Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider by Zagato (1931)

Victorious in Grands Prix, 24 Hours of Le Mans four years in a row, and in seven editions of the Mille Miglia, its competition pedigree really sets the Alfa Romeo 8C out from the rest. Despite this, its racing exploits only tell part of the story.

The chassis was available in both long ‘Lungo’ and short ‘Corto’ form, and was the underpinning of some of the most elegant automobiles of the period, with coachwork carried out by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera, Brianza, Castagna, and of course, one of the historical signatures of the Italian automotive world, Zagato.

This 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato is an automobile that transcends being merely a physical object, such is its fascinating and comprehensive ninety-year history. A story intertwined with Enzo Ferrari, Tazio Nuvolari and their 1930s Grand Prix successes, but also as a 21st birthday present to one successful and endlessly passionate owner, whose scientific accolades enrich the narrative of the iconic vehicle.

Motorsport Endeavours

2111044’s early racing provenance in continental Europe was impressive and was unfortunately lost in time for a period, but due to the future owner’s keen interest, its early competitive history was unearthed once mechanical work commenced on the chassis. Over the course of over six decades, a number of differences were eventually attributed to the car being a highly specified early 1930’s grand prix machine with the original chassis number 2111002. It was discovered that it raced in multiple grand prix in 1931 and 1932, notably under Ferrari Enzo’s watch with Tazio Nuvolari behind the wheel, and had several mechanical differences due to is race bred origin, such as a tuned and blueprinted engine, and a different chassis and suspension setup.

Its early race history began with an appearance in the 1931 Monaco Grand Prix, before the car was taken over by Scuderia Ferrari. After the Ferrari takeover of the Alfa Romeo racing team, the car was fitted with a 1750 test car engine and no body, for running in testing. The car was then provided once again with grand prix car body work and campaigned in the 1932 season with many successes. In order to compete in the 1932 Mille Miglia, the car was stamped with its third chassis number, 2111006. Taruffi and Sienna were running in second place in the before an unfortunate retirement near Padua. By July of 1932, the car was road registered as 5769 MO with the chassis number 2111044 that it retains to date. By now the car was back to a 2 -seater Zagato body style, but with ‘Monza’ specification suspension.

Just three days later, Tazio Nuvolari won the Principe di Piemonte, and the car continued to have successes for the rest of its 1932 campaign. In August, Mario Tadini came second in the Targa Abruzzo but was disqualified as the car had too many non-standard features to scrutineer as a production sports car. It then came first in class in the Klausen Pass Hill climb and then finished second overall in the second edition of the Circuito di Senigallia.

At the end of 1932, the 8C was purchased by Lelo Pellegrini where he posted the fastest time at the 1933 Vermicino Rocca di Papa Hillclimb. The car was then once again loaned to Taruffi and run without mudguards or windscreen to compete in the 1933 Tripoli Grand Prix. The car was then used for practice running in 1934 after being purchased by Penn-Hughes, which after a short period was imported, and eventually passed to Belleview Garage where it was spotted by a young Michael Crowley-Milling.

Michael Crowley-Milling

The car was listed as a second hand 8C 2300, which took the eventual owner’s father some convincing to purchase for his 21st birthday, instead of a brand-new Jaguar SS100. Thankfully, in hindsight, the car was purchased for a sum of £365 in 1938 and was immediately put through the inter-university varsity trials until the end of 1939. Needless to say, few cars and drivers posed any threat to the high performance of the 8C. His racing endeavours, including original varsity competition books and a wealth of photographs accompany this car in its comprehensive multi-volume history files.

Crowley-Milling’s academic endeavours were far from left by the wayside of his motoring exploits, completing his MA in Mechanical Sciences with honours in 1943. During the war he worked on Microwave Radar and later, worked his way up through the ranks of CERN (formerly the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, and now the European Council for Nuclear Research)

Crowley-Milling is likely best known as being a leading contributor to the invention of the capacitive touchscreen and later, as the director of CERN. With these work commitments, he moved to Switzerland and towed his beloved Alfa Romeo all the way.

Patiently waiting for the opportunity to restore the car himself, the determined owner commenced a 20-year restoration that was performed alone with a minimal amount of replacement parts; due to their scarcity, the owner painstakingly reconditioned all the necessary components. This meticulous process was documented in four volumes of photographs and notes, and crucially meant the car was ready in time to compete in the 1993 Klausen pass, a famous Swiss route which owner referred to as his favourite event in period. The car was driven by Michael as he traced the very same breathtaking route that the car competed on 60 years prior, piloted by Nuvolari at the time.

2111044 was inextricably linked to Crowley-Milling for the duration of his life and he showed an undying interest in the car over the next 2 decades, where he proceeded to document and amend several volumes of earlier history of not only his car, but several Alfa Romeos from 1931 onwards.

Recent History

The car then underwent a sympathetic restoration from 2007 to 2009 by JSW, which high standards and originally are still evident today. Despite two successive owners, the car remained a feature of Michael’s life up until his passing in 2012, where mentions and photos of the car featured even at his funeral, such was the synonymity of the car and the man.

The deep and evocative history of chassis #2111044 is second to none, and it is an exceedingly rare opportunity to be able to unearth and present such an encyclopaedic story, archived and researched over the duration of the individual’s entire life. This incredible example was recently rehomed by DK Engineering through our confidential sales.

• Piloted by Tazio Nuvolari for Scuderia Ferrari
• Additionally raced by Pellegrini, Tadini and Taruffi
• Gifted to Michael Crowley-Milling as a 21st birthday present in 1938
• Single ownership for 75 years
• Astonishing accompanying, multi-volume history file