A 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Corto Spider once owned and raced by pre-war Grand Prix icon Tazio Nuvolari secured Best of Show at Hagerty’s 2026 Greenwich Concours, held 30-31 May in Connecticut. Alongside it, a glamorous 1957 Maserati 450S – campaigned in-period by Carroll Shelby, Masten Gregory and others – took Concours de Sport Best of Show honours.
Nuvolari purchased the 8C new in 1933 and, after Zagato completed the body, sent it to fellow racer Raymond Sommer in Paris, who had it fitted with separate teardrop fenders and a longer tail – bodywork designed by Joseph Figoni for Sommer’s own Le Mans-winning Alfa the previous year.
Nuvolari fielded chassis 2211109 at the 1933 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the 8C broke the Circuit de la Sarthe lap record multiple times and he had lapped the entire field within two hours. A fuel leak threatened to deny him victory – until he and co-driver Sommer plugged the tank with chewing gum, allowing Nuvolari to win by just ten seconds.
Three weeks after its Le Mans heroics, the 8C claimed second at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps before Nuvolari registered it for road use in 1934. American racing driver Barron Collier acquired the 8C and drove it to victory in the 1937 Mount Washington Hill Climb. It passed to its current owner in 1992 and was fully restored in 1994, since covering more than 25,000 miles – including four appearances in the Mille Miglia.
The Concours de Sport-winning Maserati is a car of similar historic significance. Known internally as the Tipo 54, the Fantuzzi-bodied 450S was built to compete against Ferrari in the 1957 World Sports Car Championship (WSCC). Chassis 4508 was the first 450S fitted with the larger 4.7-litre quad-cam V8 and was delivered to American racing team owner Temple Buell in 1957.
Buell entered 4508 in the 1957 WSCC finale in Caracas, Venezuela, where victory would have sealed the championship for The Trident. Fate, however, saw the race descend into chaos. Masten Gregory led the opening lap before 4508 hit a haybale and flipped. Further collisions and fires left both Stirling Moss and Harry Schell with burns, earning the event its ‘Caracas Carnage’ nickname.
The car was repaired in Miami after Gregory’s crash and continued racing in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) events with Carroll Shelby at the wheel. Formula 1 legend Juan Manuel Fangio was supposed to race 4508 in the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix, until Fidel Castro’s rebels kidnapped him from his hotel lobby the night before the race was scheduled to begin. The race went ahead despite Fangio’s abduction, and 4508 was driven by replacement driver Maurice Trintignant.
By October 1958 the original V8 had been replaced with a more powerful 5.7-litre unit producing around 500bhp that was originally developed for marine use. Shelby continued to race 4508 on the West Coast and in the Bahamas before Chaparral founder Jim Hall acquired it in 1960. It passed through the hands of several owners before American racing driver and collector Nick Soprano purchased it in 1983. Forty-three years later, Soprano drove it 15 miles from his Bedford Hills workshop to Greenwich for the concours.
Dates for the 2027 edition of the Greenwich Concours will be announced in due course. For more information, click here.
