1948 Alfa Romeo 6C2500SS

Year 1948
Make Alfa Romeo
Model 6c2500SS
Type Carrozzeria Touring Ville d'Este “Aerolux"
Chassis No 915649
Engine No 923749
Touring Body No 3291
Chassis Completed April 30th, 1948
Invoiced New October 21st, 1948
Coachwork Completed December 30th, 1948
Original Owner John Perona, Ivrea (Torino, Italia)

Ownership History:
-1 John Perona New York
-2 Thomas Crichton New Jersey
-3 John W. Scheetz South Carolina
-4 Dusan Vanko Slovakia
-5 Private Collector Czech Republic

In early 1948, Carrozzoria Touring offered their “Ville d'Este” Berlinetta body with a removable clear center roof section known as the “Aerolux” model. A total of 16 of these are known to have been completed with the first 15 having the upgraded “Super Sport” performance configuration and the final example completed as a regular “Sport” model. The first was completed very late in 1948 with the majority being completed in 1949 and the last in 1950. It was no longer offered as a catalog model in 1950.

Here is a list of known Carrozzoria Touring “Aerolux” models, chassis, engine, type and Touring body number:

No Chassis Engine Type Body
1 915649 923749 Super Sport 3291
2 915658 923765 Super Sport 3296
3 915660 926281 Super Sport 3298
4 915700 928002 Super Sport 3318
5 915736 928046 Super Sport 3341
6 915741 ? Super Sport 3343
7 915742 928044 Super Sport ?
8 915747 ? Super Sport ?
9 915776 928082 Super Sport 3359
10 915799 ? Super Sport 3373
11 915805 928104 Super Sport ?
12 915816 928112 Super Sport 3379
13 915820 928125 Super Sport ?
14 915860 928164 Super Sport 3404
15 915913 928316 Super Sport ?
16 916020 926282 Sport 3280

Chassis No 915649:
The very first Touring Aerolux model completed was Chassis No 915649. The chassis itself was completed by Alfa Romeo on April 30th, 1948 and commissioned by the flamboyant first owner, an American / Italian expatriate named John Perona, whose real name was Enrione Giovanni Perona. The body was finished by Touring on December 30th, 1948 and the car delivered in early 1950 but not before being photographed and shown in a variety of well-known period photographs.

Perona along with Argentinian immigrant and fairly well-known race car driver, Martín de Alzaga gained fame when they opened their famous “speakeasy" El Morocco at 154 East 54th Street, in the middle of the block between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue in Manhattan in 1931. Two years later, with the end of prohibition, the club became even more famous, being the go-to spot for an endless number of celebrity film, dance and performance stars as well as politicians and a known number of under-world figures.

The club was famous for its blue zebra-stripe motif, designed by Vernon MacFarlane with help from the El Morocco's in-house and official photographer, Jerome Zerbe. Perona and de Alzaga loved the publicity as well as the money the club earned them and while they were never known to actually be part of the Italian mob, they never shied away from photographs with known figures who were and likely felt empowered by others believing they were part of the same circle.

After the war, the club and others like it lost some of their pre-war charm and while it was still profitable, its heyday in the limelight was largely over. Perona and de Alzaga continued to live life large with fabulous homes and frequent travel to South America, Europe and especially Italy were both maintained residences. Martín de Alzaga was a true “gear-head” and was known to have a variety of vehicles over the years as well as some fairly quick racing cars.

de Alzaga was a member of the official Bugatti team in the 1923 Indianapolis 500, he also raced in that year's Italian Grand Prix, at the wheel of a Miller 122. He failed to make the placings in either event, but in 1924, driving a 4.9 Sunbeam, won the Coupe de l'Autodrome at Miramas near Marseilles, leading from start to finish.

It is likely that he had some influence on Perona's decision to have Alfa Romeo commission one of the newly offered “Aerolux” models. In any case, the car was with Perona in the States and photographed in front the the El Morocco club sometime in 1951. Perona's passion for high-profile vehicles continued later that year with his purchase of a Ferrari 340 America, s/n 0142/A with Berlinetta coachwork from Carrozzoria Ghia.

In 1953, Perona lusted after another Italian creation, this time a Cadillac Series 62 Coupé with unique coachwork also from Carrozzeria Ghia, one of two completed using similar bodies with the other going to Perona's film star friend, Rita Hayworth.

In the meantime, Perona kept his Alfa for a few more years until it was purchased in 1958 by Thomas Crichton, a New Jersey resident who drove it for just two years before disassembling and storing the car in 1960 pending a restoration that would never take place.

The car remained garaged in New Jersey with most items removed and stored in boxes when in 1982 he gifted the car to his son in law, John W. Scheetz in Aiken, South Carolina. The car continued to be stored in New Jersey and nothing was done with it when his daughter, Patricia Kathleen Scheetz sold the car on July 9th, 2013 to collector/dealer, Daniel Rapley in Brookfield, Connecticut.

Rapley emailed Dr. Marco Fazio the head archivist at Automobilisimo Storico Alfa Romeo inquiring about the car and he was informed that chassis number 915649 had engine number 923749 and that it was a 6c2500 Super Sport completed by Touring with first registration occurring in Ivrea, Turin, Italy.

The car had always been registered in the States by the engine number, “923749” a fairly common practice back then as evidence by a South Carolina State Title which uses the number “000923749.” The car was sold to Dusan Vanko in Slovakia and imported initially through the UK to obtain customs clearance and reduced EEC duty. At the time of import to the UK, the car was misidentified as having chassis number “915749” instead of “915649” however the error has since been corrected.

The car arrived in Slovakia and Dusan Vanko the commissioned a no expense spared, complete and total restoration by Retromotive that started in earnest in June of 2014. The work would take many years to finally complete at which time it was purchased by another well-known collector from the Czech Republic.

The car has been carefully maintained but little used during his ownership and never shown publicly.

More than 1,200 detailed photograph document the complete transformation and restoration of this Alfa Romeo to its original delivery, day one configuration as completed by Carrozzeria Touring.

This is the very first of 16 “Aerolux” models completed and it is verified to be all matching numbers. It would be a prime candidate to show at Ville d'Este, Pebble Beach, Amelia Island and any number of similar such shows and events as well as and endless number of historic touring and rally events such as the Mille Miglia, Targa Flora, Tour Auto etc…