Thursday, March 8, 2012

Touring Superleggera Celebrates 1950s Alfa Romeo Disco Volante with 8C-Based Concept [Geneva Auto Show]

Touring Superleggera Disco Volante 2012

Among the most celebrated and unique designs to emerge from storied Italian design house Carrozzeria Touring are the 1950s Alfa Romeo 1900–based Disco Volantes. The name literally means "flying saucer"—perfectly suited for cars so wide, low-slung, and visually striking. A single open-topped car and two coupes were created; it is the latter body style that the modern firm Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera honors with this concept, the Disco Volante 2012. (The builder resurrected the Touring name in 2006, four decades after the original company ceased operations.)

Alfa Romeo Disco Volante

Building on the bones of the modern Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, the new Disco Volante is nine inches longer, five inches wider, and roughly the same height as the donor car. Weight distribution is claimed to be 49/51-percent front to rear. The concept features the modern Alfa's paddle-shifted, six-speed sequential manual as well as its 4.7-liter V-8. Output is reported as 444 hp and 347 lb-ft of torque, or in the ballpark of the production 8C. It makes sense, then, that estimated performance figures are similar, with the 0-to-62 mph sprint pegged at 4.2 seconds and top speed reported to be 181 mph.

The show car's exterior incorporates hand-beaten aluminum panels and carbon-fiber fascias, and the overall design is evocative of the original without being slavish to many details. Unlike the original, for example, this Disco wears no Alfa Romeo badging; the only connection to that brand is in the traditional grille opening, as even the center logos of the 8C wheels have been swapped for Touring pieces.  Both cars are raked forward, with their haunches in the air, but the more substantial Disco Volante 2012 is far less delicate. It's also more angular; where the original coupe is all curves, the latest Disco has many more hard edges. Touring has reinterpreted the fender skirting, too, revealing the rear wheels entirely and creating a hard, straight cut above the fronts; the character line that forms to top of the front wheel opening is a traditional Alfa cue, and this treatment brings to mind the Pininfarina-designed Alfa GTV/Spider of the late 1990s/early 2000s. The line exists on the original Disco Volantes, but the execution is softer and it's lower on the body.

Perhaps the coolest thing about this very cool car, though, is that Touring intends to produce them—so long as you provide the 8C. You'll also have to provide some patience, as the firm says that it will take eight months and 4000 hours of craftsman labor after delivery of the donor car before it emerges as a Disco Volante.

Touring Superleggera Disco Volante 2012

Touring Superleggera Disco Volante 2012 photo gallery



from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com




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