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Replica Racer...
John Hearne's 1900 "Satta Special"
(excerpted from
NZ Classic Car, March, 2007; retitled July, 2009)                                               

 

Classic Addiction

John Hearne has been fighting—unsuccessfully—a lifetime addiction to old classics. Back in the '60s, he was in love simultaneously with June—a woman—and a supercharged 1937 Maserati 6CM that had been Duncan Hamilton's first race car. It should be pointed out that John's still in love with the same woman! June later discovered the claimed top speed of the Maserati (repeated by jealous rivals, no doubt) and, being freshly enamoured, flexed her emotional muscle and had John sell the Maser as an act of caution. Years later, in 1990, they sat and watched the same car being auctioned off for £480,000—a big jump from the £500 it was worth in their youth.

You can imagine the rib digging that went on. John decided that it was too late to claw back the Maserati, but he could build himself a period special for a fraction, albeit a sizeable fraction! It would provide him with just as much fun and return his money back in the end.

Note: This is a rationalisation if ever I heard it. John already owns a valuable vintage Alfa Romeo and a genuine Brooklands Riley. How much fun do you need?

What's in this creation?

John's calling this project an Alfa Romeo 1900 Monoposto Special. It's not a copy of an Alfetta 158/159—although it's very much in the spirit of those great cars—nor is it a copy of a Ferrari. It's a period special from 1955, and all its mechanical parts date from 1955 or earlier. That means he couldn't use an aluminum block Alfa motor from 1958, nor anything else from a later era. It's purely a special, but everything has been done properly by the criteria of the period and the designated marque. [Ed. note: The donor car body, a Super, chassis number *13140*, no longer exists.]

The chassis componentry incorporates Alfa Romeo 1900 parts—including a Peter Bruin-built deDion rear-end layout. Everything is from one Alfa 1900 donor. Radiator, front suspension, twin leading shoe brakes and drums, steering, handbrake, 1975cc engine and gearbox. The diff centre is period Alfa and the body is also true to the period, having been built by a gent who did that sort of thing then! The transverse springing is backed up by Houlandie French racing shocks, the Boranni wire wheels are off a Superleggera as are the twin-choke 45 Webers—John's a great believer in eBay. These Webers—courtesy of Murray Johnston at Weber Specialties—are mounted on the gem in the centre of this piece of masculine jewellery, a sizeable, polished twin-cam cover with the stock Alfa Romeo script cast into the metal.

Everything is silver or polished, and the alloy body is strictly period. However, when the whole thing is finished, has been tested and tweaked, guess what colour he'll be painting it—is Rosso Corsa your guess? If so, read on.

Building a dream

Peter Bruin, who built the chassis frame for this special, has done a superb job, completing the task in only 12 weeks during 2002. Graham Brayshaw rebuilt one motor from two 1900 engines. It's not a race engine at this stage, but another motor will be built for that purpose—possibly with a blower. John bought a second donor car to get a spare motor.

He now has two sets of Boranni wire wheels—one set from a 1950 Maserati. He imagined these period wheels had the long spline, but it turned out that he had to buy a second set with short splines. They look simply perfect.

Authenticity extends to the period race seat, to be covered in corduroy. The very large centre-mounted tachometer is from a period race car, and the steering wheel is a copy of the wheel used on the Glen Murray Express and, of course, the radiator badge is a monoposto Alfa original.

The end result is a beautifully-built '50s European-style race car, strictly adhering to its era and promising some truly classic sensations once the driver's bum is wedged into place.

This project should be seen on racetracks sometime this year [2007], when it is finished. I'm telling the world about it now, because at our respective ages John and I might miss out being in on the final act, and so you do things whilst you can.

—Penn McKay

[The photos that originally appeared with this article have been mostly replaced with updated photos from July, 2009. The finished, painted car photo at the top is from 2011. Looks great!! —Webmaster]

 



















 

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