Talk about foreshadowing - nearly 70 years after Alfa Romeo introduced the Matta, Alfa Romeo and Jeep would be collaborating with a vehicle almost identical in spirit, the Jeep Wrangler. The modern Wrangler design harks back to military vehicles such as the Matta, and today, is powered by the same power plant used in the Alfa Romeo Giulia.

The Matta, too, was powered by an Alfa Romeo luxury sedan engine. At the time of the Matta's production, the Alfa Romeo 1900 led the marque's offerings. Displacing 1,884cc, the iron block, aluminum hemi head 4-cylinder produced 64hp from its long-stroke design. In a departure from the 1900, the Matta utilized a dry sump design, likely to keep oil pressure at the bearings during off-road articulation.

Year: 1953
Model:  Alfa Romeo 1900 M AR 51 Matta
Engine: 1,884cc 4-cylinder
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Mileage:  5,000
Price: Auction
Location: Casabianca, Italy

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1953 Alfa Romeo 1900 M AR 51 Matta

For sale  an extremely rare ALFA ROMEO AR51 (1900M), a very good example of the car better known as "MATTA" (crazy in Italian). Conceived on request of the Italian Ministry of Defense in order to have a modern replacement for the ubiquitous Willys MB the Alfa AR51 (AR stands for Autovettura da Ricognizione modello 1951, Reconaissance  Car, model year 1951) revealed itself as a very sophisticated vehicle, its engine (type 1307) a 1884 cc four cylinder twin cam derived from that used on 1900 saloons and GTs (type 1306) and here detuned at 65 HP, dry sump lubrication, indipendent front suspension with torsion bars, a low range transfer box enabling it to climb on 120% slopes. A very good car, a brilliant technical excercise, but very expensive to built so only 2054 cars were handbuilt (yes, no production line) at the Alfa old aero engine factory at Pomigliano d'Arco near Naples from 1952 to 1954; less than 500 were assigned to the Police, mainly at the various Reparti Celere (rapid intervention units) as in this case. This Matta is chassis#1374 and left the factory in 1953 with engine #1462, the same unit it still has today, a very rare case of matching numbers vehicle. It was kept by the Ministry of Interior until 1979, then was sold on the market gtting the civilian registration GR 173393; the original maroon livery used by the Italian Police during the Fifties was covered by a questionable metallic burgundy paint which the car sports still today (the interior, also originally maroon, was sprayed in grey). In its civilian life the car saw very limited and careful use by its two registered owners (as showed by the valid logbook): in fact it runs and drives very well (an electric fuel pump has replaced the mechanical type), the engine pulls smoothly without any smoke, transmission ok, no steering or suspension play; the chassis is absolutely straight and sound, the body is sound too with only some surface rust in limited areas (of course it needs a respray). The ugly rollover bar showed in some picture has now desappeared and the wiper motors and arms are now in place again alongside the original Ulpio type hook towbar, the spare wheel, jack, basic tool kit and copies of owner's, workshop and parts manuals. This car is located near Turin and have to be collected locally, shipping can be arranged easily by myself.

Given the length of time that must have elapsed between this car being useful and this car being desirable, with a long period of market indifference in between, this example appears to be in great shape. Underneath, you can spot rust at many of the seams, and yet, it is the sort of rust that a hobbyist could address in their garage with a wire wheel and some rust converter. The exterior is said to be repainted in a metallic burgundy, beneath which lies the original maroon paint found in Italian Police liveries.

We'll be the first to admit that we know very little about off-road vehicles, but what we do know is that they travel very slowly. With only 64hp, driving slowly should not be in issue in the Matta. Given its condition, we wouldn't be too heartbroken to suffer some minor off-roading damage in this example. The 1900 engine, while no Nord, won't be too hard to keep in good tune, either. All-in-all, we welcome the idea of slowly bringing this Matta back into original condition while using it as intended.

-Graham