Superleggera
Encyclopedia
Superleggera is an automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 chassis
Chassis
A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...

 construction technology developed by Felice Bianchi Anderloni of Italian coachbuilder
Coachbuilder
A coachbuilder is a manufacturer of bodies for carriages or automobiles.The trade dates back several centuries. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards, Brewster a relative newcomer , formed in 1810. Others in Britain included...

 Carrozzeria Touring
Carrozzeria Touring
Carrozzeria Touring is an automobile coachbuilder established on March 25, 1926 in Milan, Italy by Felice Bianchi Anderloni and Gaetano Ponzoni...

. The company was located just north of Milan, near Alfa Romeo, Italian Citroen, and the former Isotta-Fraschini plant. First bodyworks were naturally made for these companies.

Touring licensed Charles Weymann's system of fabric-covered lightweight frames, which led to Touring’s own Superleggera construction.
Patented by Carrozzeria Touring in 1936, the superleggera system consists of a structural framework of small diameter tubes that conform to an automobile body's shape and are covered by thin alloy body panels that strengthen the framework. Aside from light weight, the superleggera construction system allows great design and manufacturing flexibility, enabling coachbuilders to quickly construct innovative body shapes.

The superleggera system was primarily based on the use of 'Duraluminium', a material that originated in the zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...

 industry prior to World War I.

The superleggera system is no longer used in volume automobile production for a number of reasons. Primarily, a superleggera chassis can not meet modern impact resistance standards, and the cost of manufacture and galvanic corrosion between the aluminum body panels and the steel tubular frame are also prohibitive factors. Additionally, the frame tubes used to construct a superleggera chassis are too small and of unsuitable material for mounting suspension components, a disadvantage not found in spaceframe and other chassis systems. Car makers such as Bristol
Bristol Cars
Bristol Cars is a manufacturer of hand-built luxury cars headquartered in Patchway, near Bristol, United Kingdom. Bristol have always been a low-volume manufacturer; the most recent published official production figures were for 1982, which stated that 104 cars were produced in that year...

, who had aircraft industry experience, were more successful in countering galvanic corrosion than other manufacturers.

Superleggera is a trademark owned by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera s.r.l.
Carrozzeria Touring
Carrozzeria Touring is an automobile coachbuilder established on March 25, 1926 in Milan, Italy by Felice Bianchi Anderloni and Gaetano Ponzoni...

, the modern incarnation of the firm that patented the system in 1936.

Notable automobiles

Carrozzeria Touring licensed the superleggera construction system to Aston Martin
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...

, who designed and manufactured superleggera chassis for the DB4 and DB5. Several other manufacturers created automobiles that utilized Carozzeria Touring's superleggera chassis construction technology. Notable examples include:

  • Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Mille Miglia
    Alfa Romeo 8C
    -1935 Monoposto 8C 35 Type C:Eight 3.8 litre versions, sharing no castings with the earlier blocks, were individually built for racing in five months, most being used in the Alfa Romeo Monoposto 8C 35 Type C, as raced by Scuderia Ferrari. The 3.8 produced at 5500 rpm, and had from...

  • Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint
    Alfa Romeo 1900
    The Alfa Romeo 1900 is a sports sedan designed by Orazio Satta for the Alfa Romeo company in 1950. It was Alfa Romeo's first car built entirely on a production line and was also Alfa's first production car without separate chassis and first Alfa offered with left-hand drive...

  • Alfa Romeo 2600
    Alfa Romeo 2600
    The Alfa Romeo 2600 was Alfa Romeo´s six-cylinder flagship produced from 1961 to 1968. It was the successor to the Alfa Romeo 2000. It has become historically significant as the last Alfa Romeo to have been fitted with an inline six-cylinder engine having twin overhead camshafts...

  • Aston Martin DB4
    Aston Martin DB4
    The DB4 is a sports car sold by Aston Martin from 1958 until 1963. It was an entirely different car from the DB Mark III it replaced, though the 3.7 L engine was externally visually related to the 2.9 L unit found in that car....

     and DB5
    Aston Martin DB5
    The Aston Martin DB5 is a luxury grand tourer that was made by Aston Martin. Released in 1963, it was an evolution of the final series of DB4. The DB series was named honouring David Brown ....

  • BMW 328
    BMW 328
    The BMW 328 is a sports car made by BMW between 1936 and 1940, with the body design credited to Peter Szymanowski, who became BMW chief of design after World War II ....

     Touring Roadster
  • Bristol Cars
    Bristol Cars
    Bristol Cars is a manufacturer of hand-built luxury cars headquartered in Patchway, near Bristol, United Kingdom. Bristol have always been a low-volume manufacturer; the most recent published official production figures were for 1982, which stated that 104 cars were produced in that year...

  • Ferrari
    Ferrari
    Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...

    s 166, 195, 212 and 340 models
  • Lamborghini 350GT
    Lamborghini 350GT
    The Lamborghini 350 GT was the first production vehicle produced by Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. Production started in May 1964, after its well-received debut at the March 1964 Geneva auto show...

  • Lancia Flaminia
    Lancia Flaminia
    The Lancia Flaminia is a luxury car from the Italian automaker, Lancia, built from 1957 to 1970. It was Lancia's flagship model at that time, replacing the Aurelia. It was available throughout its lifetime as saloon, coupé and cabriolet. The Flaminia coupé and cabriolet were coachbuilt cars with...

     Convertible
  • Pegaso Z-102
    Pegaso Z-102
    The Pegaso Z-102 was a sports car coupé produced in Spain between 1951 and 1958.-Background:Pegaso was an established company noted for its trucks and motor coaches, but also produced sports cars for seven years...

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