The madman

Just recently, we presented a car that isn’t really what you would imagine an Alfa Romeo to be, the wonderful Autotutto. And now we’ve found another Alfa that we didn’t even know existed: the Alfa Romeo ‘Matta’.

After the Second World War, there were still plenty of Willy’s Jeeps in Italy, but the Ministry of Defence still wanted its own off-road vehicle. The contract was put out to tender – and Alfa accepted the challenge. Giuseppe Busso (him again…) got hold of a Land Rover, which was considered superior to the Jeep, and fitted it with a 65 hp 1.9-litre Alfa engine with two overhead camshafts; whether this was really a good fit, a small barrel organ in an off-road vehicle that needs torque from the basement, we don’t know. Then a few more changes to the design, and everything was fine in April 1951.

But the person in charge of the army, Colonel Garbani, was not satisfied. So the Alfa was given a new independent front suspension, a new rigid rear axle, drum brakes all round – and a completely new design. On 5 October 1951, the colonel was finally satisfied – but the large order was nevertheless awarded to Fiat and its Campagnola. The Alfa Romeo, which weighed just 1,250 kilograms and was designated AR51, was given the name ‘Matta’ (the madman) by the then Alfa boss Antonio Alessio when he first saw what the thing could do off-road.

Between 1952 and 1954, a total of 2,050 ‘Matta’ vehicles were built, 2,000 for the army and 50 for civilian use. Incidentally, one of these Alfa Romeo vehicles also won the Mille Miglia in 1952 – in the ‘military vehicles’ category. It finished 42 minutes ahead of a Fiat Campagnola. The vehicle shown above was offered by RM Sotheby’s in London in 2016, but not sold.