Some cars are built to drive. Others are built to define an era. The 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B Spider by Zagato belongs unmistakably to the latter an automotive sculpture born from racing excellence and clothed in immaculate Italian design. Now, this breathtaking pre-war supercar is heading to auction in Belgravia, London, with bids expected to exceed £5.5 million.
Finished in a searing shade of red, the 8C 2900 B Spider embodies everything Alfa Romeo stood for at the peak of the 1930s. Beneath its sleek, swooping bodywork lies a Grand Prix-derived 2,905 cc twin-supercharged straight-eight engine, sending roughly 180 horsepower through a four-speed manual gearbox. For the 1930s, it was a technological and aesthetic revelation the first production car to combine a fully racing-developed engine, hydraulic brakes, and a lightweight, independent suspension chassis.
Originally constructed in Milan’s Portello district, this very 8C carries an extraordinary backstory. It was first sold to Ernst Carstens, a German industrialist, before changing hands multiple times including a U.S. Air Force officer who shipped it to Indiana after World War II. In 1978, the car returned to Europe, where it remained for decades, receiving painstaking restoration work at Jim Stokes Workshops in England earlier this year, including a complete engine rebuild.
The car retains many of its original numbered components including its engine crankcase and is believed to be the only 8C bodied in Germany when new. With flowing fenders and a design that seems to lean forward into history itself, the Spider harks back to Alfa Romeo’s golden age.
RM Sotheby’s describes it as “an engineering masterpiece one of the most important Alfa Romeos ever built.” Only 38 of these Spiders were made in total, with far fewer surviving today. For collectors, its appeal goes beyond rarity or performance; it represents the pure DNA of pre-war competition and Italian craftsmanship.