As far back as 2011, it was rumoured that Alfa Romeo was preparing to build its first-ever SUV, but it wasn’t until earlier this year that the Italian manufacturer announced the hearsay was true and that it would be called the Stelvio.
Off-road and Alfa Romeo aren’t two terms that are used in the same sentence all that commonly, but in fact the manufacturer’s first proper off-roader was made for a short period all the way back in 1952.
Called the 1900 M, and otherwise referred to as the Matta or the “Mad Alfa”, the car was manufactured at the behest of the Italian military. They had taken note of the abilities of the original Willys Jeep during the Second World War and wanted something similar.
Alfa Romeo duly obliged and combined inspiration from the Jeep and the original Series 1 Land Rover to produce the 1900 M, which featured a 65 horsepower 1.9-litre engine, independent front suspension and four-wheel drive.
Produced in limited numbers between 1952 and 1954, only 2,050 Mattas were made, 2,000 of which came in AR51 military spec for use by the armed forces and by the Italian police, while the remaining 50 were built in a more civilian-friendly AR52 trim.
The AR in the name stood for ‘Autovettura da Ricognizione’ or ‘Reconnaissance Vehicle’, the designation for light utility vehicles that were designed for scouting. It was in essence near identical to other light utility vehicles like the Jeep, which in civilian format would eventually give rise to the modern sports utility vehicle – the SUV.
Gruelling cross-continental expeditions
However, given that so few were made and also because they were built during peacetime, the amount of proper ricognizione’ing the Matta vehicles did was limited. Still, that didn’t stop the car having some truly ground-breaking adventures, most famously at the hands of multi-talented Italian journalist Maner Lualdi.
Although he was a writer primarily, Lualdi also put in the hours as a film producer and opera director, with most of his productions tied into his passion for flying planes, and he was also famous for completing record-breaking long distance flights around the world.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first flight to the North Pole, which was achieved by the Italian airship Norge, Lualdi decided in 1953 to embark on the Raid Artico delle Polo Nordi, an expedition which would track the exact same path the Norge had followed two and a half decades previously.
The fact that the Norge was powered by an Alfa Romeo engine was a good enough excuse for Lualdi to insist that the trip had to be completed with an Alfa Romeo as the support car, and the only one tough enough was the Matta.
There were rumours that Lualdi’s car of choice was part of a ploy on behalf of the manufacturer to raise the profile of the car and to persuade the Italian Ministry of Defence to ask for more Mattas to be built. Regardless of the truth of these rumours, this wouldn’t be Lualdi's last involvement with the car.
Some 15 years later, Lualdi would take two of them on another cross-continental trek, travelling through 24 countries as part of a charitable adventure to drive from Rome to Beijing. The Mattas, which by this stage were at least 13 years old, served as mobile workshops and although the expedition ultimately failed when Chinese authorities refused the convoy entry to the country, it did once again prove the abilities and hardiness of the car.
Yet though Alfa Romeo had built the Matta for the Italian military, its contract was under threat from Fiat, which had built the Campagnola – a heavy duty off-roader – to rival the Matta not just in capability, but crucially to also undercut it in terms of costs.
The original sports utility vehicle?
The Matta embarked on a series of challenging tests to prove its worth, serving as a support car for the Tour de France and even duelling the Campagnola head on in the military vehicle category of the famous 1,000-mile Mille Miglia endurance race.
Despite the fact that the Matta beat the Campagnola to the Mille Miglia finish line by about 40 minutes, it wasn’t enough. The Campagnola would go on to serve military personnel in Italy, France and Yugoslavia and even formed the basis of Pope John Paul II’s famous Popemobile, while the Mad Alfa quietly fell into obscurity.
In contrast to the Matta’s go-anywhere ruggedness, the new Stelvio looks set to lean far more heavily on the ‘sport’ side of the sport utility vehicle fence, rivalling cars like the Porsche Macan and Jaguar F-PACE.
All the signs so far suggest that the Stelvio should be a great car, with much of its setup adapted from the fantastic new Giulia, but great SUVs aren’t just about sport, they’re also about utility. Will the Stelvio be capable of crossing continents, completing polar expeditions or battling it out over the course of gruelling long-distance races like the Mille Miglia or the Tour de France?
Perhaps it will, or perhaps not. Either way, Alfa Romeo hasn’t produced a car before or since that could match the sheer tenacity and ruggedness of the critically underappreciated 1900 M.
With the guts to compete in some of the world’s most gruelling sporting events and the toughness to cross continents and brave the harshest conditions on earth, it was Alfa Romeo’s original SUV and possibly one of the world’s first. That Stelvio’s got a tough act to follow.