Possible Rita Hayworth 6c2500SS FS

[Shawn Miller]

I am representing a 49 6c2500SS Pininfarina Cabriolet beleived to have been owned by Rita Hayworth. VIN 915871 motor 928182. The car is still mostly together, the engine is apart and partially rebuilt. Long term owner has had the car for over 40 years and it has been stored since 57.

Any idea where we can verify its ownership history? Anybody want it? So many questions so little time...

Shawn Miller
Significant Cars Inc
Indianapolis

[tubut]

FYI: The car is briefly mentioned in this post. Two brief glimpses of the car were caught in this French newsreel from 1949. The 6C 2500 register may have more information about ownership history (to the extent it was shared by previous owners).

[aldo]

I wonder if the seats have been washed?

[TorW]

Here's the relevant stills from the French 1949 newsreel.

The newsreel car appears to have a T in the origin code which may be TN for Trento. The newsreel speaker says something about "Lac de Garde", and Lake Garda is in the Trento region. If you google for Rita Hayworth and "Alfa Romeo", you'll find a.o. a painting of a blue 6C2500 with Milano plates. The latter is obviously artistic license.

[velocedoc]

This is interesting, because some years ago, Nort Newman of Tarzana had found in Sepulveda Hills in a garage a 6C2500 SS that was originally green in color. He negotiated for 5 years to buy the car and subsequently restored the car, and painted it a beautiful red. This car along with his 6c2500 Sport in Blue were featured in a magazine. After Norts passing the widow sold the car in running condition to a gentleman on the east coast. I lost track of it after that. I am sure someone on the 6c2500 Register knows of its where abouts.
Rita Hayworth, was given the car by Prince Ali Khan a rich playboy, at the time. To my knowledge there are not any pictures of her with the car, but with Hollywood archives, anything thing is possible.
Ask Marco at the Alfa archives the history of this car you are selling to verify that this is the car Rita Hayworth/Ali Khan do indeed have a connection.
BTW...I drove the red SS to the Santa Barbara Concours. That had to be one of the highlights of my Alfa experiences. I broke one of the torsion bars and had to block up the rear axle to get there and back. Oh what fun that was fixing that on the 101 freeway. Imagine the top down, red Alfa, brown interior, sunny day...you get the picture. I felt like I was a Hollywood star.

[MotorCityDuetto]

Hello Shawn,

I asked for the red 6C2600 PF cabriolet that you brought to the Detroit AROC convention in 2007, but was unable to get the blue Rita Hayworth 6C2500.
The artist of the painting mentioned in this thread came to the show because she was working from photographs and had little idea of the scale of the car. She looked over the Toronto and Indianapolis 6C's we had on display to help do the painting.

Dave

[Shawn Miller]

well if the car pictured above is her car, this isnt it. This car has pretty unusual front end treatment-see
1949 Alfa Romeo - Significant Cars, Inc.. T

This car did however come out of France. Hey the car above looks just like my car...yeah...thats the ticket! My car is the elusive Rita Hayworth car. HA!

Seriously, will contact Ms Braden to see if those records are helpful to either me or my client, Thanks guys. will keep you posted.

[MotorCityDuetto]

The blue car that I have photos of, reputedly the Hayworth car, looked different than the Barn Find and was in excellent condition (judging from the photos and comments the owner submitted). It is a Pinin Farina cabriolet If I recall correctly, but differs in details from yours and and looks similar to the photos posted by TorW. It may have been shown at Amelia Island in 2007. I think the owner lives in England, but the car stays in near the southeast US coast. Gotta dig through my old convention files to confirm.

[MotorCityDuetto]

Sorry, Shawn, but the Chris Osborne painting shows the reputed Hayworth Alfa, and it was restored just as you see it in the painting (although the actual car is a blue more like the darker area in the door).

[TorW]

Here's a couple of more stills from a Movietone newsreel shot May 5, 1949, showing the 6C2500 SS from other angles. It's apparently from the same media outing at Khan's residence as the French newsreel. The Alfa is obviously displayed for the press to gawk at. The commentator says that the Alfa Romeo is "said to cost £5000". Also, the Movietone newsreel commentator says that Khan's villa is "on the riviera, not far from Nice". In other words not on Lago di Garda as I said above, but Italy is just a few kms away in any case when you're in Nice. The clip was filmed some three weeks before the wedding reception which was held in the same location.

No Borranis on this one ...

[GTV-GR]

how can a creature that beautiful turn into worms and dirt? ....It's not fair

[Pat Braden]

Shawn,

I was out of state, when I originally saw the post about the Rita Hayworth car and did not have any resources to check the chassis and engine number against.

Neither the chassis number nor engine number appear on my 1967 list entitled "Alfa Romeo Section of the V.S.C.C."

This is what is in the appendici of Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 by Angelo Tito Anselmi, p. 258:

Telaio numero: 915.871

Motore numero: 928.182

Appront. del telaio: 12.10.1949

Consegna vettura: 15.04.50

Carrozziere: Pinin Farina

Forma del Carrozzera: Cabriolet

C: -

Primo Acquirente: Goffredo Zehender, Milano

E: E

I hope some of this information is helpful in determining or tracking what car you actually have, keeping in mind that others have pointed out that the Anselmi book does have some errors or discrepancies, if I'm not mistaken. But it does show that the engine number and chassis number were originally built together and have not been changed, providing that no one has re-stamped to make them appear to match as original.

It appears from some of the recent comments that with the differences cited that two different cars may actually be confused, which will take some sorting out to be sure.

It appears to have been originally built or sold in December of 1949, but not to Kazan; it was sold in Milano instead of France. I have an issue with how a car could be produced or sold on approximately December 10, 1949, but appeared in a newsreel dated May 5, 1949, some 7 months or so earlier.

A little additional information from Guide to the Identification of Alfa Romeo Cars by Maurizio Tabucchi, p. 50:

"No significant modifications to the following models, except for variations to the bodywork:

...6C 2500 Super Sport (type 1947). Chassis from 915718 to 915890."

From Pininfarina Catalogue Raisonne, Volume 2, p.188:

The only thing I can find that matches the grill configuration shown in the picture that you linked to on your site is a 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 T Berlina; the grill configuration is identical as far as the small circles under the headlights and the unique angled cut to each side of the grill; however the hood and the rest of the car do not match. I cannot find a cabriolet with this grill configuration so it causes me to wonder...

Maybe someone with the Catalogue and better eye sight than I have can shed some light on the situation and identify the car and justify its status or authenticity.

[Shawn Miller]

Thanks so much..while you have that stuff out my car is 915811, and I know very little of its early history, just where it was delivered based on Anselmis book. It won the Braden Award at the 2007 national Meet which was a great honor- we cherish the award and it is prominately displayed in our home.

Shawn

[MotorCityDuetto]

Found the 2006 photo of the reputed 6c2500 PF Rita Hayworth Alfa Romeo.
This is the car the from which Chris Osborne did the painting and I tried to have at the 2007 AROC convention.
However, yours and the one from Toronto were great to have in the concours.

Dave

[Pat Braden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawn Miller Thanks so much..while you have that stuff out my car is 915811, and I know very little of its early history, just where it was delivered based on Anselmis book. It won the Braden Award at the 2007 national Meet which was a great honor- we cherish the award and it is prominately displayed in our home. Shawn