Introduced in 1929 as the 6C 1750 Super Sport, Alfa Romeo’s supercharged six-cylinder sports model was renamed “Gran Sport” the following year. Conceived from the outset as a dual-purpose car, the 6C 1750 GS rapidly established itself as one of the dominant sporting machines of its era, achieving important victories and class honors across Europe and beyond. Today, it stands as one of the most revered Alfa Romeos of the prewar era and a lasting testament to Vittorio Jano’s engineering genius.

At its heart was Jano’s jewel-like, twin-cam inline six, displacing 1,752 cc and fitted with a Roots-type supercharger. Producing 85 hp in standard trim, the engine endowed the lightweight Gran Sport with impressive acceleration and a top speed approaching 145 km/h, remarkable performance for the period. The Gran Sport featured a shortened 2,745 mm wheelbase, lending the car an agile, purposeful nature ideally suited to fast road and competition use. Exclusivity was assured by price: at approximately 60,000 lire, a new 6C 1750 GS cost more than six times the price of a contemporary Fiat 508 Balilla, underscoring its status as a machine for serious, well-heeled enthusiasts.

The fifth-series 6C 1750 Gran Sport, introduced in early 1931, represented the model at its most refined. Its arrival coincided with one of Alfa Romeo’s most celebrated performances, when Campari and Marinoni drove such a car to 2nd Overall at the 1000 Miglia, finishing behind the mighty Mercedes-Benz SSK of Rudolf Caracciola. Series V Gran Sport production continued through spring 1933, with just 106 examples completed.

Chassis 10814391, the 91st Series V Gran Sport built, was completed on August 3, 1932, and delivered new just nine days later through Alfa Romeo concessionaire Oreste Peverelli of Como, Italy. Sold for 60,000 lire, it was registered the same day as “CO 6852” to Renato Lo Cascio of Inverigo, a textile industrialist and devoted Alfista. Finished as a two-seat Zagato Spider – as were most Gran Sports – this Alfa would enjoy an unusually well-documented and fascinating early life.

Lo Cascio was no casual owner. As the the proprietor of SAPITI (Società Anonima per Industrie Tessili Inverigo), he possessed both the means and the passion to assemble a small but significant collection of Alfa Romeos. Records confirm that he owned at least two 6C 1750 Gran Sports, including a Series IV example acquired in 1931 (and sold in 1933) and this car, purchased new in August 1932.

Family recollections add vivid texture to the car’s early history. According to Lo Cascio’s son Giorgio, the Alfa was originally delivered in gold paint with green leather upholstery, a flamboyant specification by the standards of the day. The effect was apparently too successful: Lo Cascio’s wife was said to be “ashamed” of the attention the car attracted and reportedly refused to ride in it after an evening at Teatro alla Scala, where the brightly colored Zagato Spider drew a crowd outside the famous Milan opera house.

Within months, the car was refinished in a more restrained silver, though the transformation went beyond paint alone. Period photographs show that the entire front end was subtly modernized, reflecting emerging styling trends of the mid-1930s. The updates included a new waterfall-style grille, the removal of the radiator cap, reshaped front fenders, metal spare tire covers, and delicate blade-type aluminum bumpers. Whether these changes were executed by Zagato or another Italian coachbuilder remains unknown, but the result was a cleaner, more contemporary appearance that aligned perfectly with the tastes of the period.

Lo Cascio actively used and displayed his Gran Sport, entering it in concours events and regularity competitions throughout the 1930s, including the Concorso di Eleganza at Bormio on August 15, 1935. After nearly two decades of ownership, he reluctantly parted with his cherished Alfa, with registration records declaring it “definitively exported” from Italy on September 6, 1949.

The buyer was Ralph Stein, one of the most influential early voices in the collector-car movement and, to many, the poet laureate of the automobile. Stein owned and experienced a wide array of significant machines, yet he held a special reverence for Alfa Romeo’s prewar sports cars, which he regarded as peerless in their balance of engineering sophistication and emotional appeal.

In his landmark book The Greatest Cars, Stein sings the praises of his 6C 1750 Gran Sport, describing it as the finest Alfa he had ever owned. Reflecting on the car’s performance and character, he wrote:

“That first 1750 Super Sport (senza compressore) Alfa was, of course, superb. But some years later I became the joyful owner of an even better one. This was a 1750 supercharged Gran Sport. A late fifth-series Zagato-bodied model… This blown Alfa was, of course, faster than my old unblown Super Sport. Top speed was near 100 mph. Zero to 60 took about eleven seconds. The engine was even more willing.”

Stein’s affection extended beyond words. The Gran Sport was pictured in both The Greatest Cars and Sports Cars of the World and was also illustrated on the cover of Sport Cars and Hot Rods, a popular Fawcett Book publication from 1950. In 1966, Stein finally sold the Alfa to David H. Tunick of Greenwich, Connecticut, a discerning collector whose stable included a Bentley Speed Six team car, a chain-drive Simplex, and a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing.

Tunick chose preservation over restoration, storing the Alfa carefully for many years. This approach proved invaluable, allowing the car to survive in a remarkably original state. In 2001, following Tunick’s passing, the Alfa was offered publicly for the first time in more than 30 years and was acquired by noted French collector Paul-Emile Bessade. At the time, the odometer showed just 13,654 km, a figure consistent with the car’s undisturbed condition. During M. Bessade’s ownership, the Alfa Romeo benefited from mechanical work overseen by renowned marque specialist Jim Stokes Workshops and successfully participated in several editions of the 1000 Miglia.

A few years later, the Gran Sport returned to the US when it was purchased by Tony Schwartz, becoming only the fifth private owner in over seven decades. Recognizing both the car’s originality and its performance potential, Schwartz commissioned Jim Stokes Workshops to conduct an extensive mechanical rebuild at a cost of more than £200,000. During this process, the upper half of the engine was fitted with a new JSW block, camshafts, pistons, and ancillaries, while retaining the original matching-numbers crankcase. Dyno testing reportedly showed approximately 135 hp, a staggering increase over the original factory rating.

Other subtle upgrades, including revised blower drive ratios, increased compression, a modern racing clutch, hidden electronic ignition, and full-flow oil filtration, transformed the Gran Sport into a formidable yet reliable performer, ideally suited to demanding historic races and rallies.

In 2007, the Alfa was invited to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance®, where it completed the Tour d’Elegance and was displayed in the prestigious Preservation Class. That same year, it captured the Petersen Automotive Museum Prize at the BHEF Concours and placed fourth in a highly competitive pre-1940 grid at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca.

Subsequent appearances have included the Colorado Grand and the exclusive 8C Tour, where it was notably the only 6C 1750 invited. With its Stokes-prepared engine, the lightweight Gran Sport reportedly had no difficulty keeping pace with the larger-displacement, eight-cylinder Alfas.

Acquired at the Gooding & Company Scottsdale Auction in 2010 by California collector Larry Bowman and later joining Curtis Leaverton’s superb stable, the Alfa has since served as the centerpiece of a significant assemblage of the marque.

Few automobiles offer such a compelling blend of originality, performance, provenance, and character. As Stein himself once observed, “I never went to take mine out of the garage without a pleasurably nervous feeling that I was embarking on an adventure.” That sense of anticipation remains very much alive in this remarkable Gran Sport – an Alfa Romeo of uncommon presence, ready to inspire its next caretaker just as it has for nearly a century.