David Christian's

Alfa Monza Under Construction


When COVID hit us all, in a moment of madness and in spite of the fact that I don’t ever recall finishing the few model cars I attempted in my youth, I decided I wanted to build a Pocher Monza.

I ultimately found a kit on eBay and assumed, in April or 2020 that it would keep me occupied for a few months until lockdown ended.

Sooooo, it is now July of 2024 and I am still working on the same model.

Even though the kit is supposed to be a street car, I decided to build the car that competed in the 1933 Grand Prix Monte Carlo, driven by Tazio Nuvolari. That year, he actually lost, but apparently it was an incredible race with over forty passes for the lead.

To make it even more difficult, as I am obviously a glutton for punishment, I decided to build it as it might have appeared after blowing the engine on the last lap.

I hope you enjoy the following photos. As a retired architect, I am very design oriented, and have tremendously enjoyed researching these wonderful cars. I have also tried to bring the Pocher model closer to the way the actual cars were built many decades ago. Although I had some fabrication skills, they were more in areas like motorcycle restoration. So, I had to rely on many of my new friends in the modeling community to guide me along my path of trying to become a modeler. Believe me, I had to learn everything from airbrushing to 3D printing over a hundred parts I designed.

One of the most wonderful parts of this adventure is all the new friends I have been lucky enough to make in the modeling community. I truly could never have even made a reasonable start on this ongoing project without their help and support. Two of the earliest to help were Paul Koo, whose DVD’s convinced me that a mere mortal could actually build one of these things, and Marvin Meit with Model Motorcars, whose advice and support was invaluable.