During the First World War, car manufacturers were requisitioned for the military effort. The engineer Romeo took control of Alfa during that phase.
After the war the two manufacturers operating in Milan, Isotta Fraschini and Alfa, tried one after the other to enter the luxury car market by re-engineering their pre-war competition chassis. The high price of fuel and the excessive taxation on big engines nevertheless discouraged the European customers and slowed down a restart of the high end.
Alfa which became Alfa Romeo in 1920 create the G1 in the same year with two prototypes entered in the Coppa del Garda to launch the model. The production is made from 1921. Sales do not start and the 50 cars of the series are exported to Australia. Alfa Romeo give up their scheduled evolution of the G1.
Only one G1 has survived and it retains its matching number engine. It is for sale by RM Sotheby's in Phoenix on January 19, lot 236. Twice a barn find in the same Australian farm, this almost one century-old car had a rough existence. Its estimate is unpredictable.
Its first owner is a Queensland businessman who immediately hides it in the Outback to escape it from his creditors. It does not leave this farm when ranch workers discover it around 1947 and use it in their daily occupation. After an accident that broke the rear axle, the engine is removed to operate a water pump.
Resurfacing in 1964, it is recovered by an amateur who cannibalizes for it another G1. He made built for it a body in the style of a torpedo consistent with the period of the model. His reconstituted G1 is exhibited in the late 1970s in local events where it is timed at 134 Km/h, still in Queensland.
In 1995 a new owner is interested in this ancestor. For restarting it, he replaces worn parts and commissions Michelin to make new tires with old tooling. The G1 is again transformed after 2012, becoming a two-seater racing car with open wheels inspired by the Alfa Romeo 20/30 ES. The video shared by SuperCarClassics shows it in operation during the Mille Miglia Storica 2014.
SOLD for $ 445K including premium
After the war the two manufacturers operating in Milan, Isotta Fraschini and Alfa, tried one after the other to enter the luxury car market by re-engineering their pre-war competition chassis. The high price of fuel and the excessive taxation on big engines nevertheless discouraged the European customers and slowed down a restart of the high end.
Alfa which became Alfa Romeo in 1920 create the G1 in the same year with two prototypes entered in the Coppa del Garda to launch the model. The production is made from 1921. Sales do not start and the 50 cars of the series are exported to Australia. Alfa Romeo give up their scheduled evolution of the G1.
Only one G1 has survived and it retains its matching number engine. It is for sale by RM Sotheby's in Phoenix on January 19, lot 236. Twice a barn find in the same Australian farm, this almost one century-old car had a rough existence. Its estimate is unpredictable.
Its first owner is a Queensland businessman who immediately hides it in the Outback to escape it from his creditors. It does not leave this farm when ranch workers discover it around 1947 and use it in their daily occupation. After an accident that broke the rear axle, the engine is removed to operate a water pump.
Resurfacing in 1964, it is recovered by an amateur who cannibalizes for it another G1. He made built for it a body in the style of a torpedo consistent with the period of the model. His reconstituted G1 is exhibited in the late 1970s in local events where it is timed at 134 Km/h, still in Queensland.
In 1995 a new owner is interested in this ancestor. For restarting it, he replaces worn parts and commissions Michelin to make new tires with old tooling. The G1 is again transformed after 2012, becoming a two-seater racing car with open wheels inspired by the Alfa Romeo 20/30 ES. The video shared by SuperCarClassics shows it in operation during the Mille Miglia Storica 2014.
SOLD for $ 445K including premium
An #AlfaRomeo G1 from 1921 will be auctioned early next year, estimated at 1.5 M$. Only 52 copies of the model were assembled in 1921 pic.twitter.com/rDHYVakEbG
— Public Auctions (@auctionspublic) October 24, 2017
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