CMC’s Alfa Romeo 6C another beauty

Alfa Romeo only recently returned to the U.S. market, but it has been wowing Italians, and other European drivers with the lively nature of its sports cars for 105 years. Enzo Ferrari worked for Alfa and raced them. In fact, early Ferrari teams drove Alfas as part of Scuderia Ferrari.

In the 1930s its racing cars were among the best in the world known for their engine technology and handsome styling as evidenced by CMC’s beautiful 6C 1750 GS here in 1:18 scale.

The History

Alfa’s naming convention was easy to understand, the 6C designation meaning the car had six cylinders, and Alfa’s was a straight 6, not a V. The first 6C was made in 1927. Vittorio Jano designed the new model to replace the older Alfa RL and RM models, basing the new 6C on Alfa’s P2 race car with a single overhead cam 1,487cc inline six creating 44 horsepower. In 1928 a double overhead cam version was launched and Alfa won the 1928 Mille Miglia, Italy’s legendary race over public roads.

The 1750 model that CMC produces followed in 1929 and was produced until 1933 and featured a top speed of 95 mph along with a flexing chassis. The GS, or Gran Sport, and Super Sport models used Alfa’s double overhead cam engines and continued the company’s racing success, some generating as much as 102 hp. In 1930 Alfa’s 6C won the Mille Miglia for the second time and then the Spa 24-Hour endurance race. Ultimately 2,635 of the 6C were made, but just 257 of the sportier GS models from 1930 to 1933.

For the record, the GS was powered by a 1.7-liter 1,752cc I6 with a 4-speed manual tranny. It was long, featuring a 124.4-inch wheelbase. Zagato was the coachbuilder who created the lean bodywork. While Alfa was owned by the Italian government from 1933 to 1986, it’s now part of the giant Fiat Corp.

The Model:

Some seeing the 6C for the first time may see similarities to the more modern day (1950s) MG. That just shows the staying power of Zagato’s body styling with its lean fenders over the wheels and long nose with distinctive grille. Others may just notice its sensational dark red, some might say blood red, paint scheme.

CMC again delivers a beautiful paint job on a museum-quality handmade model of a historic motorcar. Outside of its appearance, here are the cool things I really liked.

There’s a black cloth roof that folds down and is held in place by two leather straps with clasps. Inside is a brown leather interior with stitched seats, not some molded plastic, but real leather. There’s a big black four-spoke steering wheel, big metallic shifter and brake lever, plus realistic looking gauges and dash knobs.

The split windshield is dainty and features winged fasteners that can be loosened to lower the top half of the shield. There also are a pair of windshield wipers with a bar that joins them to keep them in synch, plus a small wiper knob just inside the windshield to adjust the wipers.

CMC creates fine chrome hinges to allow the scalloped doors to open, and the doors latch too. While on the latch topic, there are three chrome hood latches on each side of the split hood.

Other exterior details include the three big headlights with red bulbous plastic covers, which Alfa originally placed on the car to improve aerodynamics. The effect here is a unique and exciting nose, complete with finely detailed grille that features the Alfa script on its lower left corner. That center light also is connected by a rod to the radiator cap. No detail is too small for CMC.

There also is an opening gas cap on the trunk in front of two spare tires with black wire wheels and a rod you can turn to remove the tires. The four beautiful black wire wheels on the car also have large nuts that can be loosened by hand to remove a tire and see the suspension and axle behind them.

An oil cap opens on the car’s left side and there’s a Museo Storico plate in back, the current home for the car this was modeled after. And as if you’ll ever turn this over or let someone else touch this model, the undercarriage is well detailed to show four leaf springs.

There’s no equal to CMC attention to detail on its high-end models. The Alfa is another winner. Note too that at least one race version also is planned.

Purchase this and other CMC models at Racing Heroes.

FAST Stats: 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750

GS

Maker: CMC

Scale: 1/18

Stock No.: M-138

MSRP: $490

Link: CMC.com