Everything You Need To Know About Italian Coachbuilder Touring Superleggera

Touring Superleggera has influenced the contour of automobile design during the course of its long career in the industry.

In its ninety-five-year career, Touring Superleggera, an exceptional coachbuilder from Italy, has created some remarkable designs. For nearly a century, Italy has been regarded as the pinnacle of vehicle engineering.

Traditionally, automakers merely built the chassis and engine of a vehicle, then gave it to a coachbuilder to complete the body.

Customers could even select a coachbuilder to customize their vehicle in several circumstances. Several coachbuilding enterprises sprang up across the country as a result of this procedure of creating an automobile.

With countless creative creations over the course of its long career in the automobile business, Touring Superleggera has helped to mould the shape of automobile design.

Touring Superleggera’s History

Felice Bianchi Anderloni and Gaetano Ponzoni founded the Carrozzeria Touring or simply Touring coachbuilding company in Milan in 1926. From the start, Touring set itself apart from its competitors by putting a greater emphasis on aesthetics and inventive thinking. Touring was the first business to license the Weyman building technology, a close follower of advantageous approaches.

As a result, some exquisite automobiles, such as the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Touring ‘Flying Star,’ rolled out of Touring’s workshop, and Touring established a reputation as a coachbuilding ace.

Touring’s reputation for creating exotic and creative cars grew quickly, and automakers such as Alfa Romeo soon became regular contract customers. With an array of honors and recognitions, it began to dominate prominent vehicle events such as Concours and Villa d’Este.

Following its success in these displays and races, Touring was entrusted with the construction of coaches for a number of European automakers. Touring, on the other hand, awaiting a lot of fame due to its ever-innovative manner of operating.

Touring invented a new and immensely effective building approach in 1937, which permanently transformed the face of vehicle engineering. The process was dubbed “Superleggera” by the business, which meant “super light.”

This approach was developed by Touring, and most top-tier automotive manufacturers licensed it in the following years. The design was so popular that it became Touring’s brand identity, and the firm was renamed ‘Touring Superleggera.’

The coachbuilder also has a long history with Ferrari, having created Enzo Ferrari’s first car, the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815. The Ferrari 166MM, which put the Italian automaker on the map, came next.

Touring Superleggera’s relationship with Lamborghini is also extremely similar, as the company’s first car, the 350GT, was produced by Touring Superleggera. It also collaborated with Alfa Romeo on some of the most successful racing and touring cars, including the 8C 2900B Spider, Berlinetta, and LeMans Coupe.

Touring Superleggera grew into a large-scale maker and builder of series production unibody cars by the 1960s. In addition, it continued to construct sports and GranTurismo cars for practically all of Europe’s major automakers.

When the Zeta Europe BV Group acquired the exclusive rights to the brand in 2006, the company underwent a substantial change in management.

The company was renamed Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera S.R.L. after the takeover. Despite this, it continues to operate from its headquarters in Milan. It now provides a variety of services, including automobile design, automobile engineering, coachbuilding, homologation, non-automotive industrial design, and historical vehicle restoration.

The Company’s Patents And Innovations

The ‘Superleggera’ body construction framework was Touring Superleggera’s most notable innovation. In the 1930s, this technique was partially used in the construction of airplane fuselages. Bianchi Anderloni, a touring automobile designer, saw the technique’s potential and improved it for use in a car body.

Touring patented this technology in 1936 after successful testing. A framework of thin hollow steel tubes was joined to the chassis using this approach. This enables the coachbuilder to install aluminum automobile body panels on a light but robust body structure.

Designers could readily plan any shape with this innovative tube framework, which was also efficient for aerodynamic design. Wind tunnel testing was another innovative technology borrowed from aircraft engineering by Touring Superleggera.

Touring pioneered the technology and developed their automobiles to effectively minimize drag problems. It is now used by all automobile manufacturers.

The Alfa Romeo Disco Volante is a modern example of the company’s outstanding designs, which were a result of its sophisticated aerodynamic research.

The Best Touring Superleggera Designs

Everything You Need To Know About Italian Coachbuilder Touring Superleggera

It’s difficult to choose the best Touring Superleggera design because the firm has been the apex of Italian car making grandeur for the past 95 years. However, some of the better designs would be chosen, beginning with Alfa Romeo vehicles.

The Disco Volante and 8C Touring Berlinetta, to be exact. The Aston Martin DB series, one of which became renowned after appearing in a James Bond film, is next on the list. The following one was very special, or should I say royal. Because this car was built for the Shah of Iran, Touring dubbed it the ‘Scia di Persia.’

Originally a Maserati 5000 GT, only 34 were constructed and Touring only built three, one of which was owned by its royal customer. Touring has collaborated with the majority of the world’s premier automakers, including Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin, since its inception.

Touring, on the other hand, has changed its business and is no longer a manufacturer of serial production vehicles. Instead, it only offers a hand in the creation of unique designs for private persons or produces limited-edition luxury automobiles.

The year 2021 is significant for Touring Superleggera since it marks the 95th anniversary of the company.

To commemorate this historic achievement, the business has already released two incredibly unique bespoke cars:

  1. the Aero 3 and
  2. the most current Arese RH95.

Unfortunately, just eighteen of the latter will be made to mark the occasion. With its latest automobiles, Touring has once again mesmerized the public with its amazing design abilities.

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