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Nd 948-11
Since nobody has chimed in ... The car in the opening photo is 948-11, a car that was built by Nardi Danese with a modified Alfa Romeo 6C2500 engine. We can only presume that the engine (923704) might have been original to the car (even if it might have been "used" in an Alfa Romeo earlier) as the car has not been run in any other configuration so far as I know. Other similarly numbered engines are known to have been installed in cars that date from the latter half of 1947 into early 1948. This chassis number, although nominally a "1948" number, might not have been issued until 1949? As an example, ND 948/9 and 948/10, both BMW 750 powered, were not given Certificato d'Origine until August of 1949 even if some earlier use was possible on trade (Prova) plates.
This car was said to have belonged to Conte Carlo Felice Trossi but it seems that Trossi owned more than one similar car so assumptions about which-car-did-what are risky without photo documentation. The car was supposedly sold 1954 from Gregorio Benedetti (spelling uncertain) to Gordon H. Cooper in Southern California. It seems almost certain that Pompeo or McAfee or Edgar or perhaps Rezzaghi was involved in the transaction. Cooper raced it several times in 1955 and 1956. He then advertised it several times beginning December, 1956. It was last seen advertised by him in Road & Track of December, 1961 (five years later!) where the text read, "Built in 1950 for Count Rossi at cost of $11,500. This 2800cc car just completely rebuilt at cost of $2500".
The next appearance of the car may be the subject of the photo that opened the thread. The person who offered this photo in recent months on eBay had the following to say when I questioned him about the period in which the photo was taken. "I purchased the photo from the photographer and he had quit photography in 1962". It's not much of a stretch to think that someone who "quit photography in 1962" might still have taken a few photos for a while longer. A car was displayed by one Herm Schlieske at the Vista del Mar Concours August 30, 1964. It was described as "1950 Alfa Romeo Nardi". I wonder if the photo was taken there or at some other venue relatively near in time?
By 1977, the car was with Luigi Chinetti who said the car was "ex Trossi" and had "raced 1948 at Monaco". I've found no indication of such a car racing at Monaco in either 1948 or 1949. It was sold to Joseph Feldman and then Homer Tsakis and then Ali Lugo. Circa 1994, Ali Lugo went into some kind of partnership with Ken Shaff to get some restoration work done and share use of the car at various events. It may be that Ken believed he would end up owning the car? In any case, the car went back to Lugo after a time and it was recently sold to a new owner in Washington state. We may get to see it again one of these days as I've heard that the engine was recently dyno tested.
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