One to Buy: 1 owner Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione Touring Disco Volante C52 Edition
40 years after the original company was wound up, the renowned Italian coachbuilding outfit Touring of Milan was revived by a group of investors.
The first products to emerge under new ownership arrived two years later at the 2008 Villa d’Este Concours d’Elegance: the Maserati Bellagio Fastback (a handsome four-door Station Wagon conversion of the Quattroporte) and the A8 GCS Berlinetta (a design concept built on Maserati underpinnings). Officially endorsed Bentley and Gumpert-based products subsequently emerged in 2010 and 2011, after which Touring premiered their Disco Volante at the 2012 Geneva Motoro Show.
Constructed on Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione underpinnings, the Disco Volante was an homage to Alfa’s C52 racing car of 1952 which Touring had famously clothed in striking Spyder and Berlinetta trim. With its other worldly appearance, the C52 had been nicknamed Disco Volante or Flying Saucer in English.
Currently on offer with RM Sotheby’s Private Sales department out of Nara, Japan, is a single owner 8C-based Disco Volante: chassis ‘42956’.
Commissioned by the car’s one and only owner and completed by Touring in 2018, chassis ‘42956’ was configured in the same Rosso paint as the C52 of 1952 along with matching period, grille treatment, emblems and motifs. Inside, the car is trimmed in black leather with red detailing plus a brown leather-trimmed steering wheel to mimic the effect of a wooden steering wheel. As a result of its one-off features, chassis ‘42956’ was uniquely dubbed the C52 Edition.
Upon completion, the car (which currently shows 11,600km, 5200km of which has been covered since conversion) was displayed at the 2018 Kyoto Concours d’Elegance.
Reprinted below is RM Sotheby’s description:
Chassis No. ZAR92000000042956
Single ownership and less than 11,600 km from new
One-off C52 Edition’ featuring unique grille design and paintwork, built to celebrate the original C52 Disco Volante
One of Touring’s most celebrated modern designs
While coachbuilding was at its height in the pre-war era, it has experienced a renaissance in the 21st century, led by some of the same pioneering design houses that brought such incredible cars to life in the past. Pininfarina, Zagato, Italdesign, and in the case of the car offered here, Carrozzeria Touring, have all pushed automotive design into the future while seeking to celebrate their respective histories.
Carrozzeria Touring’s modern Alfa Romeo Disco Volante was inspired by the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante of 1952. The first Alfa Romeo built with a monocoque body shell chassis, the original Disco Volante tipped the scales at just 735 kilograms, allowing the 158 bhp 1900 Sprint engine to propel it to a top speed of over 220 km/h.
Five cars were built, all initially built as Spiders, but just one car was rebodied as a coupe. Touring themselves argue that the first Disco Volante is one of their most important designs, and one that influenced not only their own design language, but the work of many designers to follow.
Looking to refresh their 1950s design for the modern era, the 8C Competizione was an obvious base for a new Disco Volante, as this was Alfa Romeo’s highest-performance car for a generation.
Breaking cover in 2012 at the Geneva Motor Show, the Disco Volante received near universal acclaim. It is thought that no more than ten coupes were built, with each example being unique. Keeping up with their rich traditions, each car’s bodywork was made of hand-beaten aluminium panels. Inside, Touring reupholstered the interior, creating their own distinctive flair, awash in leather, aluminium, and carbon fibre.
Like the coachbuilt cars of yesterday, Touring took the Disco Volante to numerous concours d'elegance where its design was widely acclaimed, winning its class at the 2016 Zoute Grand Prix Concours d’Elegance, Best of Show at the 2014 Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille Concours d’Etat, and the Design Award for Concept Cars & Prototypes by Public Referendum at the 2013 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.
This example here was commissioned by the current owner and completed in 2018.
Using a donor 8C Competizione with 6,300 km on the odometer, the car was built to unique specifications and dubbed the ‘C52 Special Edition’. Finished in stunning Rosso paintwork to match the original C52 Disco Volante, the car sports Alfa Romeo emblems from 1952 (rather than the modern emblems used on an 8C Competizione), a cross motif over the grille, painted Quadrifoglio logos on the front ¾ panels, matte carbon, and the rear window has been replaced with a black cover. Inside, the car is trimmed in black leather with red detailing, as well as a brown leather-trimmed steering wheel to visually mimic a wooden steering wheel.
A keen enthusiast, the owner did not shy away from using his brand new, one-off coachbuilt Alfa Romeo as its manufacturers intended, and today it has been driven just under 11,600 km from new, approximately 5,200 of which was accrued following the completion of Touring’s work.
Upon arriving to Japan in Touring guise, the car was shown at the Concorso d’Eleganza Kyoto in 2018 to great fanfare. Later that year, it was used in the Japanese leg of the Gumball 3000, starting in Osaka, passing through Kyoto, and finishing in Tokyo.
A spectacular reimagining of Alfa Romeo’s celebrated 21st century supercar, the Disco Volante combines spectacular craftsmanship and style with modern performance. A surefire head-turner wherever it goes, the Disco Volante is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular automotive designs of the 21st century.
For more information visit the RM Sotheby’s website at: https://rmsothebys.com/
