The pair of racing cars have been presented courtesy of the the Automobilismo Storico Alfa Romeo, the Italian brand's official museum at Arese in Milan, which has shipped them to Paris for the special occasion. Rétromobile is one of the most important classic car shows on the global calendar and this year it has chosen to honour Fangio, possible the most famous and racing driver of all time, and a gifted pilot who achieved so much success on the world's most important race tracks at the wheel of both Alfa Romeo's grand prix single-seaters and its sports cars.

The culmination of that rewarding association between Fangio and Alfa Romeo is undoubtedly the 1951 Formula 1 World Championship season which brought the Argentinean his first drivers' title and Alfa Romeo its last grand prix crown. That season, exactly sixty years ago today, saw the masterful Fangio imperiously sweep to the crown at the wheel of the 'Alfetta' 159 (an updated version of the 158 which had claimed the F1 title the previous year and in which Fangio had finished as championship runner up) with three wins and two second places from the nine races he took part in. Team mate Giuseppe Farina also claimed third place in the title race. That was the first of five titles that "El Maestro" would go onto win with four teams (Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari) a feat that has never been repeated; in fact his haul of five titles stood for almost half a century until Michael Schumacher broke that particular record.

In an era when an F1 driver drove anything else he could lay his hands on during non-grand prix weekends, Fangio was also a highly accomplished sports car racer. His exploits behind the wheel of the 6C 3000 CM (Competizione Maggiorata), the definitive version of the legendary breed of "6C" racing sports cars that traced their lineage - like the Alfetta 159 - back to the pre-war period, is the stuff of motor racing folklaw. Six 6C 3000 CMs, bodied by Colli, were built - four coupés and two Spiders. In 1953 Fangio finished second in the Le Mans 24 Hours as part of a three car factory team, however, the top step of the podium also beckoned that year when he won the prestigious Grand Prix Supercortemaggiore at the wheel of the 6C 3000 CM and it is this particular example that ended up in the hands of the Alfa Romeo museum, and which is on show at Rétromobile.

Complementing the two 1950s-era Alfa Romeos piloted by Fangio will be an Alfetta GTV 'touring car' racer that was driven with great distinction by famous French driver Danny Snobeck in the Championnat de France Production between 1981 and 1984. Originally a GTV 2.0 it was soon upgraded to GTV6 2.5 specification. Still wearing its red-and-white Marlboro colours the car is now in the hands of a private collector and is being presented at Rétromobile by L'Alfa Classic Club de France.