1954 Alfa Romeo Guilietta Spider Prototype Pininfarina Chassis... Lot 32

1954 Alfa Romeo Guilietta Spider Prototype Pininfarina Chassis AR 1495 00003 Engine AR 1493 00002 Swiss registration document Temporary import into the European Union. - One of the oldest Guilietta Spiders - Unique features - Exceptional model - Alfa Romeo certificate - Matching Numbers The history of this car is inextricably linked to Max Hoffman and his company Hoffman Motor Cars. This Austrian entrepreneur of genius was behind the Mercedes Benz 300 SL, BMW 507, Porsche 356 Speedster and the Alfa Romeo Guilietta Spider. In the early 1950s, New York-based Hoffman Motor Cars became Alfa Romeo's official U.S. importer, and immediately saw the potential of a roadster derived from the future Guilietta Sprint, which was about to be presented. By the end of 1953, Alfa Romeo and Hoffman were working closely on the development of a roadster based on the Guilietta Sprint chassis. Development was entrusted to Rudolf Hruska, the brand engineer already in charge of the Sprint project. A motorized chassis was soon ready. It was numbered AR 1495 0000. It was never bodied. Hruska contacted the Turin coachbuilders Bertone and Pininfarina, entrusting them with two chassis each. It was up to them to make their proposals for the future "Guilietta Spider". Pininfarina received chassis 003 and 002 and produced two non-functional styling studies on these two chassis. After validation of the design by Max Hoffman, chassis 0003 is sent back to Turin, this time to build a functional prototype. This is the car we present to you today. After being rebodied, our chassis made 4 round trips between New York and Turin for final validation, Pininfarina winning the contract over Bertone. On February 22, 1955, chassis AR 1495 00003 left Turin for good, indicated in the factory books as sold to Hoffman Motor Cars. The car was fitted with its current engine and painted in the "Ivorio" hue. The exceptional design of this car would eventually be modified for series production, as Pininfarina had meanwhile developed other prototypes with specifications more compatible with mass production. Although different from the production Guilietta Spider, chassis 003 was used by Hoffman for a tour of American motor shows. After the 1955 Miami Motor Show, the car was finally sold to Henry Wessel. He kept it for only 1 year before handing it over to Bruce Beckwith, who immediately understood the importance of the car and used it only very sparingly until 1959. In that year, he undertook some work on the car, removing the special windscreen and re-covering the body. The car was then partially reassembled and stored. In 1989, the car was acquired by Tom Zat, who exhibited it at the Alfa Heaven Museum. In 2000, Gérald Bugnon acquired this exceptional vehicle. The car is now as it had been acquired by Tom Zat 11 years earlier. Imported into Switzerland immediately after its purchase, it underwent a major restoration in Italy. Once restored, it would join its eternal rival, the Bertone prototype, in the collection. Until very recently, the car took part in numerous events organized by the Alfa Romeo Club of Switzerland and other major European clubs. A unique model with exceptional specifications, this prototype features a design of unrivalled purity, reminiscent in some respects of another Pininfarina masterpiece, the Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider America. 1954 Alfa Romeo Guilietta Spider Prototype Pininfarina Chassis AR 1495 00003 Engine AR 1493 00002 Swiss registration document Temporary import into the European Union. - One of the oldest Guilietta Spiders - Unique features - Exceptional model - Alfa Romeo certificate - Matching Numbers The history of this car is inextricably linked to Max Hoffman and his company Hoffman Motor Cars. This Austrian entrepreneur of genius was behind the Mercedes Benz 300 SL, BMW 507, Porsche 356 Speedster and the Alfa Romeo Guilietta Spider. In the early 1950s, Hoffman Motor Cars, based in New York, became Alfa Romeo's official importer in the United States, and immediately saw the potential of a roadster derived from the future Guilietta Sprint, which was about to be presented. At the end of 1953, Alfa Romeo worked closely with Hoffman to develop a roadster based on the Guilietta Sprint chassis. Development was entrusted to Rudolf Hruska, the Alfa Romeo engineer already in charge of the Sprint project. A motorised chassis was soon ready. It was numb