TURISMO RIVOLUZIONARE
1900 TI SUPER
Nearly 70 years after its seminal class win at the 1954 Carrera Panamericana, a 1900 Ti found itself spearheading a technological revolution.
It’s an unlikely candidate for an engine of change. Built back in 1955, this Alfa has been in Dr. Uwe Koenzen’s ownership for 18 years. During all this time it was anything but a garage queen, cutting its teeth on the Green Hell of the Nordschleife, not far from its, and the Koenzen’s family home in Cologne. Delivered on the 4th Oct. 1955 to its first owner in Rome, its exterior is in its original condition, having never been painted or welded, while the mechanicals have all been completely redone. A set of trick Solex carburetors bump the power up to a very respectable 145 hp at the crank. On top of all the modifications, one stands out for being commendably period-incorrect. It runs entirely on e-fuels.
And yet his patina embellished 1900 adopted one of the rival technologies. It was part of Koenzen’s vision of the big picture. “Only with the use of eFuels is it possible to operate historic vehicles with combustion engines in a CO2-reduced or neutral way. That's why we immediately took up the offer to drive the Tour Auto with eFuels.” Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemicals companies, created a special synthetic fuel for this year’s Tour Auto. Once Uwe took a good look into it, he liked what he saw. “No special modifications were made for e-fuel operation, as the engine has a moderate compression ratio and a moderate early ignition. Therefore, after reviewing the Aramco eFuels data sheet, we did not feel any modifications were necessary.” In fact, the 1900 Ti Super was recognised as one of the best preserved cars in this year’s edition, winning the Prix Special for the most original car.
Uwe continue: “Our approach was to make the whole event as carbon-neutral as possible. That's why we trailered the Alfa to Paris with a purely electric towing vehicle.” Not a modern Alfa, as there are none that could do the job currently in production. But you could understand who would buy one, once they are finally made.
“I felt the car ran very “clean”, I didn't notice any technical changes, but I did notice some emotional ones.”
