Info on Figoni-bodied 6C1750 GS sought

[tubut]

This is a picture of the Figoni-bodied 6C1750 GS with chassis number 121215054 when it recently was dropped off for restoration at RX Autoworks in North Vancouver (unfortunately, I had only the cell phone camera available). The car has an Alfa Romeo Paris badge, French instruments and French knock offs. According to Fusi's "Tutte Le vetture dal 1910" the car is a 6th series 6C1750 from 1933.

Inside the car is a badge that says (in English) that this car participated in the 1935 Le Mans race (driven by Don/Desvignes) and came in 5th overall but records found on the Internet indicate 6th overall and a class win in the 3-litre class. However, a badge that seems to stem from later date is no proof that this is actually true.

There are some hints that the car may have been re-bodied after the Le Mans race (it certainly has Figoni badges and either the son or grandson of Figoni has recently been contacted and came to see the car -- now, everybody is waiting to see if they find any information in the Figoni archives).

The car has some stickers on it that indicate it may have participated in the 1986 Mille Miglia. The car is not listed in Fusi & Slater's 6c1750 book from 1968 (which a friend let me borrow). Angela Cherret's 6C1500/1750/1900 book from 1989 mentions that one car went to Figoni but it is currently unclear whether this comment was in reference to the car pictured here.

The owner and the restoration shop are looking for any kind of older pictures of this car and what history may be revealed. Any help on or off AlfaBB would be greatly appreciated.

I hope I can post more and better pictures as the restoration progresses.

[damien duigan]

G'day there,

Strangely enough, I had a brief chat with the owner about this car in a bookshop in Melbourne earlier this year.

It was entered in the 1986 Mille Miglia by the then owner, Waldemar Greyvensteyn of South Africa, with car #65.

Have you been in touch with Angela Cherrett?

Cheers,
Damien

[tubut]

Thanks for your reply, Damien!

I haven't been able to contact Angela Cherrett yet (I contacted the VSSC in the UK to see if they can put me in touch with her). If anybody has contact information for her, please let me know (via PM or e-mail).

[Il Vecchio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubut Thanks for your reply, Damien! I haven't been able to contact Angela Cherrett yet (I contacted the VSSC in the UK to see if they can put me in touch with her). If anybody has contact information for her, please let me know (via PM or e-mail).

[Zagato_Olaf]

Hello Ruedi,

I checked some books on Alfa Romeo for # 121215054.
In the book 'Alfa Romeo Production Cars 1910 - 2007' written by d'Amico and Tabucchi and published in 2007 by Giunti/Giorgio Nada Editore, # 121215054 is mentioned as being in the 6C 1750 6th series Gran Sport. This series covers # 121215031 up to # 121215071. This is confirmed (as already mentioned) in the book 'Alfa Romeo Tipo 6C 1500 - 1750 - 1900' written by Angela Cherrett and published by Giorgio Nada Editore in 1989.
I didn't find a picture or a reference on this specific car. Searching the internet didn't reveal any information.
Maybe John de Boer can help you with finding information?

Ciao, Olaf.

[tubut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zagato_Olaf Hello Ruedi, I checked some books on Alfa Romeo for # 121215054. In the book 'Alfa Romeo Production Cars 1910 - 2007' written by d'Amico and Tabucchi and published in 2007 by Giunti/Giorgio Nada Editore, # 121215054 is mentioned as being in the 6C 1750 6th series Gran Sport. This series covers # 121215031 up to # 121215071. This is confirmed (as already mentioned) in the book 'Alfa Romeo Tipo 6C 1500 - 1750 - 1900' written by Angela Cherrett and published by Giorgio Nada Editore in 1989. I didn't find a picture or a reference on this specific car. Searching the internet didn't reveal any information. Maybe John de Boer can help you with finding information? Ciao, Olaf.

[tubut]

When I managed to go back to RX Autoworks last week to take some more pictures of the car, it was already partially disassembled to assess what work needs to be done. Apparently, the nose of the car was damaged in transit during the transport from South Africa to Canada -- which is one of the reasons why some work was necessary. The other reason is age. Some of the wood structure has aged and become loose to the point where work was necessary to ensure safe transportation.

The funny thing is, seeing the car apart made me feel a little bit sad: While it's great to see the car restored, there is no doubt that it will lose some of its originality -- but RX Autoworks is great at sensible restorations (Miles Collier's 8c2900 should be proof of that) and they intend to repair and preserve as much of the car as possible.

[tubut]

The car has undeniably French roots. In addition to the Alfa Romeo Paris badge and the knock-offs with French language, the Jaeger instruments on the dashboard are also in French.

Further, some pencil scribblings on the bodywork also point to french heritage. On the top of one of the door frames, it says "border de chacque coté de la feuillure" which I loosely translated as "wrap [or bend] around both sides of the groove" -- which must be an instruction to the panel beaters as to how the aluminum skin is to be applied. I had some problems figuring out the term "feuillure" and, through translation to German, found it pertains to the groove in windows and doors where presumably a weather seal could be attached.

There are other markings we haven't been able to decipher yet. on the inside of the driver side door panel, there large are two lines of pencil markings. We found what we believe to be a letter "M" that's about 15 cm (6") high. Due to glue and paint overspray, the other letters are very difficult if not impossible to read (I believe there could be an "F" and a "y" or a "g" and something that says "lui" but I'm far from certain). I tried some electronic image enhancement but am not proficient enough to get better results -- I wish it was as easy as they show on TV (e.g. in the "CSI" series).

[Zagato_Olaf]

Hello Ruedi,

Wauw! Great pictures. Thank you! I can't decipher the words either.

I agree with you that Fusi and Slater, in the book 'Alfa Romeo The 6C 1750' published by MacDonald & Co in 1968, talk about multiple Figoni 6C 1750 cars on page 42.

I checked the book 'Alfa Romeo, A history' by Peter Hull and Roy Slater, published in a revised edition in 1982 by Transport Bookman Publications.
There is a reference to Figoni but it concerns his alterations on the Le Mans 2.3 car of Raymond Sommer.

I also checked the book 'Le Alfa Romeo di Vittorio Jano' by Luigi Fusi, Enzo Ferrari & Griffith Borgeson and published by Autocritica in 1982. I couldn't find a picture of a Figoni 6C 1750. Because this book doesn't have an index, I could have overlooked a reference.

Joseph H. Wherry in his book 'The Alfa Romeo Story', published in 1967 by the Chilton Book Company, does mention a lot of 6C 1750 coachbuilders but not Figoni.

Seems that you are in for some serious searching for other Figoni cars. I'll have a look in the books for further references.

Ciao, Olaf

[AlfistiSA]

I last saw this car in Waldie's garage in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Pictures really do not do it justice, it is a truly magnificent body style and a gorgeous little Coupe, I'm glad David is going to restore her properly.

Last time I saw her, she was looking a little shabby. To be fair, the restoration is almost 30 years old now & was carried out in the dark ages before email & internet. Waldi fitted the incorrect carbs, I believe David has sourced a proper Memini carburettor for her now. She is a matching number car. I do recall hearing that the wood work joints had all pulled loose necessitating the body to come off the frame, as the skin was starting to show signs of cracks

Waldi did the '86 Mille Miglia, the car was shipped from SA & back again for the event.

The information I have on the car, as per word-of mouth, from Waldi, was that she's a '33 and was re-bodied by Figoni, (before he joined up with Falaschi) in circa '35. I cannot substantiate this; I’m only repeating what I was told. Figoni was passionate about his work being done in Paris, to the extent that he even made up his own radiator badges. These are pictures from when I last saw the car in Waldi's garage.

I have always understood that this particular car is a one-off by Figoni, & in conversations I've had with people about Alfa's over the past 30 years, it's always been referred to as the "The Paris" or "The Paris Alfa"

This *is* one I'd like to own.....sigh

Ciao
Greig

[tubut]

Greig, thank you for posting pictures of the car with details I wasn't able to capture before the car was disassembled. Your description of the car's current state matches what RX told me. There is now also some damage to the nose that happened during transport (sheet metal covering dumb irons crumpled).

A couple of things that struck me when looking at the car the first time (and better visible in your pictures than in mine) are that the headlights are not typical for this type of Alfa Romeo and that the lights on the fenders seem to be installed at an odd angle given their shape. Clarifying when these lights were installed is one of the reasons why RX is trying to find older pictures (pre-SA restoration) of the car.

With respect to the Alfa Romeo - Paris badge and the French scripts on the knock-offs, I kind of expected that all cars would have them that were assembled in, or sold through, the Alfa Romeo Paris offices as indicated by GTV2000 in this thread (and to a lesser degree in the Alfa Romeo Paris Location thread). Your post above and the posts in the other threads initially made me wonder whether the French badges could have been specific to Figoni but that notion doesn't sit right with me: The French instruments on the dashboard most likely would have been fitted directly by Alfa Romeo, especially if the car was re-bodied by Figoni (as hearsay indicates so far).