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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