Mahogony Alfa Romeo RLSS Mystery Car

Story by Pete Vack

Dale LaFollette, photographer, collector, car genius and fortunately for us, a decent chap, recently came upon a photo that he wanted to share. How many people might be interested in a tulipwood Hispano on the Targa Florio he didn’t know but the picture was great.

We said we were interested. We might even have a connection with the car. We both agreed that the photo he found was probably the famous Hispano Suiza Tulipwood boattail that is still around. And maybe that old photo my father took back in 1963 at Road America was the same car. Let me dig it up, I said.

We took a closer look. Things didn’t quite match up, the pointed tail, the placement of the gas tank. But things like that get changed over the years and how many wooden bodied cars are there anyway? Still, it was a mystery. And don’t our readers love a mystery!

So, we thought we’d ask them. As usual, we got a lot of responses. But what was unusual for a VeloceToday whatisit was that the guesses ranged from Amilcar to Riley to Bentley and just about everything one might imagine. And we didn’t really know who was right.

It didn’t take long before we received what we thought were viable guesses, and we got two at just about the same time. The first was from Jim Weber, who wrote:

This appears to be an Alfa Romeo RLSS that was owned by John Primm from Manitowoc, WI. He drove it in a VSCCA event at Road America. John had two RLSS models. I think one or both are at the museum in Arese. Vintage Sports Car Club of America had an Inland Region at the time. One of the old news letters may have featured the cars. John got one or both from the D. Cameron Peck collection.

This was followed in short order by a response from Tedd Zamjahn:

An Alfa Romeo RL SS. A friend of mine owned this car for a short time about 30 years ago. It was one of I believe three Alfa Romeo RL SS to come out of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. He owned one of the other 2 for an even shorter time. The car in your photo was traded to the Biscaretti Museum in Italy along with a Cisitalia Spyder Nuvolari for an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 rolling chassis that was reunited with it original body.

Now we had something to go on. We immediately checked out the Biscaretti, now MAUTO, in Turin. This is their description:

(Italy 1926)
This model was produced between 1925 and 1927 for international customers looking for top performance. It was powered by a straight-six engine, and custom-built bodies were mounted on its standard chassis.
The example on display is a “spider bateau” version, so called because the tail looks like an upside-down keel, and has an aluminium bonnet and mahogany rear end.
This unique bodywork was made in 1926 by Wilkinson of Long Island, New York, for a well-to-do American Alfa enthusiast.
Engine: 6 cylinders in line, integral
Capacity: 2994 cc
Max power output: 83 bhp at 3600 rpm.
Max speed: 130 km/h.

Cool! And the photo rang a bell. Sure enough, in 2009 Jonathan Sharp had visited the museum and returned with this stunning photo of the Alfa in all it’s glory. Now is that the car or is that the car?

We had two independent sightings, both confirming it was the Alfa. The Museum listed it as coming from the U.S. And the photos were virtually identical, save the gas tank.

And what can we find out about Mr. Primm? The following was edited from an obituary:

John K. Primm, age 93, passed away peacefully on the morning of April 9, 2006 in the presence of family at his home. John was born in the borough of Manhattan, New York, N.Y. John K. Primm lived a full and good life in many parts of the United States including 45 years as a citizen of Manitowoc. As a registered professional engineer for almost 60 years, he specialized in power distribution. He was active in many fraternal and professional organizations, enjoyed playing chess and had a special fondness for racing and restoring cars. He said the most memorable times in his life were becoming the husband of Carol in 1956; being father to their children, Jane Carol and John Geoffrey and being the grandfather of Meghan and Brendan.

Sounds like our guy.

D. Cameron Peck was a well-known automobile restorer, collector and historian, born in Chicago, Ill. on March 31, 1912. He Owned over 1500 antique, classic cars, which were housed in Evanston, Ill. Served as president of the Antique Automobile Club of America, the Sports Car Club of America, the Veteran Motor Car Club of America and the Cord Owners Club of Illinois, and was a member of the Automobile Old Timers Club. His automobile library is an integral part of the National Automotive History Collection of the Detroit Public Library. He died on April 19, 1990. His papers are still available at the Detroit Public Library, but we are not traveling to Detroit anytime soon. There might, however, be more information on the mahogany wood Alfa there.

Still left unknown was the coachbuilder, or probably the boat builder who constructed the body. The MAUTO description mentions Wilkinson of Long Island, but an internet search found nothing to grab onto. So what else does MAUTO know? We contact the museum and are awaiting to see if they can provide more information about the wealthy Alfa enthusiast and the coachbuilder. Or, maybe our readers can help?

Related links:

Driving the Alfa Romeo RLSS

S. Scott Callan on the Alfa RLSS