Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Speciale Touring Coupé, Dark Red

Alfa Romeo built the 8C 2900B Speciale for the 1938 Le Mans 24 Hours, and it very nearly won. Carrozzeria Touring clothed the twin-supercharged 2.9-litre straight-eight in a closed Superleggera berlinetta of remarkable smoothness; wind-tunnel tests in 1987 returned a drag coefficient of 0.42. Raymond Sommer and Clemente Biondetti led for most of the race, at one point by more than 160 kilometres, until tyre trouble and then a dropped valve ended their run after 219 laps, leaving victory to the Delahaye of Chaboud and Trémoulet. The coupé spent years in England, at the Donington collection, before returning to Alfa Romeo in 1987. Restored in dark red as a road car, it lives today at the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo in Arese.

CMC models it as the museum keeps it, in deep red with the 'Museo Storico' plate. The bonnet, doors and boot lid all open: under the bonnet sits the straight-eight with its superchargers, held down by leather straps; behind the doors is a brown leather cabin with a black steering wheel and leather-trimmed dashboard; in the boot, the spare wheel. Touring's Superleggera script and badge sit on the tail, a hinged flap covers the fuel filler, and the car stands on black wire wheels. CMC builds it at 1:12.