Touring Superleggera celebrates its 90th birthday in Turin

Turin might be more commonly associated with Bertone and Pininfarina, but from 22 September 2016, Touring Superleggera will invade the city. To celebrate the Carrozzeria’s 90th anniversary, a large exhibition will be held at the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile…

Founded by Felice Bianchi Anderloni and Gaetano Ponzoni in Milan in 1926, during the golden era of coach building, Touring was one of the first Italian companies to clothe an automobile. It was famous for its elegant and well-proportioned lightweight bodies, which used an aluminium skin atop a tubular frame, and bore the evocative Superleggera name. “Weight is the enemy, and aerodynamic resistance the hurdle,” declared the gifted designer Anderloni. As the coach-built body craze came to an end in the 1960s, so Touring wound down its operations and eventually closed. In 2006, however, the brand was revived, and today produces limited edition Superleggera sports cars adhering to the classic design principles once again.

Now the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile is allowing the public to travel back through the history of Carrozzeria Touring. “We decided to show a selection of cars that illustrate our adaptation of the developments of automotive history,” comments Touring’s current design chief Louis de Fabribeckers. “Again and again, our designs were far ahead of their time.” In addition to the 11 exhibited cars – which include milestones such as the BMW 328 Berlinetta Aerodynamic Touring, the ex-Giovanni Agnelli Ferrari 166 Sport MM (a car Classic Driver had the privilege of shooting last year), an Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 ‘Villa d’Este’ and the legendary Aston Martin DB5 – the show will also feature unpublished photographs, interviews, original drawings and models. Visitors will also be offered a glimpse into the future of hand-crafted collectors’ cars, with four of Touring’s modern designs.