ABC Alfa Beta Gamma

1950 was a big year for Alfa Romeo.  They had been winning Grand Prix's with their 158, but this year they took all six of the European races and won the World Championship of Drivers.  The Indy 500 back then was included in the World Championships, but none of the regular European drivers participated.   The 158, the famous 'Alfetta', was developed pre-war and was a supercharged, straight-eight and won five additional races that year!  By 1950, they were pushing out 350hp! The famous drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Giuseppe Farina took first place in all those races, with Farina winning the World Championship. 

The big Alfa Romeo 500 transporter was used to take the 158's to the Grand Prix's.  It was a double-decker, so four cars could be taken to each Grand Prix with 2 trucks, as shown here.  They may have put them on a boat for the first Grand Prix, run at Silverstone.  The cars were numbered 1-4 for this race. The Englishman, Reg Purnell, raced number 4 and came in third! Different race numbers were assigned for each race, so the French Grand Prix at Reims that year ran 2-4-6, so the #4 car could be Luigi Fagioli's 158 from that race, when he came in second!  I have not been able to confirm who drove the 25 car and in which race...

The big 150 was made more than 20 years ago by ABC in Italy.  It's very heavy and made of thick resin. A beautiful truck.  The tires are almost as tall as the 158 race cars!!!  The #4 is a more recent partworks, probably from Altaya.  The jewel case is unmarked except for Alfa Romeo 158, 1950, while the baseplate says RBA (a promotional company?)!  From online searches, I see that they had the identical casting as #1 in their Leyendas de la Formula Uno partworks series from 2012-13.  The #25 Brumm is an old one from their Serie Oro, R36, from the 1970s.  I acquired it back in 1982!  Brumm has made great use of this casting and made numerous versions.  

In comparing the two 158's the wheels and tires are the most different. The 10-year old Altaya has wider tires but I think the 40-year old Brumm did just a good job on the wire wheels!  The grill is better on the newer one but the seat and seat back are worse.  The overall shapes look very nice on both of them.  

Overall, a very nice combination of three vehicles, from over 40 years of 1/43 production, is finally brought together in one place.