Superleggera (Italian for Superlight ) is a custom tube and alloy panel automobile coachwork construction technology developed by Felice Bianchi Anderloni of Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera . A separate chassis was still required.
12-406: 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,
24-666: 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. Carrozzeria Touring licensed the superleggera construction system to Aston Martin , 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: Charles Weymann Charles Terres Weymann (2 August 1889 – 1976)
36-434: The alloy Birmabright 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 between the aluminum body panels and the steel tubular frame are also prohibitive factors. Additionally,
48-528: The company in 1932. He maintained his interest in developing equipment for the automotive industry. In 1963 he obtained a patent for an automatic clutch but it did not meet with commercial success. Weymann returned to aviation with the engineer Georges Lepère and continued to design aircraft, such as the Weymann 66 and autogyros at Société des Avions C T Weymann . Weymann brought a Stutz DV16 Blackhawk team to Le Mans 1928 and they finished second in
60-419: 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 and other chassis systems. Car makers such as Bristol , which had aircraft industry experience, were more successful in countering galvanic corrosion than other manufacturers. Bristol introduced Superleggera construction on
72-523: 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 ', a material that originated in the Zeppelin industry prior to World War I. The company was located just north of Milan, near Alfa Romeo , Italian Citroën , and the former Isotta Fraschini plant. The first superleggera bodyworks were made for these companies. In England after World War II,
84-484: The late 1920s led to a demand for gloss painted bodies and the fabric market disappeared. A system was developed using metal panels with a similar flexible mounting allowing movement between panels. It was used on coachbuilt bodies but it did not suit the demands of mass-production. The French factory closed in 1930 followed by Indianapolis in 1931. The British plant had turned to the manufacture of bus bodies and survived (as Metro Cammell Weymann ) but Weymann resigned from
96-623: The race – to a Bentley. Metro Cammell Weymann Metro Cammell Weymann Ltd. (MCW) was a British bus manufacturer and bus body builder based at Washwood Heath in Birmingham , England. MCW was established in 1932 by Metro-Cammell 's bus bodybuilding division and Weymann Motor Bodies to produce bus bodies. MCW bus bodies were built in Metro-Cammell's and Weymann's factories until 1966 when Weymann's factory in Addlestone
108-444: 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 the panel edges over angle-section strips on the steel framework. Most of the panel has no rigid or metal-to-metal contact with
120-624: Was a Haitian-born early aeroplane racing pilot and businessman. During World War I he flew for Nieuport as a test pilot and was awarded the rank of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour . Weymann was born in Port-au-Prince , Haiti, on 2 August 1889 to an American father and Haitian mother.{{efn|It is said that Weymann's mother was Cornelie Miot, herself Haitian and daughter of Charles Miot and Lesinska Cecile Rivière, both Haitians. Lesinska Cecile Rivière (1829–1908), Charles's maternal grandmother,
132-461: Was closed (the Metro-Cammell and Weymann brand names were discontinued in the same year). From 1977 onward, MCW also built bus chassis. In 1989 the Laird Group decided to sell its bus and rail divisions. No buyer for all of the subdivisions could be found so each product was sold separately to various companies interested in its assets. The Metrorider was bought by Optare who relaunched it as
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#1732791257548144-591: Was the sister of Bienaimé "Mémé" Rivière, the richest person in Haiti at the time, who owned shipping lines among other things. After the war Charles Weymann used his knowledge of airframe manufacture to develop a system of making fabric bodies for road vehicles. He opened factories in Paris in 1921, London in 1923 and Indianapolis in 1928. The market for these grew enormously and Weymann licensed his system to many of Europe's most prestigious marques. A change of fashion in
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