That's not odd on the grid for a race like the S.F. Edge Trophy, but think about it. These cars have survived for 100 years, through wars, political strife, times of feast and famine. Times when speed and racing were the last thing on people's minds, and indeed times of prosperity. They've lived through scrappage drives, societal and political change and of course, they've shrugged off good old fashioned antiquity.

So congratulations on the long game, Alfa Romeo G1 and your kin. Here are a few chapters of your story, as best as they can be recalled. The big hook here is that, to the best of anyone's knowledge, this is the oldest Alfa Romeo in existence, and the only one of its kind. The G1 was the first all-new car to wear the Alfa Romeo name, following Nicola Romeo's completion of the purchase of the A.L.F.A automobile manufacturer in 1919. Around fifty cars are thought to have been produced, with all of them being exclusively sold in Australia (of all places?).

As above, this is thought to be the last. It belonged to a farm owner and originally wore a saloon body. It was a farm hack, hearding Kangaroos and cattle. It's thought that, in a particular low point in this car's life, it was used as a stationary water pump after one of its axles broke. To imagine that now, of a car that at 75MM stood proud on one of the grandest pre-war grids in modern memory, is verging on the absurd! But as we said above, it had a use, so it survived.