Entries in 1954 (1)

Monday
Dec132010

Intriguing eBay Alfa Mystery

I have been watching a Belgian eBay auction lately for what is described as an Alfa Romeo Barchetta Sport, from 1954.  I was quite taken with the car's lovely, voluptuous lines, but perturbed because I had never seen a car quite like this before, and was sort of shocked at the lack of detailed information in the eBay listing considering the rarity of this vehicle:

"Rare Alfa Romeo Barchetta Sport, Totally rebuild over the past 2 years, Aluminium body, Freshly rebuild 1900cc engine, 120hp, 4-speed gearbox, Renewed brown leather interior, Black wirewheels, Adjustable suspension,.. Outstanding condition!  FIA regularity passport available."

I emailed the seller for more info about the car's provenance but received no reply yet. Does anyone know what this car is, or if it is even real??  The only similar car I can find is the "flat sided" Disco Volante also known as the C52 1900.  I don't know how many were made, but one is in the Schlumpf museum (see below). If this is a sister car, wouldn't it be worth a hell of a lot?? Anyone share to shed any light on this puzzle? Replica or Real??

-UPDATE: I received this reply from the seller regarding the car's history:

This is a car that we bought it this current condition. No racing history found on this car.  We suppose this car was build somewhere in the 60’s by a private coachbuilder and never really raced in the past. We have imported this car from South America. During it’s restoration the car received some modifications regarding it’s suspension and chassis has received some modifications too to adopt this body. The complete technical aspect of this car has been rebuild or restored to new. It is really a great joy to drive. A FIA passport was also obtained for rallying the car in Europe if the  new owner would consider.