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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Alfa 158

Museum Enzo Ferrari, Circa 2014

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The Alfa Bimotore is on display in a quiet, beautiful, chapel-like setting.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

From the VeloceToday archives, November 2014

Nestling, as if being protected, in the curve of the new display hall is the original workshop of Enzo Ferrari’s father Alfredo. A long and narrow building lit by many large arch shaped windows. The building was built during the latter half of the 19th century and would not have benefited from electric lighting, hence the many windows. At the far end of the hall, roughly where the “Enzo” is now displayed, was, along with the machine tools that Alfredo used to shape metal, a stable which housed the horses used to draw the sulkies (2 wheeled trotting rig) and carts of the time.

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Mike Sparken Part 3 by Graham Gauld

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The Alfa 158/9 at the Paul Ricard circuit.

By Graham Gauld
Photos by Gauld unless otherwise noted.

First published in VeloceToday in 2012. As we have learned in Part I, Lord Doune was a bit in the dark as to the importance of the 1938 Alfa 2.9 Berlinetta, and returned it to Danny Margulies who in turn called upon Mike Sparken.

Mike Sparken was more aware of the importance of the Sommer/Biondetti Alfa. He spared no expense to have it taken apart and rebuilt by Paul Grist. The engine was sent to Tony Merrick and he did a wonderful job on it. But Grist had really done his part superbly. When I had seen the car in Doune collection, the grille was wrong; it looked like chicken wire rather than the elegant egg-box grille of the original. Thanks to Grist, the car turned out to be stunning. It was road -taxed in England but Mike Sparken had a plan in mind.

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The Saga of Count Trossi

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From the Archives, November 1st, 2002

By Ed McDonough
Photos from the collection of Ed McDonough

As the 1940s drew to a close, three of Alfa Romeo’s most talented drivers in the pre or post-war years were all lost to the Milanese company within one year. Forty-four year-old Achille Varzi died in practice for the Grand Prix d’Europe at the Bremgarten circuit at Berne, in Switzerland. His teammates were Jean-Pierre Wimille, Count Trossi, and Consalvo Sanesi.

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Mike Sparken Part 3: The Alfetta 158/159

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Alfa-158/9

The Alfa 158/9 at the Paul Ricard circuit.

By Graham Gauld
Photos by Gauld unless otherwise noted.

As we have learned in Part I, Lord Doune was a bit in the dark as to the importance of the 1938 Alfa 2.9 Berlinetta, and returned it to Danny Margulies who in turn called upon Mike Sparken.

Mike Sparken was more aware of the importance of the Sommer/Biondetti Alfa. He spared no expense to have it taken apart and rebuilt by Paul Grist. The engine was sent to Tony Merrick and he did a wonderful job on it. But Grist had really done his part superbly. When I had seen the car in Doune collection, the grille was wrong; it looked like chicken wire rather than the elegant egg-box grille of the original. Thanks to Grist, the car turned out to be stunning. It was road -taxed in England but Mike Sparken had a plan in mind.

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