Unique Alfa 8C Lungo seduces Chantilly

ALFA ROMEO 8C 2900B LUNGO BERLINETTA BY TOURING ‘This car, serial number 412035, is unique in several subtle but very visible ways,’ said Jon Shirley of his Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Lungo, which won the Concours d’état at Chantilly. ‘The hood louvres extend backwards into the scuttle, the rear wheel spats aren’t circular and the front wings extend further back than Touring’s other Lungo Berlinettas.

‘Although the car was shown in the issue of The Motor that covered the 1938 London Motor Show and in Touring’s advertising ahead of the ‘38 Paris Automobile Show, the car didn’t actually appear at either event. It was registered in Milan in July 1938 with the licence plate MI 64518 and bought by Societa Anonima Montecatini – later known as Montedison – a major Italian industrial and chemical company. We understand that the car was used by an engineer named Donegani.

‘According to Italian records the car was sold to Giuseppe Grassi in Milan in 1950 but this was clearly a false declaration because the car was in America by then! Italy had strict postwar exchange controls and such transactions were not uncommon. Frank Griswold bought it in September 1947.

‘In 1996 I was racing my Lotus 18 at Road America and we were transporting the 8C on our big-rig for David Cohen who was returning from a show at Watkins Glen. We put it in our paddock as an attraction – I’d never seen one before – and was very taken with it. David said, “It will never be for sale,” but gave me first refusal if he ever changed his mind – which he did in 2005. I drove to Vancouver in my Jaguar E-type and did the deal in a day.’