Although the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 of the late-1930s and immediate post-war years lingered on the market until 1953, its replacement was first introduced in 1950—the Alfa Romeo 1900.
The design of the 1900, and every subsequent Alfa through the Alfetta, was guided by Orazio Satta Puglia, known to colleagues as “Satta.” With a background in aero engine design, Satta adapted aero testing and design methods to the development of the 1900. The 1900 was Alfa’s first monocoque design, a type of unit body construction for which the body serves as the primary structural element of the chassis.
The 1900 was crafted to be as efficient and economical as possible, a relatively austere car to fit the needs of the post-war period and increase sales. Parts and materials were in short supply, so for the first time Alfa outsourced some engine components where they could, such as Hepolite pistons from Britain that were available with the needed 82.55 mm diameter (roughly 3.25 inches). Still, the 1900 had dual overhead cams, a hemispherical combustion chamber, and an alloy cylinder head. The valves were sodium-filled and the valve seats machined from hardened stellite castings. This would become the direct ancestor of the Alfa Romeo four-cylinder engine used for the several decades that followed. Until recently the brake system was largely credited to Girling, but 1900 guru Joost Gompels of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROC) notes that those big, finned “Alfin” drums and shoes were actually designed in-house.
Not long after its introduction, a Super Sprint edition was added for more wealthy customers with better appointments and more power. Virtually all of the custom-bodied 1900s used the Corto (short) Super Sprint (1900C SS) chassis. Although the engine was discontinued after 1957, this chassis was used through the 2000 Sprint model of 1962.
Bill Noon of Symbolic Motors is familiar with and has driven virtually all sports cars of the 1950s. He notes, “It is difficult to believe that these lovely machines are now more than 60-years old. Their 2-liter, twin-cam, long-stroke engines produce massive torque instantaneously and, rare for the day, Alfa fitted these performance vehicles with truly revolutionary five-speed, fully synchronized transmissions (4-speed for earlier CS or “Sprint” coupes) as well as special gearing and final drive ratios. They were also fitted with the absolute best-designed “Alfin” drum brakes of their day. With a finely tuned suspension and a combination of performance, handling and braking, they readily put to shame most of the 300SLs, Ferraris, Maseratis, Jaguars, Astons, and Corvettes they competed against. Alfa realized most of their clients would be racing or rallying these short-chassis “Super Sprints” and all were delivered with oversized fuel tanks to give them the necessary legs to compete in the endurance races and rallies where they were favored.”
The 1900 was the final Alfa Romeo customers could order as a rolling chassis to send to carrozzeria (coach builders). A 1900 CSS coupe by Touring was a catalog item for Alfa Romeo, but a customer of means might have a 1900 Super Sprint chassis shipped to Ghia, Vignale, Boneschi, Stabilimenti Farina, Pinin Farina, Bertone, Zagato, Boano, Colli, or Castagna.
A handful of 1900 coupes and cabriolets during the mid-1950s came from Ghia-Aigle, under license from Ghia. It is believed that 15 Alfa chassis where bodied by Ghia-Aigle. They are rare, unusual, and interesting from several perspectives, including Italian business dealings from the period.
Ghia-Aigle existed because Mario Felice Boano was the chief designer and a partner at Ghia. His brother Gian Paolo Boano was also a designer. A man named De Filippi suggested to Boano that he set up a Swiss subsidiary of Ghia in Aigle, Switzerland. This was because DeFilippi owned some land there and Boano had ambitions beyond Ghia. DeFilippi would pay bills and Boano would design and build bodies for Carrozzeria Ghia-Aigle.
However, there were a few problems. Switzerland did not have skilled panel-beaters who knew how to build cars. The shop had to bring young Italians to a quiet Swiss village in order to make bodies—at least it used to be quiet until the workers came to town. More problems. Boano decided on a hasty retreat, declaring bodies had to be built in Italy at Ghia, then shipped and finished in Switzerland—which made absolutely no sense. Boano endured this for about a year, then returned to Ghia in Italy, then left Ghia completely in 1954 to start Carrozzeria Boano with brother Paolo.
Another twist is that Ghia-Aigle bodies were almost all designed by freelancers Giovanni Michelotti (most) and Pietro Frua (a few). They were fairly radical designers, still developing their styles, drawing cars with sharp angles and flat surfaces in a period of curves and scoops. If you look at Boano’s body of work, it pulls in nearly the opposite direction of either Michelotti or Frua. Very curious indeed. The company staggered on without Boano for a few years, but was never successful.
This brings us to chassis number 01959. It is a 1900C SS cabriolet by Ghia-Aigle built in May of 1954, roughly the time Boano departed from Ghia. The design is attributed to Michelotti. Someone who has viewed several Boano and Michelotti designs up close might blink. There are a dozen traits of Boano all over this car. Let’s just say his influence lingered, and that some mysteries are determined to remain mysterious.
Chassis 10439 is a very different story. It screams “Giovanni Michelotti.” Boano favored rounded, almost chunky bodies. His fender tops are very round and dip downward to a protruding headlamp. Boano also liked tall, curved and recessed egg-crate grilles on Alfas. His rooflines sometimes rise from the back to the A-pillar, while Michelotti does no such thing. Italian cars are full of fun mysteries, offering great stories along the journey to both dead ends and the thrill of discovery.
Zagato
Zagato already had decades of history with Alfa Romeos prior to the 1900 SSZ, but unreliable legends regarding the cars of Ugo Zagato are many. Delving into the history of some models is akin to an archeological dig yielding broken fragments that provide more questions than answers. In many respects, the history of the 1900 SSZ is one of those.
In 1954, Ugo’s son, Elio Zagato, was a partner in a racing team called Sant Ambroeus. One of the members was Vladimiro Galluzzi. Galluzzi drove a Touring-bodied Alfa Romeo 1900 CSS (Corto Super Sprint). We know that much. As one legend goes, Galluzzi did not win many races, so in the spring of 1954 Zagato advised Galluzzi that he should build a new type of 1900 for him. Zagato built the first 1900 SSZ on a CSS chassis. From there the crystal ball of history becomes more murky, but there are bits of evidence that Consalvo Sanesi and Ernesto Bonini, of Alfa’s experimental department, took interest and helped with technical information during construction.
The resultant car was then handed to Sanesi, who was also a testing and development specialist, not to mention one of Italy’s best race drivers. Sanesi had the car photographed from various angles at the Portello factory in Arese. In September of that year, Galluzzi had his first victory, at the Stella Alpina. Sanesi drove that same car at the Coppa Intereuropa in 1954, finishing behind Elio Zagato in his Fiat 8V.
Creating The SSZ
Zagato could not compete with the production abilities of Touring, and he did not try. The 1900 SSZ would be a gentleman’s racecar with a few Gran Touring sales tossed in. That was his niche. If each car had a little variation, the slant of the nose at a slightly different angle or, like an ice cream cone, one scoop or two on the hood (sometimes none), that was how it was going to be. The aluminum body bears a strong resemblance to Zagato’s Fiat 8V which was produced a few months later. An obvious visual difference is the big hood bulge behind the Alfa grille, made to clear the taller Alfa engine.
Tradition has it that a Zagato employee, Fabio Lugi Rapi, sketched the shape. In typical Zagato fashion, the shape was intuitive (true aerodynamics did not arrive at Zagato’s shop until Ercole Spada became the chief designer a few years later). The front windshield was steeply raked for 1954. Zagato would minimize the frontal area at the nose of a simple, rounded body. Plexiglas side windows reduced weight. Some SSZs sported the trademark Zagato “double bubble” roof.
Early cars had an interior vent, which exited above the rear glass. That portion did not work as intended on tracks because pressing the brakes hard at the end of a straight caused exhaust fumes to be sucked back in! As for those scoops on the hood, only the passenger side was functional, while any second scoop was blocked and merely cosmetic. Two-tone paint schemes were common. A 5-speed, all-synchromesh gear shift was on the column, which was considered modern and more desirable during the early 1950s.
Driving Impressions
The 1900 SSZ was formed in the Zagato tradition of using thinner aluminum than used by Touring. Zagato bodies dent and deform with the push of a hand. That was not seen as a problem because racecars were intended to endure just one season of competition. Performance down the straights was said to be on a par with a 1954 Lancia Aurelia 2500, although on paper the Lancia would appear to have an edge. Six SSZs were entered in the 1955 Mille Miglia. Jo Bonnier won the Swedish Grand Prix at Sverige in August of 1955, beating Porsches and Fiat 8Vs. That race contains a bit of irony. For much of the race, Bonnier battled the Fiat 8Vs of Dore and Massimo Leto di Priolo. If that second name sounds vaguely familiar, his brother, Girolamo Leto di Priolo, soon crashed his Giulietta Sprint Veloce and had it rebuilt into the first Sprint Veloce Zagato (SVZ).
David Sydorick has a major collection of high-end Italian sports cars, and the one he most often picked for driving to a given destination was his 1900 SSZ. His silver 1900 is one of the late, more luxurious Gran Turismo versions. Although a floor shift for Alfa Romeo 1900C chassis cars was introduced late in Super Sprint production, Sydorick’s award winning 1957 SSZ (#10279) still has a column shift. Earlier SSZs with a floor-mounted shift lever would have been conversions by Nardi or Siata.
The ex-Bonnier SSZ still exists and is used for vintage racing. Although the steering ratio is appropriate for road use, the ratio is not quick in competition. The owner is trying to obtain new internal parts for the steering box.
UK-based Alfa 1900 expert and archivist Peter Marshall has driven both types of Touring Super Sprints, with floor shift, on the track in Sicily and at Alfa’s Balocco test track, plus a rare Boano Primavera version at Goodwood. The difference between a Touring CSS and an SSZ he says, is the gap “between chalk and cheese.” The 1900 SSZ is much more like driving a Giulietta Sprint Zagato or a 1000-cc Ferrari-engined ASA. You get behind the wheel and everything is to-hand. The 1900 Zagato feels quick, partly because you are seated close to the ground (and the seats hold one in comfortably). Gear shifts snick up and down, and the tachometer counter dances in complete sympathy. All 1900s are light, nimble to drive and responsive. Although the column shift is good, there is no comparison to “five on the floor”, especially in a Zagato.
Fast and Beautiful
Ugo Zagato entered a 1900 SSZ in the Campione d’Itaia Concorso d’Elegance at Lake Lugano in June of 1954 while Galluzi entered a concorso at Cortina d’Amprezzo. The shows entered confirm that Ugo Zagato was proud of the design…and the car won races.
As to how many 1900 SSZs were built, no one can say for certain. Zagato did not keep records prior to 1960. Chassis came in, cars came out. The best estimate of how many were built has evolved over time. Peter Marshall ventures that, “Over 40 were produced, of which less than 75 percent are known at present.”
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