Most of us think that the 599 design is remarkable, timeless, elegant, mean, imposing. Most of us turn around to sight and delight after we leave her alone. All of us know she is a Pininfarina criature. But, what do we know about the people involved in such an epic design? I open this thread to share our findings and stories. I´ll start with mine. (To my knowledge, this information is reliable but please correct me if otherwise). I found out that, on the Ferrari side, Frank Stephenson was the Head of Design at the time. An inmense figure in the auto design scene. Father of the Ford Escort Cosworth, BMW X5, BMW Mini, Ferrari 430, Maserati MC12, Ferrari FXX, Maserati GranSport, Fiat 500 and McLarens MP4-12C, P1, 675LT, 570S and 720S. On the Pininfarina side, Andrea Pininfarina was the Chairman and CEO. Reporting to him, Lorenzo Ramaciotti was the Executive VP of Design. He managed a team that included Chief Designers Guglielmo Cartia, Lowie Vermeersch and Fabrizio Valentini, being Fabrizio Valentini the Design Project Manager for the 599. Reporting to Fabrizio, Ken Okuyama was the Creative Director. He has supervised projects like the Porsche Carrera 996, Porsche Boxster, Ferrari Enzo, Mitsubischi Colt, Maserati Birdcage and Ferrari P4/5. In 2016 he launched his own Supercar Kode 57, which is a deeply modified 599. Cooperating with Ken, Jason Castriota was the Exterior Design Specialist and Giuseppe Randazzo was the Interior Design Specialist. As many of you know, there exists a 599 Castriota, mildly modified to his own preferences. A nice reading about the Design Story and original drawings and pictures can be found in this link: https://web.archive.org/web/20100623152355/http://autodesign.socialblog.us/2008/09/10/yesterday-series-ferrari-599-gtb-fiorano-the-design-story/
What a great insightful read. Although I was initially surprised by the "Yesterdays " car title. As I certainly don't consider my car to be "yesterdays" anything. I loved the read regardless. I remember well when I first saw one in the flesh at the Italian Embassy in Washington DC. When the two Panamerican cars were presented. They were well on their way to finishing their 20,000 mile tour of the Americas. They had already been through all of South and Central America and were heading for Canada when they dropped in to the Embassy in DC. It wasn't quite jaw dropping at first. But there was a little bit of a stunned feeling. I kinda scratched my chin. Looked at my wife. And said with a smile, they're unmistakeably Ferrari. And it was a very nice evening. With our hosts at the Embasy, and the representatives of Ferrari enjoying sharing the new cars with us. When reading your link. The images of the work in process are striking. Hard to believe. .... Thanks for the link.
Great read. Anyone found something similar for the design of the 612? Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app
There is some info in this book, with a bunch of Ken's drawings - he signed the centerfold for me. I have worked with both Ken and Lowie on the design of Drako GTE. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Lowie Vermeersch and Valentino Balboni @ GranStudio (Lowie's company after he left Pininfarina), February 2020 all pictures are my copyright Image Unavailable, Please Login
A word version of the web site text and images so I could save it plus a couple of drawings I had saved. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Jason Castriota just published a new pic of his 1/1 599 MT . Amazing. You can really feel his touch. Image Unavailable, Please Login
