Octane Magazine

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

What a journey it must have been for Luigi Fallai, driving this 1944 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 S Berlinetta ‘Turinga’ almost 1900 miles northwards through eight countries, as the dust of the Second World War was still settling. Fallai was an Italian based in Sweden, where he sold exotic Italian cars. Anxious to get his business going, he had just acquired a most luxurious calling card for his activities, in the form of this beautiful car. A stunning Berlinetta, delivered by Carrozzeria Touring. Or ‘Turinga’, as it was known during the war years.

The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had decreed an order to ‘Italianise’ foreign-sounding words, so there would be no basketball under Mussolini but , no Inter Milan in soccer but ‘Ambrosiana’ (after Milan’s patron saint), and no Touring but ‘Turinga’. Strange, yet these days a Turinga is a rarity because of it. Alfa Romeo built only 18 cars during 1944, of which nine were Berlinettas

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Octane Magazine

Octane Magazine2 min read
Spring Sale
IT’S SPRING ON the Kent coast; time to peel off the Austin-Healey and Triumph Trophy’s dust covers, wheel them outside into the sunshine, and check the tyres ready for their first run of the new classic season. This year there is one difference: I ha
Octane Magazine1 min read
The Ownership Prospect
‘I’ve always had a passion for engineering – I remember watching my dad strip, repair and tune everything from early Astons to rally-prepping a 2.7RS Lightweight. Then a friend ordered a very early 12C from McLaren Birmingham and I was lucky to join
Octane Magazine2 min read
F1, Round Two
McLAREN MAY HAVE been swathed in some negative headlines and unwelcome speculation for quite a few years now, but it’s easy to forget that there was a time not so long ago when the company was not only unimpeachable but untouchable. Its utter dominan

Related