Page 1 of 2 Next >> For over forty years, Touring of Milan was one of Italy's leading carrozzerie, building elegant and lightweight coachwork for the likes of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. One of the company's main strengths was the patented Superleggera construction method, consisting of a steel tubular subframe, onto which the aluminium body panels were fitted. The result was a body that was both very light and also much stronger than conventional aluminium bodies.
By the mid-1960s, advances in automotive design, specifically the ever increasing popularity of the unitary body, had a devastating effect on the customer numbers of specialist companies like Touring. Among Touring's last big customers was Lamborghini, who entrusted the construction of the 350 GT and subsequent 400 GT bodies to the Milanese company. In 1965, however, Lamborghini revealed the Miura rolling chassis at the Turin Motor Show and instead of commissioning Touring to cloth it, invited all of Italy's carrozzerie to send in proposals.
A very traditional company, Touring were not quite ready to design and build a body for the sophisticated, mid-engined Miura, and instead hastily constructed a potential 400 GT replacement for the 1966 Turin Motor Show. Considering the dire financial state of the company, this was very much a make-or-break project. Touring pulled out all the stops and even revived the 'Flying Star' moniker. This had been previously used during the 1930s for a design fitted on various chassis, most famously on a white Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport, first shown at the 1931 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. Page 1 of 2 Next >>
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4000 GT Touring Flying Star II
For over forty years, Touring of Milan was one of Italy's leading carrozzerie, building elegant and lightweight coachwork for the likes of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. One of the company's main strengths was the patented Superleggera construction method, consisting of a steel tubular subframe, onto which the aluminium body panels were fitted. The result was a body that was both very light and also much stronger than conventional aluminium bodies.