Flying Stars, etc.

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-732 Jay Hinton mentions another Touring "Flying Star", "a design 
prototype built in 1965, for Lamborghini,  called a 400 GTV.  Not as 
successful as the first effort. A photo is available in Carrozzeria Touring, 
in Italian." 

My copy (English edition) dates "Flying Star II" a bit later, "built in 1966" 
but showing the design drawing dated 15 December 1966, which would have made 
it a pretty quick build. Some details (e.g. the gills on the front fender) 
bear comparison with the design studies for the Alfetta, which bears out 
Jay's thought that it is very interesting to compare the various studies the 
Italian firms put forth in their late years. But Flying Star II bears no more 
relation to Flying Star than a 1969 Alfa 1750 does to a 1929 Alfa 1750, or an 
Alfetta of the seventies to an Alfetta of the forties. All three would borrow 
glory from the past, with little or no real connection.

Zagato had very difficult times in the thirties, with bankruptcies, 
reorganizations, consultancies with new companies in the old premises, and 
had a less linear development than some other companies. Jay says "I think 
the greatest difference in the later years of these firms is that Zagato took 
aerodynamics far more seriously, with far sleeker compositions - -" I won't 
contest him on Zagato, but Pininfarina did several full-width aerodynamic 
bodies on Lancias in 1937 and 1938, and Touring did cleaner full-width 
aerodynamic bodies on Lancia, Fiat and Alfa in 1938. Boneschi, Savio, Viotti, 
all did full-width aerodynamics a decade before anything similar I can find 
from Zagato. I also suspect that Zagato did not have as much of an inside 
track with Alfa's management as Touring did; between the 8C 2300 and the 
Giulietta Sprint Zagatos (which were initiated by Zagato's clients, not by 
Alfa's commissions) Alfa's competition cars are Touring, Touring, Touring and 
more Touring. 

Andy Kress writes of the Touring book "It is clear that it was translated 
from the usual romantic, formal, stilted italian, or at the least, written in 
romantic, formal,and stilted english.  It isn't very linear, and the authors' 
main concern is tracing the aesthetic inspiration and flow of design trends, 
not body counts.  Consequently, there is a lot of flash backs & forwards in 
each sentence - all shrouded in floral verbosity.  I came to my 'conclusions' 
by interpolating the text with the photo captions (which sometimes are more 
specific and contain more useful info)" 

All true enough. It was written in Italian, translated by two unfamiliar 
names, and then Griffith Borgeson is credited as "Editorial consultant for 
the English text"- a splendid idea, as Borgeson was fluent in both the 
subject and the language, and could verify that the translation was both true 
and reasonably effective.

Andy goes on "In any case, not too many of them were built, which is sort of 
surprising considering how good looking it is, what a splash the thing made.  
I suppose it is somewhat like haute couture? clients not wishing to be seen 
at an event wearing identical dresses." 

It was indeed haute couture at a time when starving workers were in the 
streets, when the Isotta plant was closed and Alfa produced fewer than five 
hundred cars in the year. For those few who could afford to indulge a taste 
for something that conspicuous and that impractical it may have seemed more 
prudent to not flaunt it in the middle of so much misery.

The standard (relatively) Touring Spider body on the 8C 2300, familiar to 
some in the models by Pocher and Bburago, is a watered-down version of the 
Flying Star, with a taller windshield, a top, conventional louvers, and 
ordinary fenders. For those with a copy of Fusi, the photo at the top of 
p.172 is the second (long-chassis) Alfa Flying Star, and the photo at the 
bottom of p.171 is a Touring Coupe Royale "Fugientem incurro diem" with 
Flying Star type fenders and the comet motif in brightwork on the doors. 

John H.
Raleigh, N.C.

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