In 2010 Alfa Romeo celebrates the company's centenary and on May 13th sixty years ago the very first Formula 1 World Championship race was held at Silverstone. The race and all other European rounds that year were won by the legendary Alfa Romeo 158 'Alfetta'. That was not a bad effort for a car that was first designed in the fall of 1937. The Alfetta (little Alfa) had originally been conceived as a voiturette (French for little car) racer in the Scuderia Ferrari workshop. It used a 1.5 litre, straight 8 engine (hence the name), which produced 195 bhp at the car's victorious debut in August 1938 and 350 bhp by the end of the 1950 season. The 'voiturette' regulations were adopted for Grand Prix racing after the War, which gave Alfa Romeo, who had carefully hidden all of its racing cars far from harm's way, an edge over its rivals. For the 1951 season, the 'Alfetta' was further developed with a revised engine and rear suspension and became the 159. What did not change was the model's winning ways; when the 'Alfetta' was finally retired, it had scored a staggering 33 victories. Of these 26 were won in a row. The first defeat came at the hands of its original creator, Scuderia Ferrari, during the 1951 Italian Grand Prix.
With no clear records and a very loose application of chassis numbers, it is hard to say how many examples were built. The best guess is at least six 158s and a further four 159s. Of these five are known to have survived, two of the former and three of the later cars. Our feature car is the only one in private hands after it was swapped for the unique 8C 2900B Le Mans Berlinetta in the late 1980s. Since then it has been meticulously restored to full running order and the current owner regularly races his 'Alfetta' in historic events. We saw the 158 in action most recently during the 2009 Goodwood Revival and we expect it to be back at Goodwood in July for the Festival of Speed where Alfa Romeo's centenary will be celebrated in great style.

Enjoy the links:

1938 - 1940 Alfa Romeo 158 'Alfetta' - Images, Specifications and Information