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Each year the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa
d'Este chooses a 'featured marque' and this
year it was the turn of Touring Superleggera
and the manicured lawns yesterday were
festooned with stylish offerings drawn from
its rich history. |
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Over the
weekend the splendid grounds of the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este
and Villa Erba in Cernobbio on Lake Como were once again
transformed into a unique backdrop for the most beautiful
cars from eras past and the most flamboyant concept cars of
today. First staged in 1929 at this same location, the
Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este today ranks as the world’s
most tradition-steeped event of its kind.
After the
event opening on Saturday for invited guests, yesterday
(Sunday) saw the Concorso offering all car fans another
chance to experience these dreams on wheels in the adjoining
parkland of Villa Erba.
Each year
the Concorso chooses a 'featured marque' and this year it
was the turn of Touring Superleggera. With the official
relaunch of the historic Italian carrozzeria by new owners'
Zeta Europe BV taking place at the same time, the lawns of
Villa Erba yesterday were festooned with Touring
Superleggera offerings drawn from throughout its rich
history.
Founded in
March 1926 by Anderloni and Ponzoni, Touring used 'Falco',
a company founded and run by the brother of Antonio
Ascari, as a basis. Initially making cars using the
principles developed by Weymann, they used the chassis'
from Alfa Romeo, Itala and Lancia cars. Fame came in
1932 when an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 spider with a body by
Touring won the Mille Miglia. In 1937 the name 'Superleggera'
was added, reflecting their now famous method of
constructing the body using a latticework of small
diameter steel tubes clothed in Aluminium panels.
During the Fascist regime, the name was changed to 'Turinga'
(to deanglicize it), but reverted to Touring after the
war. During the war they produced a number of less well
known cars based on the Fiat 1100, including the 1100
Spyder Superleggero Sport Nazionale for Ercole Boratto,
the personal driver of Mussolini.
Following the onset of peace the production continued at
a relatively high volume and included some of their most
famous products including those based on the Alfa Romeo
6C2500 (such as the Villa d'Este) and later 1900
(Sprint), Ferrari 166 and others. Noteable cars produced
also include the Disco Volante, Maserati 3500GT,
Lamborghini 350GTV and Lancia Flaminia convertible. They
also built a Fiat 124 convertible. Unfortunately
financial problems led to the company being placed in
receivership in 1964 with production ceasing in January
1967. Since its closure abortive attempts have been made
to revive the name before Zeta Europe BV bought the
rights two years ago.
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