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1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Wins Best of Show at the 2025 Amelia Concours d’Elegance
With a chassis derived from a Grand Prix car and a glorious twin-supercharged straight-eight, Alfa Romeo’s 8C 2900 was one of the best sports cars of the 1930s. Some say it’s the best. With three straight wins at the grueling Mille Miglia and two at the Spa 24 Hours, it’s certainly among the winningest as well. Today, the car adds a different kind of victory to its resume, as a 1938 8C 2900B Cabriolet by Stabilimenti Farina took home Best of Show at the 30th annual Amelia Concours d’Elegance in Florida.
The stunning blue Alfa, chassis number 412028, comes from the “Keller Collection at the Pyramids” in Petaluma, California. This is the collection of the late Arturo Keller, who passed away last year.
“It’s been in the collection for longer than I’ve been alive,” says Alejandro Tonda Keller, Arturo’s grandson, who presented the car. “And the restoration, even being over 25 years old, still shows the incredible amount of detail he went through. He wanted every single car he owned to be absolutely perfect.”
Alfa Romeo introduced the 8C series in 1931, initially powered by a 2.3-liter version of the Vittorio Jano–designed straight-eight racing engine. The highest-spec, 2.9-liter version arrived in 1935 and only approximately 40 cars were built. With double-overhead cams and valves, two superchargers, a transaxle, and independent four-wheel suspension, it was a highly advanced and rather expensive automobile in its day. Naturally, then, 8C 2900s (also known as 2.9s or 2-9s) always wore graceful bodywork by Italy’s premier coachbuilders on top of their cutting-edge underpinnings. Carrozzeria Touring of Milan did many of them, but the Amelia winner is reportedly the only one bodied by Stabilimenti Farina of Turin.
Oddly enough, it was “built by Farina, for Farina,” as Keller puts it. Originally a works racing car and believed to be one of the prototypes for the 1938 Mille Miglia (which Alfa Romeo won), it soon went to racing driver Giuseppe Farina, winner of multiple Grands Prix in the prewar years and winner of the inaugural Formula 1 World Championship in 1950. He was also the son of Giovanni Farina, Stabilimenti Farina’s founder, and so had the car specially bodied as a right-hand-drive four-seater cabriolet, complete with unusual stingray upholstery and gorgeous louvers on the top and sides of the hood.
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Farina kept the car for a couple of years, and it has since made its way through the collections of Tommy Lee, Bill Harrah, and Keller.
Since these cars are so rare and so highly prized, they tend to stay in collections for a long time, and seeing one for sale is a rare occurrence. That said, two Touring-bodied 8C 2900s have come up for auction in recent memory, with one bringing $19,800,000 in 2016 and the other selling for $14,030,000 last year. Other 8C 2900s have also been bringing home “Best of Show” trophies for years from premier concours events all over the world, from Paris to Pebble Beach. Now, we can add Amelia to the list.
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Alfa’s of this era are beautifully styled and constructed. True rolling works of art.
Not much for taillights to protect this beautiful car from inattentive drivers behind. Regardless, a beautiful car. Would be nice to see the engine compartment.
Perfectly adequate for the 1930s.
What a magnificent car !! I could not have afforded it then…..and I darned sure can’t afford it now, but it’s a pleasure to admire it from the bleachers 🙂
It’s a beautiful car. Would have liked some engine bay shots.
Would have liked to see some photos of the Twin Supercharged 2.9L in this article since is mentioned a few times.
Not a problem for the Lotus.
Incredible! I must make a trip to this event on year!