Touring Superleggera Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Berlinetta History
Catalog record
This is a brief catalog introduction with limited source documentation. A licensed, identity-checked lead photograph has not yet been added for this page. Detailed year, configuration and ownership coverage must be identified separately; this page is not a complete vehicle catalog.
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The Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 was the ultimate road-racing weapon of the late 1930s, powered by a twin-supercharged 2.9-litre straight-eight originally developed for Grand Prix competition. Carrozzeria Touring — already deep into refining what would become the patented Superleggera construction method — bodied a small number of the road-going 8C 2900B chassis between 1936 and 1939 in the form of berlinettas and spiders.
Touring's berlinetta on the 8C 2900B chassis — the 'Berlinetta Speciale' — is considered one of the most beautiful automobiles ever made. The body is formed from hand-beaten aluminium panels fixed to a latticework of small-diameter steel tubes welded into a self-supporting structure, saving weight while achieving exceptional torsional stiffness. A Le Mans-specification example won its class at the 1938 24 Heures du Mans.
Fewer than 13 road-going 8C 2900Bs received Touring bodies (precise numbers vary by chassis configuration). Today these cars routinely set world auction records; a 1937 8C 2900B Berlinetta achieved $19.8 million at Villa d'Este in 2016.
Body styles
- Berlinetta
- Spider
Notable special editions & performance variants
8C 2900B Berlinetta Speciale Le Mans
The ultimate factory-prepared berlinetta; the Le Mans version (chassis 412021) won its class at the 1938 24 Hours and is considered the jewel of Touring's pre-war work.
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