The Italians
Early Body and Chassis
Mass Production
American Styling Revolution
The Italians
Safety
Voice of the Customer
Mechanical Influences
Evolution of Body Features
1929 Alpha Romeo 6C 1750
Italy has the richest history of
coach design
The Italians have had the greatest influence on the
car shapes throughout the world
1945 to 1975 was the strongest period for Italian car
designs
The 1929 Alfa shown above was a supercharged sports
car and virtually unbeatable in long-distance racing
1911 Fiat Zero
Battista "Pinin" Farina was
18 when he designed the radiator for the all new 1911 Fiat Zero
The selection of this radiator design by Fiat set him
on to forming the Pininfarina design house of today
1956 Alpha Romeo 2500 SS
A post-WWII design by Pininfarina
An ace sports car years ahead of its time
After WWII, the Italians were prohibited from
participating in car shows
Pininfarina placed the above design outside the
entrance to the Grand Palais, and the following year he was allowed to participate in the
car show
He introduced the revolutionary Cisitalia Berlinetta, which
was radically different, artistic, changed the course of car design, and re-recognized the
Italians as the premier car stylists
Italian Designs
Italian designs were successful in
the US market
Non-Italian manufacturers often employed Italian
design houses to create designs for them
- The Italians
- Bertone– Pininfarina
- Fissore– Scagliatti
- Frua– Vignale
- Ghia– Zagato
- Giugiaro
- Michelotti
- Bertone
- Founded by Giovani Bertone in 1912
- Exclusively focused on car designs since 1921
- Trained many other leading stylists
- Flourishes today,
- Lamborghini Countach
- Fiat X1.9
- Ritmo Convertible
- Fissore
- Fissore brothers started repairing cars in 1936
- Concentrated on styling in the 1950s
- A design studio today without production facilities
- Frua
- Pietro Frua worked for Farina for 9 years
- Started his own design studio in 1958
- Built original cars up to 1958
- The facilities were acquired by Ghia in 1958
- Ghia
- Started in 1915
- Built a series of prototypes for Chrysler prior to 1967
- Acquired by Ford in 1970
- A "think tank" in car body design
- Supplies design to Ford in Europe and US
- Giugiaro
- Giorgetto Giugiaro broke away from Bertone in 1968 and started Ital
Design
- Ital Design is the leading independent automotive styling consultant
- Responsible for many production cars
- VW Golf, Alfasud, Morris Ital, Maserati Bora, Lotus Esprit, and
several Japanese coupes
- Michelotti
- Formed by Giovanni Michelotti in 1951
- A technical design studio with no production facilities
- Diversified to boats, scooters, and electric cars
- Revitalized the Triumph car line
- Styled the BMW 700 coupe
- Pininfarina
- The roots of the company date back to 1911 as coach builders
- Concentrated on Fiat, Lancia, and Ferrari
- Consultant to the British Layland and Peugot
- The only design house with extensive aerodynamic facilities and a
wind tunnel
- Scagliatti
- Founded in 1926 by Sergio Scagliatti
- Was a repair shop until 1951
- Build special bodies for Ferrari and Pininfarina
- Vignale
- Alfredo Vignale founded the company in 1946
- Absorbed by Ghia in 1974
- Zagato
- Formed in 1919 by Ugo Zagato
- One of the most famous Italian producers of sports car bodies