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Is that a Karmann Ghia? |
"Is that a Karmann Ghia?" my next door neighbor asked excitedly, staring at the red car inside my garage. "No", I said, "just an old Alfa Romeo." Even people who value cars as mere Utilitarian Transportation Appliances can tell that there is something different about The Alfatross--but what?I had to smile. My neighbor's observation reminded me of my own impression the first time I saw chassis *02016* 54 years ago outside an apartment building in Chapel Hill, NC. That impression is still vivid in my memory. The car was outrageously "different", exotic even, but it also had a certain intrinsic subliminal attractiveness. An air of mystery. Where did it come from? Where had it been? What story did it have to tell?
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| The Alfatross Then and now. |
One thing it definitely did not have in 1969 was "value". At 14 years of age, it was on its last legs as a functioning motor vehicle and the previous owner just wanted to be rid of it. The plastic windows were cracked and hazy. The paint was oxidized and faded. The chrome and aluminum trim was dull and pitted. The little 4 cylinder engine was underwhelming at a time when big V8s and straight 6s dominated the domestic American car market. But I didn't think about that. All I saw what it could be--and bought it cheap.At first I thought The Alfatross had no close relatives but eventually realized that as many as 40 siblings may have been made, and started trying to identify them and learn their histories. One of the best tools for doing that is following internet auction advertisements, such as the ones that turned up at "The Amelia" earlier this month involving chassis numbers *01915* and *01955*. I watched the auctions closely in the hopes of getting a look at how the market "values" low-production number cars like The Alfatross. They do not often turn up at auction so comparisons are hard to find. I count only 8 auction offerings over the last 10 years, and on three occasions the cars did not sell.
Surprisingly (to me), neither car met its low estimate (not including buyer's premium). For chassis *01955* Sotheby's estimated $800,000 to $950,000. For chassis *01915* Gooding estimated $1.5 to $2.0 M. What they actually achieved, without the buyer's premium, was $700,000 and $1.4 M, respectively. In comparison, The Sports Car Market's low estimate for a 1900 SSZ in 2022 was $797,000 with a high of $1.1M.
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| Chassis *01955* = $700,000. |
In light of those numbers and estimates, *01915* did quite well while the heavily modified and raced chassis *01955* fell short.  |
| Chassis *01915* = $1,400,000 |
The former sold for the highest price achieved by an Alfa 1900C SSZ in a public sale over the last 10 years while the latter sold for the lowest! According to my records at least 3 other 1900C SSZs were sold privately in the same period between 2014--2023, but I have no figures for them. If this is a "The Market Has Spoken" moment, it has established values for The Alfatross and its siblings at both ends of the price spectrum.Back to that word "value" and what creates The Alfatross' and its siblings' intrinsic subliminal attractiveness. The attraction is there even if you don't know that they are extremely rare, or that their chassis were made by Alfa Romeo and their bodies by Zagato. And it isn't just their mechanicals and esthetics. It harkens back to a different time when anyone could paint a number on the side of their car, hop in and drive like they were being chased by the devil for 1,000 miles over the Italian peninsula on public roads, cheered on by the general population and police alike. That time is long gone, but I can still climb in behind The Alfatross' wheel, fire it up, look across the hood scoops at the road ahead . . . and rekindle that feeling!
