Alfa Romeo

 

Alfa Romeo is obviously best known for its sporting cars and racing machines, but the company produced car-based light commercials from 1914 until 1986 and heavier trucks and buses from 1930 until 1964.

 

 

Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (ALFA) was formed in 1910, taking over the premises vacated by Darracq in Milan. In 1915, a wealthy industrialist, Nicola Romeo, purchased the business and converted production into light trucks, railway equipment and military hardware for WW I.

 After the War, the first jointly-branded, Alfa Romeo vehicles emerged.

In 1921, the Banca Italiana di Sconto, which backed Nicola Romeo & Co, went bankrupt and the government needed to support the industrial companies involved, of which Alfa Romeo was one.

In 1925, railway product manufacturing was separated from the Romeo company and in 1928 Nicola Romeo left the company.

Alfa Romeo needed to replace its former railway equipment revenue, to bolster the relatively small earnings from its sporting car business and so, in 1929, concluded an agreement with German manufacturer Büssing, to licence-manufacture its NAG 50 truck as an Alfa. 

 

 

Being one of the first production diesel-powered trucks in Europe, the Alfa Romeo Tipo 50 was state-of-the-art: It was a bonnetted, two-axle truck with six-tonnes-payload capacity and a gross trailer-combination mass (GTM) of 14 tonnes. Power of 80bhp came from Büssing’s 10.6-litre, six-cylinder diesel engine that was coupled to a four-speed transmission, giving a top speed of 33km/h.

Nicknamed Biscione, after Alfa’s bonnet badge that incorporated Milan’s heraldic figure of a snake, this advanced truck proved too expensive for most Italian truck operators, who bought only 115 examples, before production ended in 1934.

 

Alfa Romeo 85

 

Its replacement was the Alfa Romeo 80 4×2 or 6×2 truck, with steerable bogie-lift tag axle that was powered by a 110bhp, 11.6-litre diesel engine, capable of delivering 110bhp.  It proved even more difficult to sell, with only 29 commercial trucks sold. It was saved from oblivion by the Royal Italian Army, which needed its power, so it became the militarised 85 model and later versions had 125bhp engines.

Although Alfa Romeo’s heavy trucks had limited market success, its smaller 3-4-tonne-payload trucks and bus chassis did much better. The 1934 Alfa Romeo 350 was based on the Büssing type 275, but Alfa improvements were made to the chassis, brakes and engine power during its three-year life.

 

Alfa Romeo 500

 

The evolutionary Alfa Romeo 500 replaced the 350 in 1937 and offered a choice of power plants, reflecting its part-civilian, part-military vocation: a 75bhp, F6M 313 water-cooled Deutz, six-cylinder, 6.1-litre diesel, or petrol or producer gas engines. It could climb a 27-percent gradient and had a top speed of 45km/h.

Most 500s went into the Army and served in many theatres of war, including on the Eastern Front, in Russia.

 

 

COE designs

 

With a late-1930s guarantee of Royal Italian Army contracts, Alfa Romeo geared up design and production efforts. The 1940 Alfa Romeo truck designs were quite different from their predecessors, in having cab-over-engine configuration and in-house diesel engines, derived from experience with their Deutz-licensed predecessors.

 

Alfa Romeo 800

 

The first of these COE models was the 800 RE military version that was tested in 1939 and deliveries began in 1940. It was deployed in North Africa, Occupied France and North Africa. 

The 800 6.5-tonnes payload capacity ’heavy unified truck’ was made in right hand drive, 4×2 configuration and was powered by an in-house Alfa Romeo 8.7-litre, six-cylinder diesel, rated at 108bhp. Some military trucks had petrol- and gas-fuelled engines.

The gearbox was a four-speed and no 4×4 variants were developed. However, there was a prototype half-track derivative.

 

Alfa Romeo 800 RE half-track prototype

 

The rounded cab was modified slightly for military use, by the fitment of protection bars in front of the recessed radiator.

The 1942 military Alfa Romeo 430 RE was a five-tonnes-payload derivative of the 800, with coil-spring independent front suspension. It was powered by a four-cylinder derivative of the 800’s six and had a peak output of  80bhp.

 

Alfa Romeo 430 – Alfa Romeo Archive

 

After WWII, civilian versions of the 800 and 430 were produced. The 430 continued until 1950, but the 800 was replaced by the 900 in 1947.

 

Alfa Romeo 430 engine – Alfa Romeo Archive

 

The Alfa Romeo 900 looked virtually identical to the Alfa Romeo 800, but engine capacity was enlarged to 9.5 litres, giving peak output of 128bhp. Two-axle and three-axle versions were available and payload capacity went up to nine tonnes.

 

Alfa Romeo 950 – Alfa Romeo Club

 

The 900 was replaced by the upgraded-cab 950 model in 1954, with a slightly extended-length cab and small windows behind the B-pillars being the main distinguishing features.

The 950 was produced until 1958, when it was replaced by the entirely-new Mille that continued in production until 1964. The cab was all-new and engine size went up to 11 litres, with peak output of 163-174bhp.

 

Alfa Romeo Mille – Stellantis Media

 

Factory-built trucks were 4×2 eight-tonnes-payload rigids, with up to 18 tonnes GTM and tractors with GTMs up to 26.2 tonnes. Outside suppliers provided tag and pusher axle kits for the rigid truck version. A trolley bus was also based on the Mille chassis.

In 1956, a production licence to produce the Mille was acquired by the Brazilian company Fábrica Nacional de Motores, which manufactured the model until 1980.

In parallel with its heavy truck production, Alfa Romeo made the Romeo forward-control light truck, minibus and van models until 1983.

By 1964, Alfa Romeo had sold only 2500 Mille trucks and the decision was made to abandon the heavy truck market and concentrate on cars and light commercials.

 

Alfa Romeo A15 – Stellantis Media

 

In 1967, Alfa Romeo signed a deal with French truck maker Saviem to licence-produce its 3.5-tonnes-GVM to 6.3-tonnes-GVM light truck range in Italy. A 4×4 A38 version was developed in conjunction with MAN Mechanica. 

 

Alfa Romeo A38 4×4 – Stellantis Media

 

In late 1986, Alfa Romeo became part of the Fiat Group, which had ample light commercial vehicle choices, so Alfa Romeo became purely a specialist car maker. That hasn’t stopped rumours of Alfa Romeo heavy truck projects, as exemplified by this 2020 example: