body art
In design with
These scalpel wielders have shaped the design evolution of the
automobile. Meet those who have excelled at this art
Text: Gautam Sen
Photos Courtesy: Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Bertone, Bonhams, CitroËn, Ferrari, Fiat, Lancia, pininfarina, zagato
With inputs from Edward Hadley
t he art of coachbuilding must be
old. Very old. Dating back to the times
men used coaches and carriages drawn
by man's favourite beast of burden.
Whether it was Arjuna's carriage in the
Mahabharata, or whether it was Alexan-
der the Great's carriage that traversed
Asia Minor, carriages and coaches have
been made since time immemorial, with
each region developing its own style
and tradition, with the potentates able
to order the most magnificent of them
all. Thus when the horseless carriage
came into being, the business of
building coaches moved from the horse
drawn variety to the horsepowered
variety, and with that came new
technologies in terms of materials and
methods.
Carmakers like Oldsmobile and Ford
went the mass production route and for
that it made sense to make standard
bodies that kept costs down. But
carmakers catering to the upper end of
the market realised that the more
discerning customers preferred their
cars 'tailored' to their requirements and
tastes, thus ensuring the role of the
coachbuilder. So carmakers like
Rolls-Royce, Hispano Suiza, Isotta
Fraschini and many others preferred
supplying just the mechanicals and the
chassis, leaving it to the customer to go
to a coachbuilder of his choice to clothe
the car. Over time, as coachbuilders
looked for more business, they realised
the need for better aesthetics, and thus
the need for designers who could
design better looking cars, and eventu-
ally influence the evolution of automo-
tive design.
All the major carmaking nations had
great coachbuilders: famous names like
Barker, Gurney Nutting, Hooper, H J
Mulliner, Park Ward, James Young, etc
from the UK, or Brewster, Brunn,
Murphy, Derham and Willoughby from
the US, and then Baur, Erdmann & Rossi
and Karmann from Germany. Many of
them made elegant and beautiful cars,
but few really pushed the boundaries of
design the way the French and Italian
coachbuilders did. In the following pages
is a selection of some of the best of the
French and Italian coachbuilders and
design houses that contributed enor-
mously to automotive design history.
Zagato-bodied 1938 Lancia Aprilia Sport
october 2008 Auto India 77
In design with
castagna
Though the Castagna family was
into coachbuilding since 1849, it was
Ercole Castagna, born in 1885, who after
2005 Aria concept
from a new Castagna
Typical Castagna coachwork
on this 1933 Lancia Astura
pourtout
CarrosseriE Pourtout was one of the
lesser known, but highly respected French
coachbuilders from before WW II. Founded
by Marcel Pourtout in 1925, the coach-
builder earned a very fine reputation for its
1934 Peugeot 601 Eclipse
1937 Bentley Embiricos with classical Paulin-for-Pourtout lines
78 Auto India october 2008
studying engineering between 1897 and
1901, re-oriented the coachbuilding
business towards the automotive direction.
With the death of his father during WW I,
Ercole took over the reign of Carrozzeria
Castagna, which contributed to the war
effort making ambulances and boats. With
the end of the war, Ercole's younger
brother Emilio joined the firm after
graduating from the arts school of Brera,
designing most of the great Castagna cars
till 1934, including a series of magnificent
Isotta Fraschinis during 1928 and 1929,
specifically for the New York motor show.
The most remarkable was the roadster
distinctive and prestigious bodies for cars
from numerous European carmakers.
Pre-war Pourtout bodies were mainly
one-off, bespoke creations, always very
aerodynamic and sporting in character.
Starting with a small workshop in the
Parisian suburb of Bougival, with a
workforce of just 12, hard work and
plentiful orders helped repay the start-up
loan, and allowed Marcel Pourtout to
expand capacity, eventually moving to
bigger facilities at Rueil-Malmaison,
another suburb of Paris. Here the staff,
which numbered 15, could produce small
production runs, in addition to one-offs.
At the end of 1933, Peugeot’s Paris
dealer, Emile Darl’mat introduced Marcel
Pourtout to Georges Paulin, a dentist with a
Commodore. With its lateral windows,
green two-toning, flowing lines with silver
plating and upholstery in snakeskin, the
design saw decent success, with as many
as ten being built. Castagna also designed
a beautiful body on the Mercedes SS, of
which five examples were made.
With the Great Depression, Castagna's
New York showroom had to be closed
down, and at the same time, the control of
the company passed to the three daughters
of Ercole. With the market for luxury cars
down and out, with Isotta Fraschini
collapsing and Alfa Romeo turning more
and more to Carrozzeria Touring, Castagna
had less and less business, as their style
was too elegant and too elaborate for the
times, when the focus was more on
lightness and aerodynamics.
During WW II, the Castagna facilities were
completely destroyed, and had to be rebuilt
post-war. A few bodies based on Fiats and
Alfas followed, but by 1953 the company
passed into receivership, though Ercole
kept working till his death in 1968. Though
the original company ceased operations in
1954, the famous name has been revived
and is back in business, the latest being a
special derivative of the new Mini.
flair for car design. He became Pourtout’s
designer. Over the years the designs that
came from Paulin’s fertile imagination
confirmed that the suave Frenchman was
one of the greatest designers of the
pre-War era. Aerodynamics and proport-
tions were the two hallmark of Paulin's
work, and car after car reaffirmed his
distinctive style.
Pourtout, Darl'mat and Paulin collabo-
rated in the creation of the revolutionary
Eclipse roof, a design of a retractable
hardtop that had a special mechanism,
patented in Paulin's name, to stow it out of
sight in the car’s boot. Carrosserie
Pourtout produced Eclipse versions for
several Peugeot models, the Lancia Belna,
and models from Hotchkiss and Panhard.
For the 1937 24 Hours of Le Mans
Pourtout collaborated with Emile Darl'Mat
to create the bodies for three cars based
on Peugeot 302 chassis with engines from
the 402. These cars placed 7th, 8th and
10th overall, proving the effectiveness of
Paulin's design. A Pourtout-bodied Bentley
for Greek entrepreneur Andre Embiricos
proved to be very competitive too.
But with the German invasion of France,
Paulin joined the French Resistance. Caught
in 1941, he was executed in 1942.
Figoni et
falaschi
The coachbuilding firm that Giuseppe
Figoni and Ovidio Falaschi created was one
of the greatest of automotive design houses
during the 1930s. They designed a whole
host of bodies on similar chassis, refining
and improving every iteration till they had
the most beautiful. And it was not just
stylish, elegant bodies for marques like
Delage, Ballot, Bugatti and Duesenberg, but
also purposeful racers like the Alfa Romeo
8C 2300 that, with Luigi Chinetti, Raymond
Sommer and Tazio Nuvolari went on to win
the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1932 and 1933.
In fact, the successive victories at Le Mans
made Figoni a world renowned coachbuilder.
Specialising in designing cabriolets,
coupés and hardtops, Figoni was more and
more preoccupied by the design of the
fenders, specifically the front pairs, the
ultimate evolution being the ones that
enveloped the wheels, leaving just about
enough space for them to be manoeuvred:
‘enveloppantes’ as Figoni himself termed
his all-enveloping fenders.
In 1936, Figoni (along with Falaschi,
who had just joined him) created a
magnificent two-tone two-seater cabriolet
with enveloping fender guards. Unveiled at
the 1936 Paris motor show the car was a
sensation, and the then Aga Khan, Prince
Aly Khan, bought the car there and then
for the fancy sum of 150,000 francs. The
reputation of Delahaye and Figoni et
Falaschi was definitely established. Ten
more 135s were bodied by Figoni et
Falaschi, with as many as three of them
finding their way to India. Seven have
survived, including all three of the 'Indian'
An absolutely original Talbot Lago T150C,
recently auctioned by Bonhams
cars, of which one is still in India, in
Jodhpur with maharajah Dalip Singh.
Other carmakers also took advantage of
the Figoni et Falaschi style, specifically
Talbot Lago. When Tony Lago, the presi-
dent of Sunbeam, took over Talbot and
transformed it to another fancy French
marque to rival Delahaye and Bugatti, he
turned to Figoni et Falaschi and the most
sensational of all the Figoni-bodied Talbot
Lagos were the T150Cs, of which just 16
were made. One of these ‘teardrop-shaped’
exotica, with fully skirted front and rear
wheel wells was first owned by the
maharani of Kapurthala who was gifted the
car by her husband, Paramjit Singh, the
maharajah. The car often changed in colour
and upholstery to complement the
maharani (and Stella Mudge's) gowns at
various Concours d'Elegance events before
she sold it. The car is now in the US, as a
part of the Nethercutt Collection.
During the war years Figoni et Falaschi
made electric radiators, and the end of
war, in 1945, was celebrated with a couple
of extravagant designs, one for the Lancia
Belna and the other the new 3.5-litre
Delahaye 175, a car that became singer
Charles Trenet's car by 1948. That same
year, Figoni et Falaschi transited to the
'pontoon' style with a Talbot with the
The Kapurthala Talbot
rear fenders in the splendid form of a
curvaceous ‘butt’.
With the post-war tax on bigger-engined
cars, Figoni also realised the need to move
to more middle-class cars and so they
started making a convertible version of the
Simca. Unfortunately for Figoni et Falaschi,
after 400 Arondes had been made by them,
Simca decided to switch over to bodies
from Facel. That was that. Falaschi decided
to go back to his native Tuscany to open a
hotel, whereas Figoni still gave it a go,
making an interesting design based on the
Citroën 15, plus a few more cars based on
Delage and Bentley chassis. But the writing
was on the wall and at the end Figoni was
just restoring cars. Figoni died in 1978, at
the age of 84, after having created some
700 of the most beautiful cars before the
War, and some 450 more after.
1937 Delahaye 135
1936 Delahaye 135
october 2008 Auto India 79
In design with
saoutchik
For Jacques Saoutchik it was not
unusual to get orders from heads of
states. The King of Siam once sent a
telegram: NEED THREE CARS, ONE FOR
TOURING, ONE FOR THE OPERA, ONE FOR
WIFE. DO YOUR BEST. SEND INVOICE. Five
months later the king received a Mer-
cedes-Benz for touring, a Rolls-Royce for
the Opera and a Hispano Suiza coupé for
his wife. And a bill for $ 60,000. King
Saud of Saudi Arabia had as many as eight
cars with the Saoutchik signature: two
Rolls, two Talbots, two Daimlers and two
Cadillacs. And the list of rich and famous
from the pre-War era with cars that had
been bodied by Saoutchik was long.
In 1928, Saoutchik designed a body
type that, when closed, was a limousine,
but one that could be transformed into a
sports convertible thanks to a system of
the top and side-screens dropping out of
sight. And that became a Saoutchik
signature, with many cars bodied by this
prestigious French coachbuilder featuring
this attractive modularity.
Saoutchik set up shop in Paris in 1906.
Over the years it was not unusual for
clients to order two body styles for each
chassis. And when they would come to the
workshop they would decide which one to
drive off with. At that time a chassis was
typically four times the cost of the body.
In 1929, when Pierce-Arrow merged
with Studebaker, Jacques Saoutchik was
invited to South Bend to design the new
Studebaker. The French-style body was
beautiful and Saoutchik managed to sell
an average of 70 Saoutchik-bodied
Pierce-Arrows every year at the princely
sum of $ 25,000.
A coupe de ville design, again on a Delahaye 175 base, from 1949
80 Auto India october 2008
The orders varied. Some clients were
very precise about the style they wanted
of the finest materials and designs that
were the best expression of Art Deco style
and specific about costs and prices, and motif. And the same level of attention
whereas others gave a carte blanche. Over to detail and quality went with the fact
the decades Saoutchik and his son Pierre, that with every car that was delivered, the
who took over the reins of the company in client received some extra paint, plus a
1950, became well known for their few metres of the leather and fabric used
elegance, originality and their excellent in the interiors for the trims and linings,
quality. Jacques Saoutchik was known as a so that when necessary the original
man of patience, going back to the client material was available for repairs and
time and again till the client was satisfied. restoration. And Saoutchik also provided a
During the 1950s the Saoutchik style guarantee on the body, as was applicable
showed extensive use of chrome, but that on the chassis.
was not to follow fashion, but to accentu-
ate the designs and lines of the cars that
they were bodying. In 1953, Saoutchik
received an order from King Saud's son, to
design a car that could seat between
seven and eight persons, yet be a
convertible. Saoutchik narrowed down to a
Cadillac ambulance chassis for such a
request, as it would have the strength to
take a big, topless body...
The interiors of the Saoutchik bodied
1938 Hispano Suiza Xenia one-off
cars were no less exquisite, with the use
Clearly influenced by Figoni, this Delahaye 175 is from 1949

touring
Felice Bianchi Anderloni founded
Touring of Milan in 1926, and benefited
from the close relations he had with the
founders of Isotta Fraschini, who were his
brothers-in-law. Buying up Carrozzeria
Falco of Milan, Anderloni started construct-
ing his own bodyworks there under the
name of Carrozzeria Touring. With the
design of his first bodywork, the Tipo 8B
for Isotta Franschini in 1927, the coach-
builder set about making a name for
himself in the Italian automotive world.
In the 1930s Touring’s Alfas won three
editions of the Mille Miglia, which was seen
as the most challenging race of all: in
1930, in 1932 and again in 1938. During
the 1930s, Anderloni devised the ‘super-
leggera’ fabrication technique: the
multi-tubular chassis of the vehicle was
constructed from thin steel tubes, which
supported an aluminium sheet bodywork.
After the war, Touring designers made
prototypes for Aston Martin, Bristol and on
an Alfa chassis, the elegant coupe Villa
d’Este. Impressed with the coupe, Alfa
ordered several hundreds of the beautifully
proportioned Sprint and Super Sprint
vignale
When Luigi Villoresi once drove his
Vignale bodied Ferrari off the road at over
160kph, the Italian Formula One driver,
fortunately, suffered from only mild
contusions. And that worked wonders for
the reputation of the sturdy steel and
aluminium bodies that were built by Italian
coachbuilder Alfredo Vignale. In fact,
Vignale’s self-confidence was such, that
instead of shaping his metal panels to
previously designed plaster-of-Paris
prototypes, he forged them by hand on an
anvil, and so shaped his creation’s
silhouette step by step with his artist’s eye.
In 1946, he and his brothers, Giovanni and
Giuseppe, founded their own metal-bash-
ing enterprise in Turin.
With a very attractive one-off body on the
Fiat Topolino, followed by a Lancia
Aprilia-based design, Vignale established
itself as a significant player amongst Italy’s
carrozzerias. With orders from Alfa Romeo
and Maserati, he made the 230 CV
Carrozzeria Sport Speciale for the former,
and in 1951, the 6AG for the latter. Then
followed the Ferrari 212 coupe and the 340
America, the more sober Lancia Aprilia
saloon, a coupe on the Fiat 1500 and a
Alfa Romeo 2600 spider from 1962
1900s from Touring.
Unfortunately, Anderloni, who passed
away in 1948, did not reap the fruits of his
success. His son and longstanding
assistant, Carlo Felice, took control. In
1952, Touring came up with the Alfa
Romeo Disco Volantes (flying saucers),
which literally looked like two red flying
Touring's latest Maserati based coupe
saucers stuck face to face. Alfa’s less
extravagant orders included the 2000 and
2600 Spider and the Giulia GTC, a Carrozzeria Marazzi, that took along with it
cabriolet version of the Bertone coupe. But the business of making Lamborghini 400GT
with the disastrous commercial flops of bodies. Over the years Marazzi built other
the Hillman Super Minx and the Sunbeam cars, and in 2006 it entered into a collabo-
Alpine Venezia coupe, Touring was ration with the Zeta Europe BV group to
compelled to shut down in 1964. revive the Touring brand as Carrozeria
When Touring collapsed, Mario Marazzi Touring Superleggera, which has since
and some other ex-employees created unveiled two Maserati-based concepts.
cabriolet based on the Fiat 1100. By 1954,
Vignale was producing approximately a
In 1969, Vignale’s factory in Grugliasco
was taken over by Carrozzeria Ghia. Three
thousand vehicles every year. Most of these days later, Alfredo was killed in a car crash
were based on either the Fiat 600D or the very near his factory. The company
1300, were sold under the Vignale continued to produce cars for Ghia, notably
moniker, and were rumoured to be the De Tomaso Pantera until 1975.
designed by freelance designer Giovanni
Michelotti. But the flagship was the 1968 Matra 530 based one-off
Maserati 3500 Spider of the early 1960s, of
which 242 were made. Following that was
the beautiful Maserati Indy, launched in
1968. Designed, in all likelihood by
in-house designer, Virginio Vairo, the Indy
had subtle lines with perfect proportions,
that had become the hallmark of the
Vignale look. Vairo also designed the Matra
Vignale one-off and the Vignale Samantha.
1952 Ferrari 212 – an
early Vignale design
october 2008 Auto India 81
In design with
ghia
Ghia-made Chrysler Diablo concept from 1959
A very elegant Cadillac
coupe from Ghia
Fiat 2300S Ghia coupe from 1962
The Piedmontese artisan Giacinto
Ghia founded Carrozzeria Ghia in 1915.
Until WW II, Ghia specialised in bodying
big, elegant Lancias, but Ghia is also
remembered for the Fiat 501S, the Alfa
Romeo 6C 1500, the winner of the Mille
Miglia in 1929 and the Fiat 508S Balilla
Coppa d’Oro. During WW II, the Turinese
factory was damaged by bombing, and
Giacinto died in 1946, before getting
production back on track. The Ghia family
persuaded Felice Mario Boano, a former
stylist for Farina, to take up the business,
with the young Luigi Segre as commercial
director. However, Boano and Segre had
diverging ideas, where Boano saw the
coachbuilding business as an artistic
profession, whereas his counterpart viewed
it as an industrial production activity that
needed to be a commercial success. As
82 Auto India october 2008
Ghia's most famous design –
the VW Karmann-Ghia
often in such cases, money eventually
prevailed over art: Boano quit in 1950,
leaving Segre in charge. Segre, however,
died in '63 from an appendicitis operation.
Ghia made a series of prototypes for
Chrysler, including the Crown Imperial and
it also worked on Ford’s Turnpike Cruiser,
Packard’s Predictor and Alfa Romeos. But
the most famous is the design they did for
Karmann for the coupe based on the VW
Beetle, the VW Karmann-Ghia.
In 1955, two dream cars were produced,
the Ghia Gilda, the star of the Turin motor
show that year, a stunning design by
Giovanni Savonuzzi, and the Lincoln
Futura, which subsequently inspired
George Baris’s Batmobile. Despite regularly
calling upon independent designers, Segre
took on Tom Tjaarda, who was there till
1961, and later, Filippo Sapino.
After Segre’s death, Ghia manufactured,
under Gino Rovere’s direction, a series of
coupes on a Fiat 1500 chassis. The new
director died unexpectedly in 1964, and
was replaced by Giacomo Gaspardo Moro,
who took the order for Alejandro De
Tomaso’s Fissore-designed coupe, the
Vallelunga. In Argentina, De Tomaso had
gone from being a politician and a
journalist to, in his spare time, a racing
driver. Moving to Italy and settling in
Modena, he worked closely with Ghia, until
1967, when, for $ 650,000, he took over
Ghia, saving it from bankruptcy.
In 1966, at the Turin motor show, Ghia
unveiled the De Tomaso Mangusta and
Pampero, the Fiat Vanessa and the
stunning Maserati Ghibli. These four cars
were all the works of Giorgetto Giugiaro,
the talented young designer that Moro had
poached from Bertone. But De Tomaso’s
mandate took a turn for the worse in 1967,
when a number of his employees – includ-
ing Moro, Sapino (albeit temporarily) and
Giugiaro – resigned from their positions
under the pretext of insufficient autonomy
concerning design.
Tom Tjaarda marked his return to the
coachbuilding firm with the release of the
De Tomaso Pantera, with the car being
made in the Vignale factory, which had
been taken over by Ghia in 1969. These
cars were sold in the US through the
Lincoln-Mercury car dealers, following De
Tomaso’s decision to give away a stake to
Ford in his company. Tjaarda, still working
for Ghia, then went on to design the De
Tomaso Deauville, followed by the De
Tomaso Longchamp.
In 1971, De Tomaso sold Ghia to Ford,
which took over full control of operations.
Since then Ghia has became a design
studio for Ford, turning out a few interest-
ing concepts, and being used as a badge
for the luxurious versions of the Ford
model range, such as the Granada Ghia,
the Mustang Ghia and the Mondeo Ghia.
chapron
Born in 1886, Henri Chapron spent 60
years of his life heading the company that
he created in 1919. Carrosserie Chapron
started off by re-working and retrofitting
Svelte Citroën DS cabriolet
The magnificent Citroën SM four-door cabrio for the Queen
heuliez
Though Heuliez may not be well
known in India, it's a very significant player
in the European automotive industry.
Working as a production and design unit
for various automakers, Heuliez specializes
in producing short series for niche
1998 Lambo-
based Pregunta
The world's first four-door coupe-
cabriolet, the Macarena
cars that had been damaged during WW I,
concentrating mostly on Ford Model Ts
abandoned in Paris by the departing
American army, re-bodying the typical
torpedo-style bodywork with more
luxurious closed bodies. After the
recession of 1921, a new generation of
French carmakers came into being;
manufacturers like Delage, Chenard and
Panhard. Chapron began designing elegant
bodies for them.
By 1927, Chapron was employing some
350 workers at its factory near Paris. But
following the financial crisis of 1931,
Chapron decided upon an exclusive
markets, such as convertibles or estates.
Well-known for their retractable hardtops
(the Macarena concept shown below is the
first four-door coupe-cabrio idea ever),
Heuliez also produces entire cars such as
the Opel Tigra. One of the more successful
cars that Heuliez has produced is the
Peugeot 206CC, the first affordable
coupe-cabriolet ever, of which some
350,000 were produced until production
ceased. Since 1985, Heuliez has produced
almost half-a-million cars.
Recently, however, poor sales of the
Tigra have forced Heuliez to reduce its
staff and the French specialist has been in
trouble. And so the Indian company
Argentum, which is lead by B V R Subbu,
ex-president of Hyundai, has stepped in, to
take a controlling stake.
contract to clothe mainly Delahaye 135s.
And till Delahaye closed shop in 1954,
Chapron remained its main coachbuilder.
Though many of the prestigious French
brands like Delahaye, Delage, and Talbot
were all disappearing in the 1950s due to
the draconian tax structure that penalised
cars with bigger engines, Chapron still
managed to have some successes with
coachbuilt specials for these carmakers.
After many attempts at getting into
series production, Chapron was given the
contract of developing a cabriolet and a
coupé version of the Citroën DS, which it
produced till the end of the DS's produc-
tion life. And when the Citroën SM was
introduced in 1970, Chapron created two
new variants, a convertible and a four-door
saloon. In 1972, Chapron delivered two SM
Presidential models to the French govern-
ment. These four-door convertibles were
first used for the visit of Queen Elisabeth II
to France and continued to be in use
through the inauguration of Jacques Chirac
in 1995. Henri Chapron died in 1978, and
the company itself survived for some time
under the direction of his widow, produc-
ing some luxury versions of the Citroën CX.
It ceased operations in 1985.
Created in 1920 by Adolphe Heuliez who
started by making horse-drawn carts,
Carrosserie Heuliez soon diversified into
assembling cars, the first being a Peugeot
177B. A subsidiary company was also
created for the production of buses, which
was later sold. Over the years Heuliez
established a fine reputation for the design
and manufacturing of niche products,
making cars like the Citroën XM Break and
the Xantia Break, and also making limited
runs of cars like the Peugeot 205 Group B
homologation specials.
In 1998, at the Paris motor show,
Heuliez showcased the Lamborghini Diablo-
based Pregunta concept. The Italian design
arm of the French company was at the time
headed by Marc Deschamps, who had
previously worked as chief designer at
Bertone. Spanish for 'question', the
Pregunta was given a very aggressive
design to make sure everybody would
notice it, and everybody did.
Since then, at every Paris motor show
(held every two years) Heuliez have
showcased something interesting.
Managed by Paul Queveau, Heuliez
employs about 1,200 people in facilities at
France, Spain and Slovakia. Of these about
150 are a part of Heuliez's design and
engineering services.
october 2008 Auto India 83
In design with
BERTONE
The road ahead was looking quite
glum for Nuccio Bertone when, in 1952,
Fiat decided to reduce the number of
orders to independent designers, as they
were judged to be too costly. It was time
for Bertone to react: he equipped one MG
chassis with a coupe bodywork and
another with a cabriolet bodywork, and
presented them at Turin’s motor show in
the hope of catching the eye of a potential
client. And it worked. Carrozzeria Bertone’s
saviour was the American MG car-dealer
“Wacky” Arnolt. He bought both of
Bertone’s models, foreseeing a great
success in the American market and
promising to buy a hundred more of each,
albeit for a discounted price. The entrepre-
neur ended up buying a total of 460
coachbuilt specials from Bertone, including
those that were based on the Bristol 404,
for the series that were named Arnolt-Bris-
tol. In a truly international production, the
bodyworks were fitted in Turin on to the
MG, and subsequently, Bristol chassis (the
latter developed from BMW mechanicals),
were imported from England, and then
shipped from Italy to the US.
Nuccio’s father had been in the coach-
building business since 1912. After having
worked on Diatto chassis, he secured a
deal with Vicenzo Lancia in 1919, making
bodies for Lancia through the 1920s. But
when Lancia switched to monocoques,
Bertone was made redundant. In 1932,
Nuccio (which is short for Giusuppe), was
preparing to pass an economics exam,
though he had been working for his father
for six years. Then aged eighteen, he decid-
ed to sell his father’s plans for the Balilla to
Fiat. His success was such that he managed
Nuccio posing with the many Bertone beauties
84 Auto India october 2008
to get the company back on track.
After the war, he took on freelance
designer Franco Scaglione, who designed
the superbly proportioned cars for Arnolt,
and following that a car for Abarth,
unveiled at the 1952 Paris motor show,
that showcased the idea of a third, central
headlamp, with vestigial wings that took
flight in subsequent designs.
Alfa Romeo, keen to replace the
Touring-bodied Disco Volante, was taken
up by MG-Arnolt, and Bertone suggested
the extravagant BAT series, based on
the Super Sport 1900 mechanicals. The
three BAT models all had extravagant
aerodynamic spoilers with stunning
lines that, more than anything else,
established Bertone at the top rung of
the coachbuilder’s art.
Bertone then shifted attention to a more
pragmatic vehicle, with Scaglione designing
the Alfa Sportiva prototype, with its convex
windscreen, truncated tail and slightly
pointed nose, that became the template for
all sports car design for the next two
decades. In the same year, 1954, Alfa
commissioned Bertone to design and build
the Giulietta Sprint coupe.
Bertone’s reputation soon attracted other
talented designers, and a very young
Giorgetto Giugiaro joined the coachbuilder.
Fiat Dino coupe from 1966
What followed was a series of beautiful
cars, amongst them the Alfa Romeo Giulia
coupe, the BMW 3200 coupe, superb
concepts like the Corvair-based Testudo
and the Alfa Canguro, and others. But in
1965 Giugiaro left for Ghia, and Bertone
hired another brilliant youngster, Marcello
Gandini. And that marked the start of the
golden period for Bertone, when one
stunner after another rolled off Gandini’s
pen: the Lamborghini Miura, the Marzal,
the Espada, the Alfa Romeo Montreal and
the Carabo, then the Lancia Stratos Zero,
and finally, the Lamborghini Countach.
With Gandini leaving Bertone, the design
house was never quite the same, though a
couple of interesting designs did follow.
But the decline had set in – so much so
that at the time of going to press, Ber-
tone’s future is rather uncertain.
Nuccio Bertone admiring the
scale model of the Carabo
1954 Alfa Giulietta
pinINfarina
The 1968 Ferrari Daytona
Tjaarda-designed Fiat 124 Spider
by Pininfarina, from 1966
Giovanni Battista Farina’s juvenile
nickname, ‘Pinin’ (which means young boy)
stayed with him all his life: at the age of
sixty, he was authorised to officially
integrate it into his family name – and so,
Pininfarina. A name that carries the weight
and prestige of some of the most beautiful
cars ever made. And Pininfarina’s path,
since its debut, retraces nearly the entire
history of automotive design.
Born in Turin in 1895, Pinin started work
for his brother in the Stabilimenti Farina
workshops, and only left him 20 years
later, in 1930, in order to set up his own
company. After Pinin’s death in 1966, his
son Sergio and son-in-law Renzo Carli took
control of the operations, producing the
vast majority of the models. Until his death
on August 7th last, Pininfarina was run by
Pininfarina's latest on a Rolls chassis
Battista's grandson Andrea Pininfarina.
Paolo, Andrea's younger brother, was
appointed the new chairman and CEO on
the 12th of August.
Pinin’s first ever design was the 1932
Lancia Dilambda, which was closely
followed by the Fiat Ardita, a miniature
phaeton whose back seat was merely a
large tip-up seat. In 1937, Pininfarina
designed the Lancia Aprilia, and in the
following year, the Lancia Astura, a refined
cabriolet with enveloping mudguards.
But it was the Cisitalia 202 coupe,
Pininfarina’s first model after the War that
marked the turning point in automotive
design. Though based on the middle-mar-
ket Fiat 1100, the Cisitalia was so beautiful
that it became an exhibit at New York’s
Modern Art museum.
As well as design consulting work, for
the likes of Peugeot, Lancia and Austin,
Pininfarina also coachbuilt cars like the
charming Alfa Romeo Giulietta spiders.
And that led to the 1966 Alfa Duetto
spider, immortalised in the film ‘The
Graduate’, starring Dustin Hoffman.
Pininfarina enjoyed a privileged relation-
ship with Enzo Ferrari. Indeed, as a result
of Pininfarina’s sublime masterpieces, such
as the Superamerica 400, Ferrari eventually
The late Andrea Pininfarina posing with
Pininfarina's Maserati GranTurismo
became an exclusively Pininfarina client,
especially since the Ferrari 308GTB of
1975. Though the collaboration between
the two had begun more than two decades
before, it was cars like the 275GTB from
1964 and the 365 GTB/4 Daytona from
1968 that really sealed the deal. And the
P5 prototypes from 1967, the 512S of
1969 were the precursors of the mass-
produced Ferraris of the following decade.
Interestingly enough Ferraris, for
decades, have been made at another coach-
building firm, that of Scaglietti. Pininfarina
has been making niche cars for others, of
which the Tom Tjaarda-designed Fiat 124
Spider was one of the most successful, with
over 200,000 made over two decades.
Other volume sellers from the Pininfarina
coachbuilding facilities have included the
Lancia Monte Carlo, the Alfa Romeo Spider
and the Peugeot 406 Coupe.
Pininfarina has also been a great
breeding ground for designers. Other than
Tom Tjaarda, who spent a few years in the
early 1960s at Pininfarina, other prominent
designers like Paolo Martin, Aldo Bro-
varone, Leonardo Fioravanti and Lorenzo
Ramaciotti (who heads Fiat’s design) have
also spent time as studio heads at
Pininfarina. Till a few years ago, Ken
Okuyama headed Pininfarina’s design team,
and it is now lead by Lowie Vermeersch.
In recent times, Pininfarina’s coachbuild-
ing activities have shrunk, the company
is in trouble and as a part of diversification
activities Pininfarina is getting into the
making of electric cars with financial
inputs from French company Bollore
and Tata Motors.
october 2008 Auto India 85
In design with
zagato
Early Zagato, the 1956 Ferrari 250 GTZ
1969 Alfa Junior Z
Recent Zagato, for Bentley
If the lightning bolt is the first
image that springs to mind when you come
across the illustrious and emblematic ‘Z’,
then you would have made its creator, Ugo
Zagato, extremely proud. It was in 1919
that he founded Carrozzeria Zagato, which
was to give birth to some of the lightest,
and therefore fastest, cars in the world. At
the end of the 1920s, with the super-
charged Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 and 8C
2300, Zagato made quite an impression.
The convex front, rear and side windows
characterised Zagato’s Panoramic design of
the 1947 Fiat 500 and the Fiat 1100, which
he made with the assistance of his son,
Elio. This retrieved creativity in the late
’40s and early ’50s led to the production
of a number of small racing Fiats. Zagato
then followed through with the designs of
light and aerodynamic bodyworks for a
number of Fiat 8V chassis.
86 Auto India october 2008
The lightning bolt Z of Zagato
From 1953 to 1955, these cars domi-
nated the 2.0-litre GT category, finishing
9th at the 1954 Mille Miglia. During the
1956 championship, the Fiat 8V Zagato
was beaten by the Maserati A6G, whose
bodywork, incidentally, was also from
Zagato. During the same period, Zagato’s
Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint and 2.5-litre
Lancia Aurelia Zagato also proved to be
light, fast and beautiful.
The new bodywork of the Alfa Super
Sprint transformed it beyond recognition –
and not just aesthetically. Whereas the
1954 model did not exceed 182kph,
Zagato’s version, with the very same
engine, did 194kph, showing to advantage
the weight loss of 180kg. Similarly, the
Aurelia’s max speed increased from
182kph to 198kph and the Maserati A6G
gained 16kph, giving it a V-max of 208.
The 1950s also saw the transformation
of the Fiat Abarth, with its ingenious
cooling system and max speed of 149kph,
despite its very modest 750cc engine.
Zagato also went on to make the Alfa
Giuletta Sprint Veloce 1300, known as the
SVZ, as well as the small, rounded SZ and
the elongated SZT. Zagato also bodied
Ferraris and Maseratis, other than the
Lancia Flavia Z and Alfa 2600 Z coupes.
Zagato’s methodology was indeed
extremely particular. First a floorpan was
made from sheet steel, on to which was
attached a rigid hand-welded framework,
made from short, steel bars which varied
in diameter according to the pressure
they were to hold. This framework was
used to support the light exterior
aluminium panels. The panels were
then welded onto the chassis. Once the
bodywork was painted (and in 1961,
two layers were sufficient), skilled
craftsmen fabricated and adjusted the
interior and exterior trims.
In 1962, Zagato built a new factory
north of Milan, which was to make some of
his greatest masterpieces: the Giuletta SZ,
the TZ and TZ 2, all very aggressive, yet
functional. These models seem to
encapsulate Zagato’s philosophy: reduced
weight and a narrow frontal cross-section.
Improved aerodynamics was achieved
through a more prominent rear, although
this could not be envisaged for the Italian
coachbuilder, and Kamm-type truncated
tails provided an adequate solution. The
Giuletta was replaced by the Junior Z,
inspired by the Giulia, and Lancia Fulvia Z,
which also came out at the same time.
Zagato’s next design was a true master-
piece for Aston Martin. The DB-4 Zagato is
arguably the most beautiful of all Aston
Martins. All these were the work of
designer Ercole Spada, who embodied the
golden period for Zagato.
In recent years, Zagato has seen a
resurgence, with handcrafted limited series
based on the supercars of today: mainly
Ferraris, Bentleys and Maseratis.