Some early 6Cs

[Alex]

I meant to post these a while ago but it slipped my mind. These showed up at a vintage biplane meeting at Woburn Abbey in the UK (it was in August, although you'd never guess it from the leaden skies), and seeing as the earlier cars don't get as much coverage in here I thought the pics might be appreciated. I couldn't tell you anything more about them but someone might recognise the coachbuilders and models.

[Alex]

A few more. I'm also including a couple of photos of a De Havilland Rapide, a pre-war passenger biplane identical to the one my grandfather owned for many years (I think this example had spent many years in Africa). Wish it was still in the family!

Alex.

[2600]

Hello Alex,
UX 3920 looks like a James Young bodied 6C 1500,circa 1928.
A wild guess at the spider would be a Zagato or Touring bodied 6C 1500, I don't think it's a 1750 G S , as the dash doesn't gibe.
I've always been fond of the Dragon fly, and the Rapide, but never flew in either, but did manage to get some time in on T. Moths when I was with the A.T.C. Love those spats.
Cheers, Adrian

[passocorto]

Hello everyone!

The picture below shows a very special 6c 1500 indeed, as it was once owned by Paul Braque, the famous cubist painter, who sold it to Blaise Cendrars, the great poet/novelist, posing here with his pride and joy. If these names don't ring your bell (wich I can understand), I shall explain that thinking Cendrar's car could still be around, eventualy mistaken for a "commonly owned" car, is a very exiting thought, to say the least.

The chassis number is 0110794, although I'm not absolutely sure about the 7 and the 4, the writing on the old registration licence being best described as barbarian.

If you have any information about this car, or information about a car that could be THE car, please let us all know. I have to confess at this point that I'm a huge fan of the 50's and 60's sportscar, and that as such, I don't know much about pre-war cars, so any comment on the body-type, or even the coachbilder, would be truly welcome. Cheers!

(clickable)

[PSk]

Considering the price of these cars when new I would doubt very much if any of them had 'common' owners.

In the end it really comes down to whether you consider the previous owners of interest or not ...

Pete

[passocorto]

Well...

To me uncommonness isn't really just about the smile you put on your banker's face. Nevertheless, for those of the readers who don't share this point of view, of wich you seem to be, I carefully put inverted commas on "commonly owned".

Anyway, an answer is always nice, no matter how useless, so thank you!

[passocorto]

Btw, the painter's name isn't Paul Braque, who if I remember right was the guy who designed the Pagoge, but GEORGES Braque of course (owned ). Sorry for this lapsus!

It would be great to have comments on the car. Is the body special? Who was the coachbuilder? Is it possible to guess the exact year of the built from what you can see on the picture?

Thanks for your answers!

[PSk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by passocorto Well... To me uncommonness isn't really just about the smile you put on your banker's face. Nevertheless, for those of the readers who don't share this point of view, of wich you seem to be, I carefully put inverted commas on "commonly owned". Anyway, an answer is always nice, no matter how useless, so thank you!

[passocorto]

All I can do now is apologize for my tendencious reading of your message and the quite agressive answer that came as a consequence. I actually don't believe that buisnessmen are necessarely boring, in fact, I think the guys I mentionned were also buisnessmen in their own ways, although my previous post looks like it was written by a retarded lefty (wich I like to believe I'm not). Sorry!

You seem to know a lot more about 6c's than I do. Well in fact I know as near as makes no difference nothing about them, but I've been doing some reading yesterday. According to a spanish site linked in this forum the car we should be talking about is a series 1a, built in 1927. Yet the 1a series convertibles pictured on that site seem to have different windshields... How come?

Also: the car has no bumpers, wich leads me to a silly question for sure: was it built like that (sort of a lighter sport version, if they did anything like that back then by simply removing the bumpers, wich I doubt [ford escort mode on] ), or was it just lost on the way?

Is there a 6c register somewhere on the web?

Here's another picture of the car with Cendrars (who by the way is in my opinion a far more interesting pre-owner than Braque).


Thanks for clarifying things, Pete


Cheers

Philippe (don't worry... I'm not belgian anyway!)

[PSk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by passocorto You seem to know a lot more about 6c's than I do.

[Alex]

You could also try contacting the Vintage Sports Car Club in the UK, they might know where a register for these cars exists.

Alex.

[dretceterini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSk , I wish. Only whats in a few coffee table books of mine. I suggest you PM dretceterini, he would know (I guess) if there was. Best Pete

[africk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dretceterini The only active pre-war register I know of is the one in Italy for 6c2500s (they also include 6c2300s). If there is another register for any Alfas earlier than this, I would like to know about it! BTW, in the Feb issue of Hemmings, there is a 6c1750 with James Young coachwork for sale here in the US.

[dretceterini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by africk Dr., John de Boer has a pretty comprehensive list of 6Cs and 8Cs, at least in the U.S.

[passocorto]

A little update on 6c110794 (?): I took a look at the french and the english wikipedia pages about Cendrars, just in case. Whereas the french page says nothing about the Alfa Romeo, the english page contains a rather surprising (or better said: nerve tickling) claim: the alfa is said to have been "color-coordinated" by Braque. I don't know what in the name of God And All Of His Wives that's supposed to mean, but if it's true, then what we have here is a veeeery special car for sure: painted by one of the most important painters of the time, and then owned -and driven hard- by the guy who changed the face of french poetry. Cendrars also used the car as a sort of mail carrier for the english army during WW2, wich may even add to its appeal.

I have to say I really didn't expect that sort of info, the car being always refered to as "red" in just about everything I read before concerning it, including texts written by Cendrars himself. As a result I'm quite sceptical. Besides, the english page contains some inaccuracies, as far as I can tell (like Cendrar's poetry being inspired by Apollinaire's, whereas it was exactly the opposite [wich is a fact, not an opinion... Well a fact that's being discussed, but still a fact ]).

I hope my new little obsession is entertaining enough for some of you to want to check the S/N of the all the 6c's you might come accross in the future.

Thanks for the last posts. I'll keep looking.