Description
1954 Alfa Romeo AR51 Matta…one of three believed to be in the UK, featured in Auto Italia Magazine….
The Matta or AR51 was developed in the late 1940ies to the Italian government specification for a light jeep and was first produced in 1951, hence the 51 in the title. However AR does not stand for Alfa Romeo , but for Auto-Veicolo Ricognitivo or reconnaissance vehicle. As with most 4x4’s the AR51 has a separate ladder chassis and the body was mounted on this. The suspension consisted of double unequal length wishbones, this very advanced design gave the Matta unsurpassed off road ability. The independent front suspensionwas the key to this ability and in order to give the suspension maximum travel, the lower wishbones are huge with the inner pivot points being as close as possible to the centre line of the vehicle.
Power was , in typical Alfa Romeo style from a 1900cc Twin Overhead Cam petrol engine, this was by any standards overkill.
The use of such an advanced engine design gave the Matta masses of torque which is exactly what an off-road vehicle needs.
The engine was de-tuned to 60 BHP for use in the Matta from the 100bhp it produced in Alfa Romeo road cars of the time, giving the Matta a top speed of 105km/ h.
This late production 1954 is believed to be one of three registerered in the UK. First owned by the Italian army it was registered for civilian use in 1969.
Imported into the UK in March 2006 and in 2007 the vehicle was bought by a keen engineer and enthusiast of these wonderfully over engineered off-roaders.
Typically of a vehicle owned by an engineer , the vehicle is in excellent mechanical condition, it runs and drives very well and has been featured in Auto Italia magazine… It was an AR 51 that was the first army vehicle allowed to enter the modern Mille Migla and presents as a very good value potential route for entry into this fabulous event.
Presented in good original condition , no rust and completely correct.
Please phone for further details
