Alfa Romeo 8C-35 sells for $10 million in UK

Selling for _5,937,500 (AU$10,179,780), the price achieved for the 1935 Alfa Romeo Tipo 8C-35 is a new world record for an Alfa Romeo (breaking the old mark of _4.2million set in 2010), and continues this year's trend of record-setting auction prices, especially for cars with race history.

The 1935 Tipo 8C-35, chassis number 50013 and Scuderia Ferrari Nr 65, featured a supercharged 300hp 8-cylinder engine, and was built to challenge the increasingly dominant Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union racers of the period.

50013's first race was the 1935 Italian Grand Prix, followed by efforts in Modena, Tunis, Brno, Monaco and Germany's Nurburgring, with the legendary pre-war racer Tazio Nuvolari behind the wheel for a number of these events, as he was driving for the Scuderia Ferrari (the Alfa Romeo factory race team run by Enzo Ferrari before he set up his own team after the war) at this time.

With Nuvolari behind the wheel, this car won the 1936 'Coppa Ciano', a non-championship road-course race in Livorno in Italy's Tuscany region. Nuvolari was an acknowledged master of this event (which took its name from Livorno politician, Costanzo Ciano), winning it five times through the 1930s.

Shortly after Nuvolari's victory, 50013 was sold to Swiss privateer racer, Hans Ruesch, who raced it in hillclimb events, as well as circuit and road races. Ruesch's greatest success with the 8C-35 was at the 1936 British Grand Prix at Donington, where he partnered with Dick Seaman for the victory against the Mercedes and Auto Union 'Silver Arrows'.

After World War II, the Alfa passed through a number of owners, including one who kept it for many years before auctioning it, also through Bonhams, in 1987. Back then, the car sold for US$2.85 million.

Prior to the Goodwood auction on September 14, Bonhams estimated that 50013 would sell in the _5.5 - _6.5 million range (AU$9.5 - $11 million), so the final sale price fell almost exactly in the middle of that guiding range.

James Knight, Bonhams International Managing Director, Collectors Motor Cars, said: "Once again, Bonhams has been privileged to offer a world-beating motorcar and help it to achieve a world-beating price.

"Selling something like this, one is aware that history is a guest at the auction, due to the car's past, its performance today, and what all automotive enthusiasts will say about the car in the future. It is more than a car for all of us who are passionate about cars."

Other lots of interest from this auction included a 1961 Jaguar E-Type 3.8 S1 roadster, which sold for _225,000 (a new record for a roadgoing E-Type), _707,100 for a 1961 Ferrari 250GT SII cabriolet, and _919,900 for a 1972 Lamborghini Miura SV coupe originally owned by Rod Stewart.

Full results and further details at www.bonhams.com

Images: courtesy of Bonhams