LESS WEIGHT, MORE ART.
Among the many victories making up the myth of Alfa Romeo that we’re celebrating today as devout Alfisti, there’s one of a different nature: not on the tarmac of a circuit or the gravel of a rally, but on the lawn of a beauty contest. Seventy-five years ago at the 1949 Concorso d’Elegan za Villa d’Este, the winner of the Coppa d’Oro as voted by the attending public, was a special 6C 2500 Super Sport model with bodywork designed and built by Touring Superleggera on an Alfa Romeo supporting frame. Touring had only been founded some two decades earlier, by Felice Bianchi Anderloni and Gaetano Ponzoni (lawyers by profession but motoring enthusiasts at heart) on March 25 of 1926, on Via Ludovico di Breme 65 in Milan, right next to the Portello factory. The collaboration between the two companies debuted with the flamboyant 6C 1750 “Flying Star” (incidentally also a winner of the Coppa d’Oro at Villa d’Este, in 1931). At a time when technical advancements were first tested in races and then quickly trans ferred to road-going cars, Touring patented their Superleggera building process: a lightweight, thin tubular frame covered with hand-beaten aluminium panels that provided structural strength with minimal weight. This method allowed for aero dynamic shapes that promoted greater efficiency and higher speeds. Using what was to become their signature technique, which also completed their company’s official name, Touring Superleggera’s craftsmen built both the 1936 racing 8C 2900 B “Le Mans” and its “civilian” versions in Lungo and Corto measures before World War II, resuming production with the 6C 2500 afterwards. With its victory at Villa d’Este in 1949, the 6C 2500 SS by Touring was rightly recognized by the public as the culmination of an era: Alfa was transitioning from an artisan operation to an industrial powerhouse, and this was the most elegant fusion of Italian engineering and creativity. Perhaps that’s why it left such a lasting mark on both Alfa’s and Touring’s history, even though only 32 examples were ever built (*with Touring’s archives lost in a fire in 1966 when the company folded, the exact number of such cars produced is still disputed). This could also explain why it is celebrated annually in what may be one of the most exclusive gatherings for a single model: One Lake, One Car - Villa d’Este Style, which brings together some of the 20 known surviving examples of this Touring-bodied Alfa back to the very place where it first saw the light of day and got its name. The event is created, organised, and hosted by motoring guru Marco Makaus on the grounds of the historic Villa d’Este hotel. Marco, among other things, has been credited with helping resurrect the Mille Miglia into the successful extravaganza we know today. After attending the last couple of 6C “Villa d’Este Style” meets, Marco is walking us through the connecting dots between Alfa, Touring, and that famous villa on the shores of Lake Como…
