Let's see one of Franco Scaglione's favorite coupés

Unique ONES - As we have seen, the 2nd World War brought enormous devastating consequences to mankind, the destruction of infrastructure everywhere, which then led to the world's economic recession which reduced the quality of life of the world's population. All of this has had a very significant impact on the Italian industrial society, especially the automotive industries, so they should be turning their brain and have the best efforts in such a way in order to survive.

1954 Alfa Romeo 2000 Sportiva Coupé designed by Franco Scaglione of Bertone while on display at the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. (Picture from: UltimateCarPage)

This was also done by Alfa Romeo who drastically revised their line-up. In a matter of years, their production must be willing to shift from expensive car models to small family salons. What has not changed and has been maintained is the beautifully designed DOHC engines, which still shared many principles with the Vittorio Jano designed engines of the 1930s. After dominating in the Formula 1 racing of the first two years of the 1950s (1950 and 1951), the Milan-based automotive manufacturer withdrew from high profile racing events.

1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 Sport Spider designed by Franco Scaglione of Bertone while on display at the 2015 Techno Classica. (Picture from: UltimateCarPage)

And the Alfa Romeo engineers continue to strive to make simple racing cars but have powerful performance. By using the 1900 Saloon engine and spaceframe chassis, the engineers succeeded in designing a small sportscar racer which became known as the Disco Volante (which means 'flying saucer'). A total of six cars ever been built, all with slightly different Touring designed bodywork, and powered by a three-liter, six-cylinder 6C 3000 CM, the Alfa Romeo was brief and successful in various sportscar races at the time.

1954 Alfa Romeo 2000 Sportiva Coupé designed by Franco Scaglione of Bertone while on display at the 2004 Retromobile. (Picture from: UltimateCarPage)

As the efforts to relive their heyday in the 1930s, Alfa Romeo engineers also began designing a 'two-liter supercar,' which could be driven fast by their customers on the road. The basis of this new car is the spaceframe chassis, which is also used on the Disco Volante while its power comes from the two-liter version of the 1900 engine, fitted with hemispherical combustion chambers. Like many contemporary Formula 1 racers, this car was equipped with a DeDion axle at the rear.

1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 Sport Spider designed by Franco Scaglione of Bertone while on display at the 2015 Techno Classica. (Picture from: UltimateCarPage)

Then Franco Scaglione of Bertone was commissioned to design its lightweight body to fit the extremely short 'Sportiva' chassis. The Scaglione comes with a very innovative design, which incorporates a very low air intake then he penned up both the Spider and Coupe designs. Many later design clues were also found in his design for the Giulietta Cabriolet prototype, which unfortunately was never produced.

In the end, only four units were made in 1954, two coupés and two spiders also referred to as the Alfa Romeo 2000 Sportiva or Alfa Romeo 1900 Sports. Rare road test results showed that the Sportiva would have been a very capable road racer, at that time only surpassed by the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and the Ferrari 340.

What is Scaglione said about these rare cars? Of the many beautiful cars designed by Franco Scaglione, he later recognized that the Sportiva Coupé was one of his favorites. Today a metallic silver coupé and a red spider are part of the Alfa Romeo Museum (Museo Storico Alfa Romeo) collection. *** [EKA [22112020] | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | HERITAGE | WIKIPEDIA | ULTIMATECARPAGE.COM | ALFAROMEO159 ]

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