Alfa Romeo’s postwar transformation was dramatic. The company’s revenue previously came from a combination of luxury cars and aviation engines, the latter of which were forbidden by the terms of Italy’s defeat and the former of which were now in low demand after the war. The company could survive only by making more cars and, accordingly, their first new postwar model was the first Alfa Romeo built on a production line. Called the 1900, the car possessed all the traditional virtues of the marque, including technical innovation and a sporting heart, but occupied a more accessible market segment.

The 1900’s sophisticated specification was distinguished by its advanced brakes, suspension, and power train, which gave the car exceptional performance. The 1900 used Alfa Romeo’s first-ever twin-cam inline four, designed by the legendary Giuseppe Busso, featured unibody construction, and was available in standard sedan and short forms (1900C for corto, or “short” in Italian). The 1900C was developed specifically for coachbuilders to build special-bodied cars. More than 21,000 of the 1900s were made, but only approximately 8% were 1900Cs, with most of those receiving Touring of Milan or Pinin Farina coachwork. A few dozen were bodied by various other Italian or Swiss coachbuilders, including the iconic Torinese firm Ghia. Ghia bodied very few 1900s, but each was a striking representation of their artistic flair.

This 1900C is one of a handful that received Ghia’s stunning “Supergioiello” (super jewel) body – among the most athletic designs fitted to the model. Accounts vary as to how many Supergioiello 1900Cs were built, with figures ranging from six to 18 examples, of which as few as three are known to survive today. This 1900C spent its early years in Europe and subsequently passed to a French military captain who retained it into the 1990s.

The Alfa Romeo was restored in the early 2000s in Milan and acquired by a long-term owner in 2004, who imported it to the US and retained it for 20 years. A passionate enthusiast, he carefully maintained and improved the 1900C, documented with over 50 pages of records from award-winning firm D.L. George Historic Motorcars of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, using it for both shows and driving events. In 2008, the car won Best Italian Sports Car 1946–1958 at the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance and, in 2014, the Alfa Romeo participated in the Colorado Grand – testaments to the quality of the restoration and mechanical upkeep the car received.

This remarkable Supergioiello is an exceedingly rare representation of the glamorous, rarefied strata of postwar Italian coachbuilt cars. Half a decade after being built, the practice had all but been discontinued, making this Alfa Romeo, with its breathtaking lines and fine detailing, a quintessential example of the end of an era.