Guide: Alfa Romeo 2000 Sportiva
Background
Alfa Romeo had abandoned Formula 1 racing at the end of 1951 after back-to-back championships for Giuseppe Farina and Juan-Manuel Fangio. New regulations for 1952 meant the supercharged 158 / 159 was no longer eligible to race and, as the Italian firm were in financial trouble, they could not afford to design a replacement to contest the normally-aspirated two-litre era.
Instead, Alfa Romeo planned a sports car campaign with a machine tenuously based on the 1900 production model. The experimental C52 was a collaboration between Alfa Romeo’s competition department, the firm’s chief designer, Gioacchino Colombo, and Carrozzeria Touring of Milan.
Unfortunately, the avant garde C52 was found to have major stability issues and never raced in its original form.
A new sports car, the 6C 3000 CM, was thus created for 1953. With this more conventional machine, Juan-Manuel Fangio took second place at the 1953 Mille Miglia and won the Merano Supercortemaggiore later in the year. However, Alfa Romeo management decided to close the competition department at the end of 1953 and concentrate on supporting privateers.
To complement the 1900 (which had proven itself a capable GT racer), Alfa Romeo began to explore the possibility of producing a more potent flagship that could be offered as a high speed Gran Turismo or an out-and-out racer.
The resultant 2000 Sportiva arrived in mid 1954.
Chassis
The 2000 Sportiva used a tubular steel spaceframe derived from the C52 albeit with a wheelbase shortened by 20mm to 2200mm.
Front suspension was by double wishbones with coil springs and hydraulic dampers. At the back, Alfa Romeo installed a de Dion axle and Watts linkage.
Diagonally finned drum brakes were mounted outboard at the front and inboard at the rear.
16 x 6-inch Borrani wire wheels were shod with Pirelli tyres. Compared to the C52, track was widened by 40mm at the front and 110mm at the rear.
Engine & Gearbox
Unlike the C52, which used a special alloy engine block, the 2000 Sportiva reverted to a cast-iron block. The DOHC head was made from aluminium-alloy and featured hemispherical combustion chambers.
Whereas the 1900 Super Sprint displaced 1975cc, capacity of the 2000 Sportiva was taken out to 1997cc. This was achieved by enlarging each cylinder bore from 84.5mm to 85mm while stroke stayed at 88mm.
The Sportiva engine also came with hotter camshafts, dry-sump lubrication and a compression ratio increased from 8.0:1 to 9.0:1. Fuel feed was via two enormous Weber 50 DCO3 sidedraught carburettors instead of the usual brace of Solex 40 PIIs.
Peak output was 138bhp at 6500rpm whereas the 1900 Super Sprint produced 115bhp at 5500rpm.
Both models used the same five-speed manual gearbox, single-plate clutch and in-house differential.
Coupe Bodywork
By 1954, it was still common practice that buyers of exotic Italian machinery commissioned an outside coachbuilder for their chosen style of bodywork. Firms like Pinin Farina, Vignale, Ghia and Zagato did a roaring trade creating often spectacular bodies for all kinds of road and racing cars. Some of these myriad carrozzeria offered standardised designs, but if a customer’s pockets were deep enough, truly individual ‘one-offs’ could also be requested.
The Alfa Romeo 1900 was a perfect case in point; between 1951 and 1959, the model wore designs from no less than a dozen different coachbuilders.
For the 2000 Sportiva, Alfa Romeo commissioned two different body styles to illustrate the possibilities on offer.
First to arrive was a stunning two-seat Coupe penned by Franco Scaglione at Bertone.
Scaglione’s creation was undoubtedly among the most handsome designs of its era; it fused intricate details with complex curvature and state-of-the-art aerodynamic understanding.
The headlights were mounted underneath plastic covers at the leading edge of bulbous front fenders. A primary nose intake fed fresh air to the radiator and neatly housed Alfa Romeo’s trademark shield. Delicate chrome bumperettes wrapped from the nose around to the wheelarches while, mounted discretely underneath, were oval brake cooling ducts each with a slatted chrome grille.
Down each flank was a swage line that emerged from the top of each front wheelarch. The rear fenders had a distinct muscular kick and were finned to aid stability. Deep sills meant side-exiting exhausts could easily be fitted for racing.
The Sportiva’s wraparound rear window and tail treatment were later copied for the Giulietta Sprint (also designed at Bertone).
Body panels were aluminium. Plastic windows were used except for the windscreen.
Coupe Interior
The dashboard had a crackle black upper element, body coloured lower section and a simple curved instrument binnacle. The dials were positioned in a triangular fashion with large gauges for engine and road speed complemented by smaller dials for water temperature, oil pressure and fuel.
Seats and door panels were trimmed in two-tone upholstery and there was a useful storage area for luggage in the back.
Side windows slid for and aft as opposed to up and down.
Weight / Performance
The Coupe was quoted at 915kg with a 137mph top speed. 0-62mph would most likely have been in the region of six seconds or less depending on gear ratios.
Spider Bodywork
Scaglione also designed the prototype Spider variant for Bertone.
A pared down roadster, it was a far simpler than the gorgeous Coupe; customers were expected to purchase such a car for competition use and were therefore less likely to be concerned with high end styling or wins on the Concours d’Elegance field.
The Spider featured an equally curvaceous front end but with exposed headlights and a single nose intake that was wider than the Coupe’s. Body trim was kept to a minimum and the side profile was much less complex. Large retractable vents were carved out from behind each front wheelarch and the deep side sills were louvred on the left-hand (exhaust) side.
A cut-down plastic windscreen mounted on a chrome base wrapped around the cockpit and doors. At the rear a rounded tail featured a centrally-mounted quick fuel filler cap.
Spider Interior
Inside, the body coloured metal dash was home to a full array of instrumentation and the same three-spoke wood-rimmed steering wheel as the Coupe. Black vinyl was used to upholster the bucket seats, but the rest of the interior was left in bare or painted metal.
Development
Alfa Romeo began testing their 2000 Sportivas in the summer of 1954, but any notion of producing the planned-for 100 cars was quickly abandoned owing to higher than anticipated production costs.
Nevertheless, for a few months, the Sportivas served as useful test beds to evaluate the latest wheel and tyre technologies.
Competition History
On May 8th 1955, one of the Spiders attended the Vermicino-Rocca di Papa Hillclimb on the outskirts of Rome to contest the Coppa Gallenga. Driven up the 12.95km course by Consalvo Sanesi, the little Alfa demonstrated its competition potential by placing second overall behind Salvatore Casella’s Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing. Alfa Romeo won the Sports class while third place overall went to the Lancia Aurelia B20-2500 of Germano Nataloni.
Production
Ultimately, only four 2000 Sportivas are believed to have been completed: two Spiders (1366.00001 and 1366.00002) and two Coupes (1366.00003 and 1366.00004).
The first spider (‘01’) is understood to have been scrapped after undergoing a series of aerodynamic tests. The second (‘02’) was retained by Alfa Romeo for their factory collection.
The first Coupe (‘03’) was painted silver. The second (‘04’) was painted red. Alfa Romeo initially retained both cars, but in 1971, chassis 04 was traded to an Australian collector (along with a brand new Alfasud) in return for his 20/30 – the oldest Alfa Romeo badged car in existence. 04 had previously been displayed alongside the brand new Giulietta at the Turin Motor Show in April 1956.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Alfa Romeo - https://www.alfaromeo.com
