Alfa Romeo's Beautiful Flying Saucer
By James Grahame
The 1952 Alfa Romeo C52 Spider is one gorgeous Italian redhead that was quickly dubbed the Disco Volante (Flying Saucer) because of its futuristic shape, which resulted in a drag coefficient of only 0.26. It was produced in three versions - the two seat Spider, a Coupe and a single seat open racer.
The Disco Volante was built on a space frame chassis and proved capable of reaching speeds of 220 km/h (approximately 137 furlongs per fortnight in Victorian units). Two examples were powered by 158 hp 2.0 L straight 4s, while a single vehicle was built with an aggressive 3.5 L straight 6. Both power plants were mated to a 4-speed manual gearbox.
All three variants are preserved in a couple of Italian museums, so getting up close and personal with this unique machine isn't totally out of the question.
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More Disco Volante photos [ultimatecarpage.com]
