Touring Superleggera – Driven To Write

Il Designer Dimenticato

The secretive nature of a car designer’s job makes it very difficult to give credit where it’s due, to the point that actual authors of celebrated design icons often remain unknown, even among enthusiasts.

1948 Ferrari scale drawing: The signature of Federico Formenti is clearly visible (c. Petrolicious)

This sad, age-old state of affairs is particularly unfair in the case of Federico Formenti, quite possibly the greatest car designer you’ve never heard of. While the mention of the name “Carrozzeria Touring” is likely to send most car enthusiast’s minds fantasizing about graceful, elegant mid-20th Century cars, it’s far less likely said enthusiast will know that those timeless beauties were mostly designed by one man.

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Can We Really Stand In Silence? Oh, We Can My Love

Recently we posted an article about a concept car from GFG Design and we didn’t much like it. So, asked reader Adrian Tebby, what do we like? And why?

2012 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante: Touring Superleggera

Even if this article might end up being a bit of a restatement, we might get to extract some general attributes of a worthwhile design. I have taken a little while to think about recent cars so if they are here again they can be judged in a broader context and over a longer time. In a sense this article is a “best of” the concept designs we’ve been writing about for the last few years.

The Alfa Romeo by Touring Superleggera of 2012 is the first example that we swivel around to and face head on. That 2012 is now a bit of a while back is not that important so much as it was the first car to Continue reading “Can We Really Stand In Silence? Oh, We Can My Love”

Geneva 2017 – Artega Scala Superelletra

In the halls of Geneva, resurrection man Robertas Parazitas meets two more restless souls.

Artega Scalo Superelletra. Image: autovia-media

Death, it has been observed here before, has a revolving door in the automotive world. In recent years we have observed the return of Singer, Borgward and Alpine. (In the case of the first I can’t see much of the spirit of the plucky Coventry firm, but the workmanship puts the last Chamoises and Gazelles to shame) Continue reading “Geneva 2017 – Artega Scala Superelletra”

Uncertain Smile

In 2008 Touring Superleggera showed their reimagining of the 2003 Maserati Quattroporte, the Bellagio.

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Jalopnik calls it station wagon while Superleggera call it a fastback. I would call it a hatchback. All they needed to do to get it precisely in tune with our vexing Zeitgeist is to add 10 cm to the ride height and jam in a 4wd system. That is a distracting comment. As it stands, Superleggera have managed to respectfully turn the very nice Mk V Quattrporte into a believable semi-estate car. Should we tag it “is now” or “was then”? The car is still listed at Superleggera’s website. Other sources (ahem) say four have been built – which is somewhat fewer than I would expect given the general excellence of the basic car, the skill of Superleggera and the allure of the Touring name. While there are not many new cars I’d like to own, I could think of things Touring Superleggera could do to Continue reading “Uncertain Smile”

Parallel Universe Levante – 2

Once you cross a Rubicon, there’s no going back. Maserati probably had little choice but to go crossover, but they weren’t without options. Last week we looked at one. Here’s another.

50% of Bellagio production right there. Image:automotive.com

I think it’s universally agreed most things sound better in Italian. In fact I’d be prepared to wager even the Italian for enema sounds vaguely appealing. A personal favourite however is the Italian term for coachbuilder – carrozzeria. For me it conjures faded monochrome images of artisans hand beating aluminium sheet into something far lovelier than was strictly necessary. Most carrozzerie’s created memorable work, but Touring Superleggera’s back-catalogue of innovative design, spanned from the 1930’s and some of the most significant body shapes created for manufacturers like Bristol, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Jensen, Aston Martin and Maserati. Continue reading “Parallel Universe Levante – 2”

It Exists

As a blog with a bit of design focus, it’s always a pleasure to show something that’s interesting and good….

…and not complain about it. First, I was unaware that Touring Superleggera were still in business. I was not paying attention. With a badge as evocative as theirs I’d be falling over myself to find an excuse to put it on a production car if I was a major manufacturer. Second, this car is lovely in its own right and is vastly better than the car it’s based on. The squared-off wheel arches are nicely handled and I like the flat top to the front arch. Bonus points accrue for that colour blue they chose. Continue reading “It Exists”