Superleggera (Italian for ''Superlight'') is a custom tube and alloy panel

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

coachwork A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, motor coaches, and railway carriages. The word ...

construction technology developed by Felice Bianchi Anderloni of Italian

coachbuilder A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, Coach (bus), motor coaches, and passenger car (rai ...

Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera is an Italian automobile coachbuilder. Originally established in Milan in 1925, Carrozzeria Touring became well known for both the beauty of its designs and patented superleggera construction methods. The b ...

. A separate

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

was still required. 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 steel 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 tubes were brazed to shape on a jig and the panels were then fitted over this. The panels are only attached at their edges, mostly by

swaging Swaging () is a forging process in which the dimensions of an item are altered using Die (manufacturing), dies into which the item is forced. Swaging is usually a cold working process, but also may be hot working, hot worked. The term swage ma ...

the panel edges over angle-section strips on the steel framework. Most of the panel has no rigid or metal-to-metal contact with the framework, it merely rests on it, with the tubes wrapped in hessian or with a rubber spacer. The superleggera system was primarily based on the use of '

Duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age hardening, age-hardenable aluminium–copper alloys. The term is a combination of ''Düren'' and ''aluminium'' ...

', a material that originated in the

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155� ...

industry prior to World War I. The company was located just north of Milan, near

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...

, Italian

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

, and the former

Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer, also producing trucks, as well as engines for marine and aviation use. Founded in Milan, Italy, in 1900 by Cesare Isotta and the brothers Vincenzo, Antonio, and Oreste Fraschini, in 195 ...

plant. The first superleggera bodyworks were made for these companies. In England after World War II, the alloy

Birmabright Birmabright is a trade name of the former Birmetals Co. (Birmabright works in Clapgate Lane, Quinton, Birmingham, UK) for various types of lightweight sheet metal in an aluminium–magnesium alloy. The alloy was introduced by the Birmid Group in ...

was used, as it was stiffer in thin sheets and more widely available. The superleggera system is no longer used in specialty automobile production for a number of reasons. Primarily, a superleggera body cannot meet modern impact resistance standards, and the cost of manufacture and

galvanic corrosion Galvanic corrosion (also called bimetallic corrosion or dissimilar metal corrosion) is an electrochemical process in which one metal corrodes preferentially when it is in electrical contact with another, different metal, when both in the prese ...

between the aluminum body panels and the steel tubular frame are also prohibitive factors. Additionally, the frame tubes used to construct a superleggera body are too small and of unsuitable material for mounting suspension components, so a chassis is required, a disadvantage not found in

unibody A vehicle frame, also historically known as its ''chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car had ...

and other chassis systems. Car makers such as

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, which had aircraft industry experience, were more successful in countering galvanic corrosion than other manufacturers. Bristol introduced Superleggera construction on the Bristol 401 of 1948. ''Superleggera'' is a trademark owned by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera s.r.l., 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 Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

, which designed and manufactured superleggera bodywork for the DB4 and DB5. Several other manufacturers created automobiles using Carrozzeria Touring's superleggera construction technology. Notable examples include: * Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Mille Miglia * Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint *

Alfa Romeo 2600 The Alfa Romeo 2600 (Tipo 106) was Alfa Romeo´s six-cylinder flagship produced from 1962 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 a straight-six e ...

* Aston Martin DB4, DB5 and

Lagonda Rapide The Lagonda Rapide is a hand built full-sized luxury four-door grand tourer which was produced by Aston Martin from 1961 until 1964. Description Based on the Aston Martin DB4, it was David Brown's attempt to revive the Lagonda marque which ...

BMW 328 The BMW 328 was a sports car produced by BMW from 1936 to 1940. Its body design is credited to Peter Szymanowski, who became BMW chief of design after World War II (although technically the car was designed by Fritz Fiedler). Specifications Aw ...

Touring Roadster'' *

Bristol Cars Bristol Cars was a British manufacturer of hand-built luxury cars headquartered in Bristol, Bristol, England. It was formed from the car division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company after the World War II, Second World War and later became indepe ...

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

s 166, 195, 212 and 340 models * Lamborghini 350 GT * Lancia Flaminia GT, GTL and Convertibile * Maserati 3500 GT * Pegaso Z-102

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{Cite book , title=Cars of the Year: Bristol , work=

The Motor ''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine founded on 28 January 1903 and published by Temple Press. It was initially launched as ''Motorcycling and Motoring'' in 1902 before the title was shortened. From the 14 ...

Yearbook , editor1=Laurence Pomeroy , editor-link=Laurence Pomeroy , editor2=Rodney Walkerley , publisher=Temple Press , year=1949 Automotive chassis types

Notable automobiles

See also

References