[iicarJohn]

This is a car with quite a history. The parts as well!

I got to work on the original engine a bit many years ago and collected a lot of notes after doing considerable research. Part of that research was catalyzed a bit when I met Bob and Vi Scovell. I think Bob had a Miller of some sort for a time. Some other stuff as well over the years. Vi had a Maserati with a Hudson engine that was campaigned up and down the west coast by a few different drivers. Bob was Art Scovell's brother. Unfortunately all are gone now. I wish I could remember all the stories! I'll try to find a photo I took of a photo of the car with Art Scovell at the wheel in Wisconsin.

The chassis is now with Alfa Romeo and has a 12C engine (N. 50103, also numbered "51205", and with Alfa Corse number 78, both of which have intersting implications of their own) fitted. This makes it still a "Tipo C", if the "50103" number is to be taken at face value, but the configuration is quite different from the 8C-35! The car is normally displayed at the museum at Arese. I read that it was displayed at Retromobile early this year for a time.

When I worked on the engine N. 50012, it had Offenhauser-made monoblocks that displaced 3.0 liters in place of the original 3.8 of the Alfa Romeo-made parts. One of the original Alfa Romeo 3.8 blocks (i.e. four cylinders with integral head, presumably from this engine) is in Indianapolis with a friend. This engine apparently has now been fitted with some new monoblocks "made in New Zealand" and is fitted to another Tipo C project that has a chassis of uncertain origins that has been reported at various times as either "8C' or "12C' in configuration when found.

The supercharger was traded many years ago from the USA to the UK in exchange for a rare Weber carburetor.

The shift tower assembly was sold or traded many years ago to another racing Alfa Romeo in England.

The transaxle is in another Tipo C project that is one of two that has claimed the chassis number "50014". This particular "50014" had scant claim to the number since was based on a chassis "made in Argentina" and fitted latterly in the UK with the engine N. 50015, also an engine that I got to touch rather intimately at one point long ago. The other "50014" had the engine 50014 and a lot of other appropriate stuff ... in another chassis that was also almost certainly "made in Argentina" but which seemed to have a few parts that might have come from the actual "50014". It is hard to say with certainty. However, the original chassis was damaged so badly in a fatal accident that it is not reasonable to presume that it survived afterwards. And it seems a bit odd that someone would have cut pieces off the damaged chassis when it would have been far simpler to make new parts.

Attached, a listing of the 50012's racing participations and ownership chain as I'd developed it as of perhaps ten years ago. I haven't worked in earnest on this listing for quite some time so I can't say that there isn't more that should already be listed from my files even though I do try to update major news when I come across it.

As with all listings that I share, updates and corrections are welcome. If the information is shared directly with me so that I have a means of responding directly to you, I am likely to share some more information that has been edited from this listing.

John de Boer
The Italian Car Registry

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