| Alfa Romeo RL | |
| Manufacturer: | Alfa Romeo |
| Production: | 1922 - 1927 |
| Assembly: | Portello, Milan, Italy |
| Designer: | Giuseppe Merosi |
| Layout: | Front-engine, rear-wheel drive |
| Related: | Alfa Romeo RM |
| Transmission: | 4-speed manual[1] |
| Length: | 46301NaN1 Zagato 44501NaN1 Castagna |
| Width: | 17701NaN1 Zagato 18701NaN1 Castagna |
| Height: | 16501NaN1 Zagato 16301NaN1 Castagna |
| Weight: | 15500NaN0 Zagato 16000NaN0 Castagna |
| Predecessor: | Alfa Romeo G1 |
| Successor: | Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 |
| Sp: | uk |
The Alfa Romeo RL was produced between 1922 and 1927. It was Alfa's first sport model after World War I, designed in 1921 by Giuseppe Merosi. It had a straight-6 engine with overhead valves, and came in three different versions: Normale, Turismo and Sport. A total of 2,640 RLs were made.
The RLTF (Targa Florio) was the race version of the RL. It weighed half as much as the standard production models, despite the engine having seven main bearings instead of four and double carburetors. It was used among the 1923 Alfa race team, which had drivers like Ugo Sivocci, Antonio Ascari, Giulio Masetti and Enzo Ferrari. Sivocci's car had a green cloverleaf symbol on a white background; when he won the 1923 Targa Florio, that symbol was to become the Alfa team's good luck token. Five[2] different RLSS were entered in the first Mille Miglia in 1927, but only two completed the race.
A 1925 RLSS version with rare, original bodywork by Thornton Engineering Company in Bradford, UK, is on permanent display in the Targa Florio exhibit at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, PA, USA. It is one of only 9 RLSS still in existence.[3]
| Engine displacement | Max power | Years produced | |
| RL Normale | 2916 cc | (1922–1925) | |
| RL Turismo | 2996 cc | (1925–1927) | |
| RL Sport | 2996 cc | (1922–1927) | |
| RL Super Sport | 2996 cc | (1922–1927) | |
| RL Super Sport Castagna | |||
| RL Super Sport Zagato | |||
| RL Targa Florio | 3154 cc | (1923) | |
| RL Targa Florio | 2994 cc | (1924) | |
| RL Targa Florio | 3620 cc | (1924) | |
| 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series | I, II | III, IV | V | VI | VII | I–VII | |||
| RL Normale | 3 | 610 | 443 | 259 | |||||
| RL Turismo | 195 | 126 | 66 | ||||||
| RL Sport | 3 | 215 | 176 | 143 | |||||
| RL Super Sport | 304 | 12 | 76 | ||||||
| Total | |||||||||