type private fate production ceased 1966 production resumed 2008 predecessor carrozzeria falco owned by vittorio ascari older brother of race driver antonio founded milan italy march 25 1926 1926 03 25 founder felice bianchi anderloni gaetano ponzoni vittorio ascari headquarters terrazzano di rho milan italy area served worldwide products bentley continental flying star by touring alfa romeo disco volante by touring touring berlinetta lusso services automotive design coachbuilding engineering homologation non automotive industrial design restoration of classic cars website www.touringsuperleggera.eu original carrozzeria touring badge later badge design carrozzeria touring superleggera is an automobile coachbuilder established on 25 march 1926 in milan italy by felice bianchi anderloni 1882 1948 and gaetano ponzoni . carrozzeria touring became well known for both the beauty of its designs and patented superleggera construction methods . 1 after achieving success through the middle of the 20th century business began to decline as automobile manufacturers replaced body on frame automobile construction with monocoque construction and increasingly took coachbuilding in house . the original firm ceased production in 1966 but carlo felice bianchi anderloni and carrozzeria marazzi preserved the touring superleggera trademark and used it on several occasions to support the company s heritage . the trademark was purchased by the current owner a family business which resumed business activities in 2006 under the name carrozzeria touring superleggera s.r.l. ; the firm is headquartered nearby milan its hometown . contents 1 history 1.1 carrozzeria falco becomes carrozzeria touring 1.2 early work 1.3 development of the superleggera construction system 1.4 post wwii activities 1.5 contract manufacturing 1.6 legacy 2 21st century 3 list of touring cars 4 awards 5 references 6 external links history edit carrozzeria falco becomes carrozzeria touring edit carrozzeria touring traces its roots to the 1926 purchase of a controlling interest in the milan based coachbuilder carrozzeria falco by milanese lawyers felice bianchi anderloni 1882 1948 and gaetano ponzoni from carrozeria falco s founder vittorio ascari . the new owners changed the name of the firm to carrozzeria touring . bianchi anderloni a former test driver for isotta fraschini and peugeot italia employee assumed styling and engineering duties while ponzoni assumed responsibility for administration of the firms business activities . 2 early work edit carrozzeria touring s location at via ludovico da breme 65 placed the coachbuilder in close proximity to automobile manufacturers alfa romeo citro n and isotta fraschini . predictably touring s first bodywork assignments were for chassis produced by these companies . 2 development of the superleggera construction system edit bianchi anderloni came to touring more as an automobile designer than a car constructor and learned the mechanics of the trade as the company progressed . the company licensed charles weymann s system of fabric covered lightweight frames a predecessor of their own superleggera construction system . touring hired giuseppe seregni who previously collaborated with bianchi anderloni on the 1927 isotta fraschini flying star as carrozzeria touring s first professional designer . touring s skills with light alloy and fabric covered tubing forms brought commercial success in aircraft production in the 1930s leading bianchi anderloni to develop the superleggera construction system patented in 1936 . this super lightweight system consists of a structure of small diameter tubes to form the body s shape with thin alloy panels attached to cover and strengthen the framework . aside from light weight the superleggera construction system gave great flexibility allowing touring to quickly construct innovative body shapes . in 1937 at mille miglia alfa romeo 6c 2300b was the first appearance of a touring car built with the superleggera system . 1938 alfa romeo 8c 2900 mille miglia from the ralph lauren collection prior to world war ii touring gained fame for their superleggera bodies particularly those made for the alfa romes 8c 2900 and the bmw 328 chassis . post wwii activities edit the company quickly re energized after the war with the superleggera system widely licensed and copied . felice bianchi anderloni died in 1948 and his son carlo felice cici bianchi anderloni 1916 2003 took over management of the firm under the guidance of ponzoni . the two would remain in charge of the firm until the company discontinued production in 1966 . cici s first major project was to create a body for the ferrari 166 mille miglia touring barchetta which debuted in 1948 . automotive design critic robert cumberford has referred to the body design for the 166 as one of the most charismatic shapes ever . the egg crate grill of the 166 became a signature ferrari design element and is still in use by ferrari today . 3 touring was particularly active late in the late 50s with design and body production for the pegaso z 102 alfa romeo 1900 super sprint alfa romeo 2600 aston martin db4 lancia flaminia gt lamborghini 350 lamborghini 400 gt and maserati 3500 gt . the aston martin db4 the db5 famously driven by fictional character james bond and the db6 were named after david brown s initials . he entrusted touring superleggera to design their next generation gt after the introduction of the successful db2 . the license agreement enabled aston martin to use the design and the superleggera construction method at newton pagnell plant against a licence fee of 9 for each of the first 500 bodies and 5 for each further unit . contract manufacturing edit touring s fortunes began to decline as automobile manufacturers replaced body on frame construction with monocoque construction . the carmakers began to build their own bodies in their production lines . however they were not able to produce less than a few thousand units yearly . therefore they decided to assign the body production to coachbuilders . this led coachbuilders to invest in additional manufacturing capacity . once touring superleggera had the new plant in nova milanese completed market fluctuation caused the loss of contractors . the company had to wind up in 1966 although bankruptcy never occurred . legacy edit during the winding up roughly the 80 % of touring superleggera s archives caught fire . the documents included precious information carlo felice bianchi anderloni cherished the most . therefore he devoted considerable energy to get in touch with every owner with the aim of reconstructing the missing information . he started the touring superleggera registry leading it from 1995 on . the credit for the success belongs to carlo felice bianchi anderloni who devoted considerable energy to rebuild the touring superleggera s archives that caught fire during the winding up . thanks to his efforts spent in chasing every owner he managed to retrieve precious information for future reference . he led the touring registry from 1995 on . in 1995 he contributed to the revival of concorso d eleganza villa d este he served as the president of the jury till 2003 time of his death . after 2003 the show began to award the carlo felice bianchi anderloni memorial trophy to the most elegant car with a body by touring . 4 21st century edit in 2006 a group of private investors specializing in high end automotive makes bought the brand and trademarks from the late owner . a newly created firm carrozzeria touring superleggera s.r.l. was established in milan to provide automotive design engineering coachbuilding homologation services non automotive industrial design and restoration of historic vehicles . 5 the new firm has shown several notable projects . at the 2008 concorso d eleganza villa d este touring debuted the bellagio fastback touring based on the maserati quattroporte and the a8 gcs berlinetta touring a concept car powered by a maserati drivetrain . 6 at the 2010 geneva motor show touring bentley continental flying star premiered a shooting brake model based on the bentley continental gtc 7 coach built in limited series with the endorsement of bentley . 8 in 2011 it was followed by gumpert tornante by touring 9 a superfast grand tourer commissioned by the german sports car manufacturer . alfa romeo disco volante at 2012 geneva motorshow on the stage of 2012 geneva motor show touring superleggera showcased a static style model based on the space frame chassis of the alfa romeo 8c competizione . it was a tribute to the c52 disco volante a racing car with touring superleggera design body introduced in 1952 . the name in italian stands for flying saucer . it represents one of the most iconic cars of the history of automobile . the disco volante was very streamlined windtunnel tested and with the body built on a tubular space frame . the c52 alfa romeo disco volante shocked the crowd for its utterly out of the ordinary design influencing the automobile design for decades . the style model gave birth in 2013 to the alfa romeo disco volante by touring 10 a bespoke car limited series of eight units that won the design award at concorso d eleganza villa d este the very same year . revealed in 2014 mini superleggera vision is a concept car created in collaboration with bmw group . it is an electric roadster blending british style with the italian coachbuilding tradition . anders warming head of mini design and touring superleggera merged their teams to explore new design languages for the british brand . 11 12 the touring berlinetta lusso appeared in 2015 . it is a street legal 2 seater coupe featuring a three volume form based on ferrari f12berlinetta . like all modern touring superleggera models it combines hand beaten aluminium panels with carbon fibre . the series will be built in 5 units . 13 touring superleggera bespoke activity is one of a kind as the development cycle of touring superleggera encompasses every stage under the same roof from design to manufacturing of street legal validated cars and the restoration of classic cars . touring superleggera meets a growing demand of personalization and exclusiveness beyond the limits of the large scale series production . advances techniques help accelerating design and testing on parts accessories and systems . craftsmen are supported by computer technology tooling and modern processes . list of touring cars edit touring bodied alfa romeo 6c2300b bmw 328 touring coup pegaso z 102 bs 3.2 competition touring spyder c. 1952 maserati 5000 gt sci di persia 1959 1930s alfa romeo 8c 1939 bmw 328 mille miglia 1940s alfa romeo 6c 2500 1940 auto avio costruzioni 815 1948 ferrari 166 inter coup 1948 1953 ferrari 166 mm coup and barchetta 47 made 1950s alfa romeo 1900 ss 1950s pegaso z 102 1950s bristol 401 1950 ferrari 195 inter coup 1951 1952 ferrari 212 inter coup 1952 ferrari 340 mm spider 1952 alfa romeo disco volante c52 1952 1958 pegaso z 102 1953 hudson italia 1959 1962 lancia flaminia gt gtl and convertible 1956 aston martin db2 4 mark ii spider 3 produced 1957 1962 maserati 3500 gt coup 1959 1960 maserati 5000 gt sci di persia 1960s alfa romeo 2000 and alfa romeo 2600 convertible 1960s o.s.c.a. 1600 gt and 1050 spider 1965 autobianchi primula coup 1959 1962 aston martin db4 built under license by aston martin 1963 1965 aston martin db5 built under license by aston martin 1959 1971 aston martin db6 built under license by aston martin 1961 1965 lagonda rapide built under license by aston martin 1963 1964 sunbeam venezia 1964 1966 alfa romeo giulia sprint gtc 1964 fiat 124 cabriolet one prototype 1964 1966 lamborghini 350 gt 1966 1968 lamborghini 400 gt 1966 1976 jensen interceptor 2008 maserati bellagio fastback estate car based on the quattroporte 2009 maserati a8gcs berlinetta prototype berlinetta based on the maserati gransport 2010 bentley continental flying star shooting brake 2011 gumpert tornante prototype based on the gumpert apollo 2012 disco volante 2012 concept car 2013 ongoing alfa romeo disco volante by touring limited series based on the alfa romeo 8c competizione 2014 mini superleggera vision concept car 14 2015 ongoing touring berlinetta lusso coup based on the ferrari f12berlinetta 15 2016 ongoing