Alfa Romeo 6C2300 MM (Replica) And Descendants

Thanks to the Automobiliac blog for this link.  What a great car!  And another in the spate of replicas of rare and historically significant cars that have sprung up in recent years (Bugatti Type 35, Alfa P3, Ferrari 156).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akJHTflPwNo

But it's a big car, like its own big brother, the 8C2900.  You can see why Phil Hill decided his 8C2900 was too much car for the tight circuits he was racing on in California in the late 1940's.  Phil started racing in an MG TC.  When he bought the Alfa, he had been looking for the biggest, baddest, car around.  After mixed results, he sold the Alfa and bought his first Ferrari.  From little acorns...  And, for that matter, it's not too much of a stretch to think of 1950's Ferraris as spiritual descendants of 1930's Alfas.

Above and below: Phil Hill's Alfa 8C2900 was one of the biggest, baddest cars in the early postwar California road
racing scene: 3 liters, supercharged.  A little too big, and expensive to maintain, for amateur road racing.  Phil is
facing the camera in the shot below.

Phil in his own Ferrari 212, the first of several he owned, or drove for other owners, with much success, including big-
bore models and a second place in the Carrera Pan America.  Which got him a contract to drive for Ferrari in major
international sports car races and, eventually, Formula 1.  Ralph Poole photo, Ron Kellogg collection.