Superleggera (translation: super light) is an automobile chassis construction technology developed by Felice Bianchi Anderloni of Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring. 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.[1] 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 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, 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., the modern incarnation of the firm that patented the system in 1936.
Carrozzeria Touring licensed the superleggera construction system to Aston Martin, who designed and manufactured superleggera chassis for the DB4 and DB5.[2][3] Several other manufacturers created automobiles that utilized Carozzeria Touring's superleggera chassis construction technology. Notable examples include: