An astonishing 11 (yes 11, 12 if you count the modern crowbarred in) Alfa Romeo 8Cs were gathered in south west London last night for an extraordinary celebration of the benchmark pre-war model.
The priceless cars were scattered unprotected among dining tables as more than a 170 guests marked the 80th anniversary of the eight-cylinder Alfa tackling its first ever competition, the Mille Miglia in 1931. It didn't win, by the way.
Also celebrating the genius of designer and engineer Vittorio Jano, the event - at the prestigious Hurlingham Club in Fulham - mirrored a 50th anniversary dinner on the same site some 30 years earlier.
C&SC's Alain de Cadenet (pictured below with his Touring-bodied Spyder) was instrumental in arranging the dinner, greatly aided by model guru Simon Moore in sourcing the cars. Uniquely, De Cadenet's car had also been at the 1981 event.
He said: "My son Aiden adores this car, even though he can't drive yet, and my daughter Amanda actually learned to drive in it, centre throttle and all. That was a challenge, but if you can learn on this the everything that follows is a doddle. "It is very important that the next generation get an opportunity to experience these cars, something that the values are sadly making ever more remote.
