1955 Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint: An Alfa for us
By JOHN F. KATZ
As early as 1943, Alfa Romeo engineers sadly shelved plans for the V8 and V12 exotics they had hoped to build after the war. A handful of 6C 2500s would trickle from the bomb-shattered factory through 1952, but even these prewar leftovers were deemed toopatrician for the postwar reality.
So with admirable realism, aristocratic old Alfa Romeo squarely faced the need for a more democratic product line. Five years of development produced the 1900, a roomy four-door sedan first shown to the press in May 1950, and to the public at the Paris motor show that October.
The first four-cylinder Alfa in nearly 25 years, the first unibodied Alfa ever and the first Alfa refined in a wind tunnel, the 1900 was a surprisingly successful blend of exigency and experience. Its engine retained Alfa's traditional dual overhead camshafts and hemispherical combustion chambers with two valves per cylinder, but it was sized around a 3.25-inch (82.55 mm) British Hepolite piston that was readily available. With a stroke of 88 mm, it displaced 1884 cc and developed 90 hp. Its cams were driven by roller chains, and its crank ran in five main bearings.
The 1900's straightforward chassis set the pattern for generations of Alfas to come: coil springs and double wishbones up front, and out back a coil-sprung live axle on two trailing links, a Panhard bar, and one triangular anti-torque link. Steering was by worm and roller. Priced around $4,500, some 1220 were assembled in 1951, more cars than Alfa had ever produced in any previous year.
Alfa advertised the 1900 as "the family car that wins races"; in fact, the 1900 quickly evolved into an entire family of cars. First came the higher-performing 1900TI (for Tourismo Internazionale, a production-based race series in Italy), with 100 hp courtesy of a two-barrel Weber, larger intake and exhaust valves, more aggressive cams and a compression boost from 7.50 to 7.75:1. Alfa offered a shortened TI platform (98 inches vs. 103) to coachbuilders, and Boneschi, Castagna, Bertone, Ghia and Vignale all tried their hands. A handsome coupe by Touring, and a cabriolet by Pininfarina each saw limited production as the 1900 Sprint.
The coupe was of course built according to Touring's patented Superleggera technique, with a hand-formed aluminum skin hung on a fine skeleton of steel tubing. It weighed only 2205 pounds, roughly the same as the sedan, and with better streamlining could reach 112 mph.
The 1900 Super arrived in 1954, with upgraded trim and an 84.5-mm bore, for 1975 cc. Super TI's and Super Sprints added 8:1 compression and dual carburetors, for 115 hp at 5500 rpm.
In 1953, Henry Wessells was an engineer with the Budd Corp., where he worked on both automobiles and railroad cars. He bought a 1900 sedan brand-new. "It was a wonderful car," he recalled. "Almost nothing could touch it on a twisty, winding road. A friend of mine had a Siata V8 Spider. We used to have races. Neither car could get away from the other, whichever one was in the lead.
"They were very closely matched to the Lancia Aurelia, also, and when Alfa finally got these developed, they beat the Lancias."
Now retired, Henry collects Alfas. He has owned this 1955 1900 Super Sprint since 1989, and has brought home several awards with it, most recently the Best Closed Sports Car trophy at the 2000 Radnor Hunt Concours. When new, it would have cost $6,100.The separate front seats are fuzzy, flat and upright, and adjust only with tools. Headroom is tight, but foot room is generous, as is the space for luggage behind the seats. The dash layout is very simple and logical.
The engine buzzes loudly and angrily, like 200 hornets on a mission. Torque is limited below 2500 rpm, but above that acceleration is quick—make that downright fierce—for an engine rating only 115 horses. The standard shifter, even for the coupe, was a five-speed on the column, but Henry's car is thankfully equipped with a popular floor-shift conversion by Nardi. The adhesion of the skinny, 6x16-inch Michelin X tires is astounding. Yet the ride is compliant and comfortable.
Just 949 Sprints and 854 Super Sprints were produced through 1959—with the last of the Touring coupes featuring a blind-quartered, fastback roofline. By then, however, Alfa's positive experience with the 1900 had led to the even-more-popular Giulietta of 1954.
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