Monterey 2010: Pebble Beach honors Alfa Romeo on its 100th birthday

It might be hard to believe, but Alfa Romeo is a century old. Check that – A.L.F.A. (Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, or Lombardy Car Manufacturing Company) is 100, having been established in 1910. That was the year that a group of Milanese enthusiasts decided they could build cars better than the stuff they were getting from foreign automakers. ALFA wasn't very successful at first – at least not financially – but during World War I, the company was taken over by a young engineer, Nicola Romeo, and the rest, as they say, is history. 100 years later, we have some of the most incredible and memorable sports and racing cars of all time wearing the cross-and-serpent or the Quadrifoglio.

At the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on Sunday, the automaker received a warm welcome, with two dozen or so of their most significant models on hand for the festivities – many from the factory museum. Those 24 cars represented just a small sample of the sports and racing cars that made the company famous – everything from one of their first 1910 A.L.F.A. 24-hp Torpedo model, to the bio-mechanical 2010 Alfa Romeo Pandion Bertone Coupé.

It was a great gathering of incredible cars to honor this legendary automaker as it enters its second century, a century that will thankfully see its return to the United States market. It's hard to say if today's models will stand the test of time like the classics gathered at Pebble, but we think that the 8C Competizione will look sensational out there on the 18th fairway in 40 years, just like it does today.

Photos Copyright ©2010 Drew Phillips, Frank Filipponio / AOL