From a 1926 Milan workshop to Ferrari and Aston Martin bodies, the Superleggera method and a 2006 revival.
Carrozzeria Touring was a Milan coachbuilder founded in 1926 that became known for its Superleggera construction system. The firm wound up in 1966 and its name was revived in 2006. It is best remembered for elegant Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Aston Martin bodies.
Carrozzeria Touring was a Milan coachbuilder known for elegant bodywork and for the Superleggera construction method it patented. The firm was founded in 1926 and wound up in 1966, and its name returned in 2006 under new owners. Its reputation rests on bodies built for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Aston Martin and many other makers.
Who founded Carrozzeria Touring and when?
Carrozzeria Touring came into being in Milan on 25 March 1926, set up by Felice Bianchi Anderloni and Gaetano Ponzoni. The pair bought a controlling stake in Carrozzeria Falco and renamed it. Bianchi Anderloni handled styling and engineering, while Ponzoni looked after the business side.
Both founders were Milanese lawyers. Bianchi Anderloni had earlier been a test driver for Isotta Fraschini and had worked for Peugeot Italia, so he came to the trade as a car man rather than a builder. He learned the mechanics of coachbuilding as the firm progressed.
The workshop stood on Via Ludovico da Breme 65, close to the factories of Alfa Romeo, Citroen and Isotta Fraschini. Its first bodywork orders were for chassis from those manufacturers, which made sense given the location.
A tubular frame under thin alloy panels gave Touring its name and many of the most admired shapes of its era.
What was the Superleggera construction system?
Superleggera, meaning super lightweight, was a body structure built from small-diameter tubes that formed the shape, covered by thin alloy panels. Bianchi Anderloni patented the system in 1936. It gave Touring the freedom to build new body shapes quickly. The panels also strengthened the framework.
The idea grew out of earlier work with light alloy and fabric-covered tubing. Earlier still, Touring had obtained rights to Charles Weymann's fabric-covered frame design, an early step toward Superleggera. Its skills with those materials brought commercial success in aircraft production during the 1930s.
Giuseppe Seregni, who had earlier worked with Bianchi Anderloni on a 1927 Isotta Fraschini project, became the firm's first professional designer. Together the two men applied the method to a range of body shapes.
Which cars made Touring famous before the war?
Before the Second World War, Touring won fame for Superleggera bodies on the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 and the BMW 328 chassis. The first Touring Superleggera car at the Mille Miglia was an Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B in 1937. Both showed how light tubular structures could carry elegant, varied shapes.
The same frame could carry a range of body shapes, which is the practical reason the method spread so widely after the war. Pre-war work therefore ranged from road bodies to aircraft production, all built on the same lightweight skills.
Touring's early catalogue was long. The 1931 Flying Star cars included an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS, a Fiat 522C Roadster and an Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Spyder. A 1932 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8B and a 1939 BMW 328 Mille Miglia followed, showing the range of chassis the company was willing to dress.
How did Touring fare after the Second World War?
After the war Superleggera was widely licensed and copied, and business picked up quickly. In 1948 Felice Bianchi Anderloni passed away, and his son Carlo Felice, known as Cici, took charge with Ponzoni's guidance. Federico Formenti became chief designer, and the pair ran the firm until production stopped in 1966.
Ferrari work continued through the early 1950s. The 1948 166 S coupe known as Aerlux was followed by a 1950 275 S barchetta and a 1951 340 America berlinetta, all bodied by Touring. Each one used the Superleggera structure described earlier.
Formenti's first big commission was a body for a 166 MM barchetta that appeared in 1948. Its egg-crate grille became a signature Ferrari feature, and the carmaker still uses that grille today.
In the late 1950s the company was especially busy, with design and body work for Pegaso, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Lancia, Lamborghini and Maserati. The Aston Martin link was the most significant. David Brown asked Touring to design the successor to the DB2, and the DB4, DB5 and DB6 took their names from his initials.
Aston Martin built the design under licence at its Newton Pagnell plant, paying GBP 9 a body for the first 500 and GBP 5 for each one after that. The DB5 is the car famously driven by the fictional James Bond.
Other Touring-bodied cars in the company's list include the Hudson Italia of 1953, the Lagonda Rapide of 1961 to 1965, which Aston Martin built under licence, the Maserati 5000 GT Scia di Persia of 1959 to 1960 and the Sunbeam Venezia of 1963 to 1964.
Why did Carrozzeria Touring close in 1966?
Touring's business declined as carmakers replaced body-on-frame construction with monocoque designs and started building their own bodies. Coachbuilders had invested in new capacity to win that contract work, but market swings cost the firm its clients. The company wound up in 1966, although it never went bankrupt.
Carmakers needed a few thousand units a year before building bodies in-house made sense, so they had turned to coachbuilders for those volumes. Touring had only just finished its new plant at Nova Milanese when it lost its contractors.
The loss of archives came later in the process. Roughly 80% of the company's archives caught fire during the winding-up, which made the record of its production hard to rebuild.
Who preserved the Touring legacy after 1966?
Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni and Carrozzeria Marazzi kept the Touring Superleggera trademark after the company closed, using it on several occasions to support the firm's heritage. From 1995 Bianchi Anderloni also led a registry of Touring-bodied cars, which he built by getting in touch with every owner.
Designers named in the company's history include Matteo Gentile, Louis de Fabribeckers, Federico Formenti and Giuseppe Seregni, alongside the Bianchi Anderloni family.
Bianchi Anderloni also helped revive the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in 1995 and served as president of its jury until his death in 2003. The show's award in his honour recognises the most elegant Touring-bodied car on display.
What did the company do after its 2006 revival?
In 2006 a group of private investors bought the brand and trademarks, and a new company, Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera S.r.l., began operating in Milan. Its services cover car design and engineering, coachbuilding, homologation, design for non-car industries and restoration of older vehicles.
The revived firm showed its first concepts in 2008 at the Villa d'Este concours: a Bellagio Fastback built on the Maserati Quattroporte and an A8 GCS Berlinetta with Maserati running gear. Later projects included the Bentley Continental Flying Star, a shooting brake shown at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show with Bentley's endorsement.
The Gumpert Tornante of 2011 was a superfast grand tourer built for a German sports car maker. In 2012 the company showed a static model on an Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione space frame, a tribute to the 1952 C52 Disco Volante. That style model led to the 2013 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante by Touring, a bespoke limited series of eight units.
The 2013 Disco Volante won that year's Design Award at the Villa d'Este concours. In 2014 the MINI Superleggera Vision, an electric roadster concept, was revealed in collaboration with BMW Group. MINI's design chief Anders Warming and the Touring team combined their groups to explore new design directions for the British brand.
The 2015 Touring Berlinetta Lusso was a street-legal two-seat coupe based on the Ferrari F12berlinetta, built in 5 units. Its body combined hand-beaten aluminium with carbon fibre, as all modern Touring models do. The Aero3 of 2020 had a prominent rear fin, and the Arese RH95 of 2021 marked Touring's 95th anniversary as its first mid-engined design.
The company kept producing limited series after 2013. In 2016 a Disco Volante Spyder was built on the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider, and the 2017 Artega Scalo Superelletra was a concept car. The Sciadipersia came in 2018 as a limited run on the Maserati GranTurismo, with a cabriolet version on the GranCabrio in 2019.
The Superleggera Veloce12 appeared at Monterey Car Week in 2024. It is a grand tourer with a limited run, based on the Ferrari 550 Maranello, and production was planned at 30 cars.
Selected Touring cars and projects
The table lists one car or project from each stage of the company's story, so the range of its work is easy to follow.
| Year | Model or project | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B | First Touring Superleggera car at the Mille Miglia |
| 1948 | Ferrari 166 MM Touring barchetta | Formenti's first major project; egg-crate grille |
| 1959-1962 | Aston Martin DB4 | Built under licence by Aston Martin |
| 1963-1965 | Aston Martin DB5 | Built under licence; famously driven by James Bond |
| 2013 | Alfa Romeo Disco Volante by Touring | Bespoke limited series of eight units; Villa d'Este Design Award |
| 2015 | Touring Berlinetta Lusso | Based on the Ferrari F12berlinetta; 5 units |
| 2020 | Touring Superleggera Aero3 | Prominent rear fin; based on the Ferrari F12 |
| 2021 | Touring Superleggera Arese RH95 | First mid-engined design; six variations |
| 2024 | Superleggera Veloce12 | Based on the Ferrari 550 Maranello; 30 cars planned |
Which awards did Touring cars win?
The awards list begins in 1931, when the Isotta Fraschini 8B spider Flying Star won the Coppa d'Oro at Villa d'Este. Touring-bodied cars went on to collect Best of Show honours at several of the world's leading concours.
In 2008 a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta took Best of Show at Pebble Beach. In 2015 the 1949 Ferrari 166MM Barchetta won Best of Show, chosen by public vote, at the Villa d'Este. In 1932 an 8C 2300 Coupe Spyder Touring had taken the Coppa d'Oro at the same concours.
In 2012 a 1950 Ferrari 166MM Barchetta won Best of Show at Salon Prive, and a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B took Best of Show at the Windsor Castle Concours that same year. A 1966 Lamborghini 350 earned best in class at Amelia Island in 2013.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the current Touring company based?
The current firm is headquartered near Milan, the family's home city. Its work spans design, engineering and restoration, and it keeps the Touring name alive in the Italian coachbuilding world.
What is the Touring Superleggera registry?
It is the record of Touring-bodied cars that Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni began building after the company closed. He began leading it in 1995.
How many Berlinetta Lusso cars were planned?
The Berlinetta Lusso was planned as a series of 5 units, built on the Ferrari F12 platform.
How many Superleggera Veloce12 cars were planned?
The Superleggera Veloce12 was shown at Monterey Car Week in 2024. Production was planned at 30 cars.
What was the Flying Star name?
Flying Star was the name given to a group of Touring-bodied 1930s cars, including the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS and the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Spyder.
What was the Aero3 rear fin inspired by?
The Aero3, introduced in 2020, has a prominent rear fin that echoes a streamlined berlinetta of the 1930s, notably the 8C 2900B Berlinetta Speciale Le Mans.
