{"id":9263,"date":"2019-05-16T09:20:29","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T07:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.internationalclassic.com\/?p=9263\/"},"modified":"2019-05-16T10:30:53","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T08:30:53","slug":"alfa-romeo-monza-scuderia-ferrari","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalclassic.com\/en\/alfa-romeo-monza-scuderia-ferrari\/","title":{"rendered":"Alfa Romeo Monza, Angouleme and… Armagnac!"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It all began at 6 am when the phone rang in my apartment in Chelsea, London. At the other end of the line was my good friend and Alfa nut, Christopher Mann: we have to go to France immediately to the Henri Malartre Museum at Chateau Rochetaill\u00e9e, outside Lyon, because Nigel Mann is selling his Scuderia Ferrari 1933 Alfa Monza n.2211122. The car was on loan to Museum for some years.<\/p>\n

Two hours later, we\u2019re in Chris\u2019s Alfa pounding down the Autoroute to Dover, to take the ferry to Calais. Another 5 hours were needed to arrive at the Museum, where we met Nigel Mann. He was an expat and had lived for years in France. In his garden, he had a live steam locomotive and track layout, so that he could steam around his garden with an appropriate engineer\u2019s hat.<\/p>\n

After a wonderful lunch at his Villa, a deal was struck and the car was mine. Fantastic!
\nThe car was collected a week later and arrived in the UK. It was serviced and a new set of tires fitted so it was ready for its first race. The engine had been enlarged to 2600cc, which was common in the day to keep it competitive.<\/p>\n

After the first season, I decided to restore it. I was living in the UK and no longer had my workshop, so I sent the car to well-known Alfa man, Paul Grist, to do a full restoration.
\nHe did a lovely job and after a little less than a year delivered the car back to me. It was at the end of the summer and there was a race meeting I had always wanted to attend at Angouleme, in France. There had always been a race there, around the ramparts, dating back to 1939.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”WE ALL HAVE A STORY, TELL US YOURS!” style=”outline-custom” outline_custom_color=”#990000″ outline_custom_hover_background=”#fce523″ outline_custom_hover_text=”#000000″ shape=”square” size=”lg” align=”center” button_block=”true” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost:10372%2Fracconta-la-tua-storia%2F||target:%20_blank|”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I invited a pal of mine, Nick Harley, to share the open cockpit and we took off on the road to catch the Dover ferry and drive to Angouleme. It was October and wet and cold. This called for frequent stops at local bars along the road for Armagnac to warm us up and keep us going. It reminded me of Clemente Biondetti (4 time winner) winning the Mille Miglia with the aid of copious amounts of Grappa, that he kept in the cockpit!<\/p>\n

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