Alfa Romeo AR10306, a brief chronology… Factory records show the car being built January 1957 and sold new in March 1957. Its body originally constructed by Touring and its original color was black. The factory is guarding the original owner’s name. The history of this car from January 1957 to sometime in 1963 is for the most part unknown. In 1961 or 1962 minor repairs were made to its front for a Hollywood, CA man by G. Dummigan’s metal fabrication works in Long Beach, CA, as recalled by Mr. Dummigan in 2007. Mr. Dummigan described the damage as minor and said if the car had bumpers there wouldn’t have been any damage to the body. He also said the car was white with painted wheels and was a one-of-a-kind with two large openings in its nose, not the typical of the time shield like vertical center grill flanked by two horizontal grills. Unfortunately he couldn’t remember the owner’s name or what the rear of the car looked like.
Sometime in 1963 Charlie Roberts, an Alfanatic, purchased this car and added it to his collection. I met Charlie in 1965 at which time he introduced me to his collection of Italian automobiles including this Alfa 1900CSS Coupe. He said it was a one-of-a-kind built for racing; Carrozzeria Touring built its unique body and its engine was race tuned by Abarth. At that time he was in the process of de-tuning the engine for street use. The deck lid spoiler was present in 1965 and it’s believed that it was also present at the time Charlie purchased the car in 1963.
In 1985 a Denver, CO man purchased the car from Charlie, or his estate. The Denver man had the white paint stripped off its all aluminum body and repainted in red. He also had the painted wheels chrome plated and shod with new Michelin tires, and replaced some of the chrome trim items. It is not known who added bumper brackets and bumpers to the car.
In 2007 I purchased the car from the Denver man’s estate. For posterity/nostalgia reasons I removed the bumpers and stored them in a safe place. The welded-on non-factory bumper brackets were all hit with an ugly stick and can’t be removed without leaving strange holes in the bodywork. So I fabricated an aluminum badge bar for the front and covers with reflectors for the rear to disguise the ugliness. Too many of the unknowing mistake the badge bar for a makeshift bumper so I’ve since removed it and moved the Bosch Touring lights from the grill openings to the bumper horns.
In early 2013 after seeing a photo of the Ferrari 250 SWB Chiti my son asked if Carlo Chiti might have had something to do with the appearance of AR10306? I think the answer to his question is, “Maybe.” If he wasn’t directly involved his Ferrari 250 SWB, 206 SP and 156 F1 cars could have influenced the appearance of AR10306 if it was modified after 1961. Mr. Chiti worked for Alfa Romeo when this car was built. Was he directly involved with this car’s unique body features, again “Maybe,” if the car was originally built as it appears today. There could be a clue to the answer in Charlie’s history records of the car but their whereabouts are unknown, they weren’t included with the car. If anyone out there in Alfa Land truly knows the early history of AR10306 I’d like to hear it.
