romeo 1900 Millenova, which captured the 1900 series from every imaginable angle and model. But in doing a one series book, one must set parameters or the work would be unmanageable and huge, as big as, for example a Freccia d’Oro. So he decided to seek out just the 6C 2300s and 2500s in German speaking countries, where there are nonetheless large collections of the cars. Then, whenever possible, he asked the owners to write about their Alfas, which makes the text interesting. La Passione, like Millenove, is printed on heavy stock paper, has a sturdy binding, the photos are excellent, and throughout the book there are factory diagrams, color brochures and ads related to the 6C series.

The 6C2300

Though the book only covers two models, the sub-categories are manifold and organizing the material, however finely focused, is not an easy task. He takes on the 2300, describing the car and models, then gets into a detailed technical development of various models and wheelbases, and series types. A very handy chart lists the years, number of cars/chassis combinations, and the number of chassis by type, i.e., Turismo, Grand Turismo, Pescara, built from 1934 to 1939. The grand total comes to 1,606 cars. Or at least as best can be determined, so nothing is engraved in stone. The next section holds the individual information on nine select 6C 2300s, with color photos of the cars are they appear today.

6C 2500

The author treats the even more complex model range of the 6C2500 in a similar fashion, describing the technical developments between 1939 and 1953. But in this case Döhren further separates the Ville d’Este and the Freccia d’Oro into their own chapters.

Döhren’s book also lists all the known existing cars with notes, has a short but interesting section about other 6Cs not in Germany, and a chapter on the various coachbuilders. It was a book we did not like to finish reading, despite the odd hiccup here and there. It was 357 pages of pleasure.

There are two other books about the 6C series. I allude to these because you can purchase a copy of Alfa Passione by Mr. Döhren from Don Toms for only $120 post paid! new and in Europe for 86 € plus shipping. One of the other choices is Alfa Romeo 6C2500 Anselmi,1993, Editoriale Domus ISBN-13: 9788872121122 softbound and can be found for only $714 on Alibris. This is a magnificent book, and ironically, the book today, used, is worth more than the car itself back in the 1960s and 70s. I have a friend who bought three for less than $1000 back then! But I can’t recommend this book too highly, for the photos of the 6C 2500 cars as new are absolutely priceless. As far as I know, it was published only in Italian.

The other book, recommended by H.-J. himself, is the three-volume set which covers both the 6C 2300 and 2500. Alfa Romeo 6C 2300, 6C 2500 (Multilingual), Fucina, 2014 by Fabio Morlacchi and Stefano Salvetti can be found for $335 on Amazon. I don’t have a copy myself, but it looks very comprehensive and one volume includes all factory brochures and ads. Given those circumstances, Alfa Passione is a very good deal indeed.