This is the third of five ‘Disco Volantes’ constructed by Alfa and Touring. The S/N is 1359.00002 and is the four cylinder version. It was known as the ‘narrow sided’ Touring because it was much narrower than the first car from which the name Disco Volante was derived. It was raced in several hillclimbs in the mid 1950s before being scooped up by the Schlumpfs. The most impressive post war Alfa in the collection and an absolute, extremely original jewel.
All Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Text by Staff
Having been through the Bugattis at the Schlumpf in the past two editions of VeloceToday, it seemed that identifying the Italians photographed at the Schlumpf by Jonathan Sharp might be a spot easier. Not on your sweet bippy. Note that we asked for a list of S/Ns from the National Museum at Mulhouse weeks ago and still no reply.
The placards are of little or no use even if by the right car; and the website offers very little further information. These cars have been at the Schlumpf for a very long time, and everyone should know everything already. If you are lucky enough to have Simon Moore’s Immortal 2.9 and his three volume Legendary 2.3, you can sort out the pre-war Alfas and find interesting information. But, can you tell us the S/N of the 500/625 F2 Ferrari? Barchetta (http://www.barchetta.cc/all.ferraris/ferrari.by.serial.number) had it but no one else and we are not even sure that is correct. How about the fantastic, original, for real Disco Volante which should be one of the stars of the collection? And as for the OM, we gave up as there is no list of OM S/Ns anywhere but we did want to know the coachbuilder. No such luck despite a thorough search. Could have been Touring, Pinin Farina or James Young.
So read on, and hopefully you too will be inspired to be a detective and find out even more than we have or perhaps correct any errors. In addition to the usual Internet sources, here are the books from which we attempted to determine and verify the chassis numbers listed:
Sources
The Immortal Alfa Romeo 2.9, Simon Moore, Parkside
The Legendary Alfa Romeo 2.3. Simon Moore, Parkside
Alfa Romeo Disco Volante, Anderloni, Automobilia
The Maserati 250 F in Focus, Anthony Pritchard, Veloce Publishing
OM, the men, the cars, the races, Alessandro Silva, Fondazione Negri
Flat-12, Alan Henry,Motor Racing Publications
The Passion of Roberto Rossellini, Pete Vack, Forza Magazine
The Schlumpf Obsession, Jenkinson
The Registry of Italian Oddities, John de Boer, Riopress
Fiat 508 Balilla, Antonio Amadelli, Giorgio Nada Editore
The Maserati 300S, Walter Baumer, Dalton Watson
In front with the white stripe is an Alfa Romeo Tipo 412, S/N 412152 a V12-engined car which originally had a Touring body. According to Simon Moore, Michelotti drew up this body on a tablecloth during a lunch with owner Willy Daetwyler, which had removable fenders. It has been seen at the Schlumpf both with and here without fenders. See Moore 2.9 page 404. Behind it is Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B S/N 412032 According to Simon Moore, this is one of the four 1938 Mille Miglia Touring bodied 8C2900s, but seriously modified after an accident and was rebodied in the early 1950s. See Moore 2.9 page 316.
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B S/N 412034. Thought to be one of the great 1938 MM spiders with a Touring body, it was rebodied by Graber in 1949 and sold to Schlumpf via Eckert in 1963. See Moore 2.9 page 336.
Alfa 8C2300 Graber S/N 2211069 One of three 8C2300 chassis sent to the Swiss coachbuilder Graber in 1932. It is very original, owned by a Ernst Schmid who sold it to Schlumpf via Erwin Eckert in 1963. See Moore 8c2300 page 299.
8C 2300 Alfa Romeo. According to Simon Moore, this is chassis 2311226, and aside from a Monza cowl, it is very original. Body is by Touring.
1936 Alfa 2.9A Coupe, S/N 412004 began life with a ‘botticello’ body (meaning cask or barrel-like), and won the 1936 Mille Miglia. See Moore page 97.
In 1939 it was rebodied as a striking convertible by Pininfarina, and after the war converted into a coupe by a coachbuilder named Martin but lost elegance in the translation.
Another jewel in the collection is this Cisitalia D46. We don’t know its competition history but John de Boer long ago figure out that this was chassis 027 out of perhaps forty built.
Ferrari 250 MM S/N 0230MM Sold new to movie director Roberto Rossellini with a Vignale body in 1952. He drove the car in the 1953 Mille Miglia. It was rebodied by Scaglietti in 1955 and was another car that went from Eckert to Schumpf in 1963.
Ferrari 156/63 S/N 0004 sits in a lineup of the 1.5 liter Grand Prix cars. .
1970 Ferrari 312B1, S/N 002 is one of the last Schlumpf acquisitions. According to Alan Henry, the first 002 was destroyed. The replacement chassis took the S/N and went on to win the South African GP in 1971 driven by Andretti.
Ferrari 212 F2 1950 S/N 0110 We have no comment or verifiable information on this.
Ferrari 500/625 F2 1952. The 500 F2 cars were very successful for Ferrari and many were sold to private customers using a variety of leftover parts. According to the Barchetta site, this is S/N 0184F, sold to Ecurie Espalon in 1952.
Fiat Balilla Sport. Designed by Ghia, the sporting version of the 995 cc Fiat 508 Balilla was a triumph of small car design in 1932 and remains so to this day. Balilla was the model name for the entire range; the Balilla sports cars were called Balilla Sport and Balilla Corsa, depending on the body configuration.
Lancia Dilambda was a top of the line luxury car from Lancia, owned by starlets and executives alike. Produced in three series between 1929 and 1935 all with a 4 liter V8 engine set at only 24 degrees which put out about 100 hp.
This one was relatively easy as it is S/N 3065, a 1956 300S that was driven by Mario Cabral. It was retired in 1961 and use as a Centro Sud training car before going to the Schlumpfs in 1964. Accoring to Walter Baumer, it is one of the most original 300S Maseratis in existence.
Rear view of Maserati 250 F, S/N 2526, late offset car, renumbered 2530. See Page 208 Pritchard 250F
Maserati 250F, S/N 2506 1954 car, was in Argentina and bought by Schlumpf in 1963. Page 201 Pritchard 250F.
Maserati Sport 2000. As far as can be determined, this car is based on the Maserati 26B or later 2 liter 8C variants thereof. This street version of a GP Maserati belonged to a Mr. Pedrazzin who used it for a period of 10 around his native Switzerland.
This lovely piece is an O.M. 665 MM Spider, and could be the supercharged SS model. In 1929 OM was on the top of their form and like the Alfa 1750s, very successful competition cars and won the Mille Miglia in 1927 with Ferdinando Minoia amd Giuseppe Morandi driving. The coachbuilder is not stated on the placard.
back in the v. late ’50s/ v.early ’60s, 3 of those alfas were for sale for $14k in some sort of mailer I got. The headlights behind the grille impressed me. At least one was mentioned as a rebodied gp car–I think! They were in ?Switzerland?–or not–at the time.
I believe the long chassis Lancia Lambda in Schlumpf Museum, France is chassis 19315. This was told me by Gerald Batt in 1985. Others are more expert than me on Lambdas….
The Schlumpf red Lancia Dilambda has eluded my identification so far.
There is a green 1911-1912 Lancia Epsilon in the Schlumpf. This has also eluded finding a chassis number despite some helpful correspondence with the Museum staff. The original brass chassis plate must be missing.
The author is wrong when he said the 1936 Alpha 2.9A “lost elegance” in the transition from convertible to coupe. This auto is beautiful as a coupe and as elegant as a coupe could be from the mid ’30’s.