Michelotti is also credited with the design of the Triumph TR-4. Once upon a time, I once owned a 1967 TR-4A-IRS, much like this one except for steel wheels: Image Unavailable, Please Login
STUNNING LOTUS CONCEPT EV TURNS THE CHASSIS INTO ITS PRIMARY OUTER DESIGN ELEMENT BY SARANG SHETH 04/05/2022 Image Unavailable, Please Login Why use extra material to make a metal or carbon fiber body for your car, when your chassis can BE your car’s body instead? Designer Maitreya Dhanak’s absolutely wild Lotus Evanora Concept treats the chassis as a design element, resulting in a speedster that’s both visually and physically lightweight. Not to mention the fact that it looks like an exoskeletal beast! Designer: Maitreya Dhanak Image Unavailable, Please Login Christened ‘Evanora’ or Greek for ‘gift from the gods’, Dhanak’s concept falls in line with Lotus’ tradition of naming their vehicles beginning with the letter E. Dhanak’s approach towards designing the car deviates from the standard practice of taking a top-down approach. While most car designers have an internal framework pretty much ready, they always start with the outside and work their way in. Dhanak, on the other hand, designed an outer structure to complement the inner structure. The skeletal bodywork you see was designed to clad just the chassis, resulting in an aesthetic that’s quite literally as minimal as it gets. The results speak for themselves – since the body (made from carbon fiber) covers just the chassis and nothing else, it uses lesser material, and naturally creates pockets for air-flow, creating a car that’s light and airy both in perception and in reality! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login “The support structures are inspired by the shape of branches of trees”, Dhanak says. “These form a network of support structures that help in keeping the weight of the car low and increasing structural rigidity while being visually unique as well.” In turn, they guide airflow in a way that helps cool the car as well as create the downforce necessary to hit higher speeds. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Dhanak’s concept is quite reminiscent of the HV-001 by Ayoub Ahmad, which featured a similar-looking generative-designed stylized chassis. It feels almost like a trend in the making, where cars can now rely on advanced algorithms and materials to achieve an incredibly aesthetic bare-basics look that tends to discard all that’s unnecessary, shedding weight and looking leaner and meaner in the process! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Autos, Art, & Architecture - featuring the "best design ever" norman foster explores the parallel worlds of automobile art & architecture (designboom.com)
Don Potts "My First Car" video shows the final result but there were multiple 'prototype' iterations; most with no power unit implied or allowed for. One, in particular, was a finely crafted wooden skeletal frame. I saw these "cars" in period and they made a huge impression on me. https://www.pinterest.ca/merlin_marquard/don-potts-cars/
Don't fret Andrew, the article neglected to say that one needs to adorn the supplied drivers suit. Image Unavailable, Please Login
He did a one-day show & tell/course for us in the ID school in San Jose. Nearly as influential for me as Bucky Fuller!
Something a bit 'different' and older, but still pretty cool as a design story. Image Unavailable, Please Login Barris Kustom Shop Barris Custom Car Study Trip in 1951 September 11, 2013 Rik Hoving 9 Comments Barris, Barris Kustom City, CCC-Shirts, Europe Trip, George Barris, George Barris in Europe GEORGE BARRIS 1951 EUROPE TRIP In 1951 George Barris visited several European countries for his design study trip. Italy, Germany and France were visited. And young George was seriously inspired and immersed himself in the European atmosphere. In late August 1951, George and his stepmother went on a European trip. The main goal for George’s mother was to visit her Greece relatives, where the Barris Family originated. But for George the main goal was to get a good sense of anything European car wise, such as styling, customizing, designing, and so forth. George had made a seriously long list of coachbuilders in Germany, Italy and France. He wanted to visit them, and see for himself how they worked, what influenced them in their designs, and what techniques these European guys used. George took as many snapshots as he could, during this trip. This resulted in a shoe-box full of photos he took, as well as a stack of pre-made local attraction photo booklets that were very popular at the time. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Brett Barris browsing through the “George Europe” shoe-box, loaded with material George gathered from his 1951 study trip. [divider] Image Unavailable, Please Login Some of the small booklet/boxes with “tourist” photos from some of the places George visited. The two paper bags are filled with negatives of the many photos George took during this trip. [divider] Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Two snapshots George took of an a French Rosengart Supertraction, built between 1939 and 1947. It was based on the front-wheel-drive Citroen 11 CV “Traction Avant”. Perhaps he took this photo at one of his planned visits, or he might just have found it on the streets while wandering around. [divider] One of George his trips brought him to the the South German city of Stuttgart. Here he visited the coachbuilers shop of Karl Baur. Karl Baur was responsible for creating most of the 184 Dayna-Veritas cars we can see in the photos below. This car was based on the French Panhard Dyna X, with a complete hand made body, and was produced from 1950 till 1954. The nice little sport car was available in convertible and coupe. The car was produced for Veritas GmbH, Baden-Baden. George took several snapshot, showing the process another German Couchbuilder, Dannenhauer & Stauss, also located in Stuttgart used, including some of the wooden buck they used to shape the main body over. A technique typically used by the coachbuilding companies. Barris had seen these techniques used at for instance California Metal Shaping in LA, where they build one-off bodies and panels. But never before had he seen these techniques being used on a production model. Image Unavailable, Please Login A finished Dayna-Veritas photographed close to the Karl Baur shop. [divider] Image Unavailable, Please Login The inside of a French sales brochure for the Dyna-Veritas. This brochure showed both the convertible and coupe. The only body styles available. [divider] The in production snapshots below are most likely made at the Dannenhauer & Stauss shop. They manufactured their special bodies to fit on Volkswagen chassis in the early and mid 50’s. The models these Couchbuilders created were also an Coupe and Cabriolet. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login This snapshot shows a body being shaped on the wooden buck. This buck ensured the uniformity of the bodies. [divider] Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login George send this postcard to Jack Stewart, when he visited Paris in 1951. (Jack Stewart Collection) [divider] Besides visiting as many car related locations as possible, George also took time to enjoy the country, and especially the major cities. He wrote to Jack Stewart that he loved the “wonderful European ladies” and the fact that the clubs never seamed to close in the big cities like Paris. George returned home to Los Angeles in October 1951, his head full of ideas based on cars, and design samples, as well as work methods he saw during his study trip. Go to part 2 of the George Barris Europe Design Study trip.
Roy yes, Bill no. As an 'obtw', look up "Make It New" by Barry Katz (Make It New: The History of Silicon Valley Design (MIT Press, 2015)) Lonberger and many others mentioned......
more of this car please, if you have it! &BTW, Bucky Fuller was also a big influence for me as well. Almost always a fairly intense listening experience; as his lips could often not keep up with his brain!
With holes in them! Since it's an EV and makes no racket, maybe team up w/audio engineer to maximize/customize sounds of airflow through the bodywork throughout the speed range - mindful of resonant frequency so as to avoid Tacoma Narrows factor anywhere along the way (Jim Wangers said his Catalina's frame cracked several times - and guessing that was sans any audio engineering?). With the open variant, owners could visit the Tailor-Made department and incorporate the audio of their lips flapping at speed into audio mix - completely bespoke audio NFT ..?!
THE STORY OF CARROZZERIA VIGNALE Home/The story behind/The story of Carrozzeria Vignale The early years AIfredo Vignale with his company was not part of the bright generation of Turin coachbuilders of the first period, although he had worked at a very young age at Pinin Farina and Stabilimenti Farina, both of which had shaped his skills of sheet beater. Born on June 15, 1913, Alfredo learned the art of transforming an nude motor chassis into a splendid automobile in the early years of the last century. In 1930 he came into contact with the newborn Pinin Farina, founded in that year by Battista Farina, who broke away from Stabilimenti Farina, the atelier of his older brother Giovanni. Alfredo’s ability to shape the aluminum sheet with the aid of working tools into body sculptures, was consolidated over time, and this mastery in such a creative profession whose secrets were unveiled to him by Felice Mario Boano and Pietro Frua – enabled him in the second half of the 30’s to take over the leadership of the bodywork department at Giovanni Farina’s company, which at the time had almost a thousand employees including his father Francesco and the brothers Eusebio and Guglielmo. The brilliant manual skills of the young craftsman and his tireless dedication to work clearly forged his professional connotations, which nevertheless had no way of finding adequate expression during the years of the Second World War. Thus it was that Alfredo’s great aspiration, that of taking the fateful step of setting up his own business, had to wait until the immediate postwar period. On October 26, 1946, Carrozzeria Vignale & C was established with headquarters in via Cigliano 29/31. The beginning Alfredo Vignale not only was a master in sheet metal shaping, but he was also into drawing, since he had attended a three-year evening course at very young age in which he learned how to design sketch. At the age of 17, in 1930, he had already gained experience as a sheet beater at the Ferrero and Morandi workshop, from which, as mentioned, he moved to Pinin Farina, in the great temple just consecrated of the Italian bodywork. The modest workshop in via Cigliano extended over about a thousand square meters, where the new entrepreneur tried his hand at 33 years of setting up the sporadic Fiat and Lancia production chassis, which were joined by Cisitalia, the new brand with which Piero Dusio cherished in 1946 the ephemeral dream of playing an important role as master of sports cars. It was Dusio himself who discovered the extraordinary talent of Vignale in sheet metal modeling for the aerodynamic 202 MM berlinetta designed by Giovanni Savonuzzi for the 1947 Mille Miglia. Alfredo Vignale & Giovanni Michelotti That same year Alfredo had already highlighted himself with a fortunate interpretation on the chassis of a crashed Fiat Topolino, the result of which drew an approving comment also from Pinin Farina himself. 1947 marked a significant year for Vignale in his approach to the automotive sector, who manifested his official debut with the Fiat 1100 cabriolet, presented at the Concorso d’Eleganza of Turin, which was followed by the Fiat 1500 two-seater cabriolet, a car that was exhibited at the Concorso d’Eleganza of Florence, and which was presented the following year at the Grand Prix d’Europe in Juan-les-Pins, France. In September 1948 the 31st edition of the Motor Show was inaugurated in the exhibition center at the Parco del Valentino in Turin, which symbolized, for the first time after the war, the rebirth of car production in Italy. Vignale was present with a stand which featured a Lancia Aprilia, a berlinetta on aFiat 1100 B chassis and an Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 cabriolet. Carrozzeria Vignale stand at the 1948 Turin Auto Salon Alfredo’s feverish activity in proposing new stylistic interpretations began in 1949 with the collaboration of Giovanni Michelotti, who had left his job as designer at Stabilimenti Farina and decided to became freelance designer. He worked intensely as consultant for half a dozen coachbuilders, but his collaboration with Vignale was prevalent, for which the young designer created over a thousand sketches, giving life to new era of Italian custom-built cars. The first important order obtained by Vignale was the small series production in 1949 of the Cisitalia 202 B, of which Pinin Farina had built the first speciments. It allowed the new entrepreneur to emerge from the initial heroic period, during which he had worked hard to produce bicycle mudguards, aluminum pots and iceboxes, until he was able to devote himself definitively to the creation of custom-built car bodies. The success Vignale made a name for itself quickly when in spring 1950, he created after a design of Michelotti, the Orchidea built on the chassis of the brand new Fiat 1400, a car that was exhibited at the Turin Auto Show together with six other cars. In that same exhibition, Vignale was also present at the Abarth stand with the splendid 204 A, a low and sleek berlinetta, characterized by three small air vents on the sides, which later became Vignale’s trademark element for its sports cars. In addition to those, another huge and exotic car appeared at the Turin show that year: it was the Packard Eight cabriolet. The Fiat 1400 Orchidea In contrast to the evolution of many Italian coachbuilders in the 1950s and 60s which tended to adapt their production to a semi-industrial reality, Vignale remained faithful to a artisanal approach of his business, which allows him to keep his work according to the formula of unique pieces or almost, built in a maximum of a dozen units of the same design; each of it however differ from the others for some personalization touches, which helped to emphasize the image of his exclusive creator. Vignale distinguished himself in those years with an overwhelming interpretative personality, formed by his youthful experiences as a sheetbeater and by the exceptional ability to transfer the shape plan sometimes traced with chalk on the floor onto the sheet metal. In his singular role as coachbuilder animated by a strongly innovative spirit. Vignale expressed himself with cars that were sometimes sober, sometimes complicated and extravagant. On his creations, often in contrast with the stylistic school of that time, the inspiration of Giovanni Michelotti influenced a lot. Their bodies were all splendid testimonies of an obsessive research for detail, in which an unprecedented stylistic message full of pure functionality always stands out. Significant examples are still today the chromed air vents mounted on the sides of the bonnet; or the large triangular profile slits behind the rear wheel arches to improve brake ventilation; or the eccentric location of the tail lights mounted in special chromed positions embedded in the mudguards. Image Unavailable, Please Login The Cunningham C3 - Photo courtesy of Erik Fuller Vignale’s projection towards foreign markets was actively and almost immediately expressed towards the Anglo-Saxon world, starting with the 1951 proposal for the new Riley Pathfinder and then with the American Cunningham, whose Continental model The 1952 C-3 is perhaps one of the most elegant post-war coupes ever built. The constant presence of Giovanni Michelotti alongside Vignale was decisive into projecting the coachbuilder from via Cigliano into the firmament of the most famous international fitters. The creative intuition of the designer and the mastery of the Alfredo as builder, both expressed themselves with shapes of great originality: the Vignale creations were fascinating cars, sometimes transgressive, full of strong personality and which caught the attention of the royal families of the whole world, like King Baudouin of Belgium who commissioned a exclusive coupé built in 1955 built on an Aston Martin DB2 / 4 chassis. From GT's to more populare cars The exciting and active encounter with Ferrari (read our special here) ended in 1954 with the splendid 250 Europa GT (chassis nº 0359 GT) built for the Belgian princess Liliane de Réthy (second wife of King Leopold III), considered one of the most balanced designs of the cavallino brand. These were years of great fervor, during which the well-known Turin coachbuilder, so prolific in new solutions and quickly becoming an exponent of the post-war Italian stylistic school, dedicated himself with inexhaustible eclecticism to creating very different cars, such as the Alfa Romeo 412 with which Felice Bonetto won sixth place overall in the 1951 Mille Miglia (read our special here), or the barchetta Maserati A6 GCS, built in 1953 (chassis number 2049) with long exhaust pipes, which acted as innovative aesthetic elements. His creative flair was not limited only to GT cars, but Vignale also expressed himself with some popular and extravagant cars, such as the Spiaggia, made in a good number of specimens in 1956 on the mechanics of the Fiat 600 Multipla. and that contributed to a large extent to fuel the ephemeral line of small cars for transporting bathers to the most fashionable holiday locations. The Fiat 1100 Charmant - Photo courtesy of Bonhams Without forgetting the 1953 Fiat 1100 Charmant, a pleasant coupe with a sloping tail set up on the chassis of the normal 1100/103 and of the 1100/103 TV with 50 HP engine. This was one of the first small series productions, which were followed by numerous others at the end of the 1950s, in particular on the Fiat 600 chassis, a formula that gave life to the well-known generation of the “Vignalines” produced in various series with a daily production that reached the forty units. A futuristic concept car was also built on the same mechanics after a design by Michelotti, the Fiat Abarth 750 Goccia, which was introduced in 1957 to ennoble those mini-series of small 600s with a custom style. The first prototype characterized by gull-wing opening doors was followed by a second one, with traditional doors, which participated in the last Mille Miglia ever in history with the primary aim of testing out the aerodynamics of its compact bodywork. Entrusted to the Luino-Costa crew, the Goccia finished the race in a 94th place overall after having covered 1597 kilometers at an average of almost 113 km/h. Image Unavailable, Please Login The Triumph Italia 2000 Coupé In 1957 the English Standard-Triumph group turned to Vignale to create the bodywork of its new vehicle with a innovative mechanic concept, for which it was necessary to fit a design characterized by a strong personality. The Turin coachbuilder proposed a unusual car designed by Michelotti, which debuted on the market in 1959-1960 with three versions: sedan, coupé and convertible. The Triumph Italia 2000 coupé, completely restyled by Michelotti on the chassis of the spider TR3, was also presented at the 1958 Turin Auto Show, which was then produced by Vignale in just over 300 units between 1959 and 1962. The annual sequence of the Turin Motor Show clearly marked the stylistic evolution underway at Vignale and this also happened punctually in 1955, when the stand of the Turin coachbuilder polarized a sensational influx of visitors to admire the provocative red and black bodywork of the Démon Rouge, an extraordinary coupé of a deliberately counter-trend line built on the chassis of the Fiat 8V (1996 cm³, 105 CV). A show car built to amaze with its curious pavilion with a cantilevered roof on the rear window. The need for a new factory Vignale launched in 1957 its most important order for a major manufacturer, the Lancia Appia Convertibile, a car that immediately highlighted the difficulties of meeting market demand due to the lack of space in the workshop in via Cigliano; he tried to remedy in emergency by renting a warehouse of 400 square meters nearby. However, the situation required a radical remedy, following the example of what had already happened for Pinin Farina and Bertone, which transferred the plants to Grugliasco. In the same place Vignale therefore built the new factory in Strada del Portone 177, a plant that was officially opened in August 1961 with an area of 12,000 square meters and which marked the change of the artisanal activity for a semi-industrial production. Image Unavailable, Please Login The Vignale plant in Grugliasco The demand for high quality built cars of foreign markets and a certain orientation of Italian customers towards GT’s, led Maserati to unleash in 1957 the 3500 GT model which was joined by the Spyder version unveiled at the 1960 Geneva Motor Show. Based on a design by Michelotti it became one of the most sought-after cars by the young generation of the 1960s. Built on a 2500 mm wheelbase (shortened by 100 mm compared to the coupé), the Maserati spyder offered a very attractive low and slender line. Powered by the 3.5-liter twin-shaft 6-cylinder engine (220 HP), it exhibited great road skills, with peaks of maximum speed above 220 km/h; Vignale delivered 250 examples between 1960 and 1964. In 1962 at the Geneva Motor Show, Vignale also launched the Maserati Sebring coupé , built on the same short wheelbase chassis as the spider and powered by the same 3.5-liter engine (3485 cm³); from 1965 the engines available were 3.7 (3694 cm³) and 4 liters (4014 cm³), with powers up to 265 HP. The Sebring remained in production until 1968 for a total of 600 units. Also on behalf of the House of the Trident, the Turin coachbuilder set up the Mexico coupé which debuted at the 1966 Paris Motor Show and the four-seater Indy coupé built 1104 speciments from 1969 until 1975. When the Appia convertible went out of production, Lancia replaced it in 1962 with the new Flavia 2+2 cabriolet, whose production was again entrusted to Vignale starting from a sketch by Michelotti, which was the last made for the Turin coachbuilder. The latter had in fact decided to found his own coachbuilder company. That was not a consensual separation, which satisfied Michelotti’s legitimate aspirations but which dissolved a formidable duo. Image Unavailable, Please Login The Fiat 850 Vignalina family In January 1963, Virginio Vairo became chef designer of Vignale. Vario came from Pininfarina, but he lacked that exceptional charge of creativity that his predecessor had shown off; even the interpretative vein of Alfredo Vignale was affected by that detachment. At the 1964 Turin Motor Show the stand of the Turin coachbuilder unveiled a trio (berlina, coupè and spider) fitted on the mechanics of the new Fiat 850, while two years later Vignale built the AMX Project IV, an original coupé designed by Richard Teague. Teague devised the solution of the cantilevered roof over the passenger compartment and that of two “emergency” seats obtained in the trunk, according to a very popular formula in America in the 1920s and 1930s. The AMX debuted on the US market in 1968 and remained on the list for a couple of years. The decline With a staff of about two hundred people, Alfredo Vignale built the Jensen Interceptor and the FF, a refined four-wheel drive car with a Chrysler 6.3-liter V8 engine (330 HP) for the 1966 London Motor Show. A year later Vignale unveiled the Samantha coupé on the Fiat 125 platform and the Gamine, a curious spider built on the Fiat 500 mechanics, whose line recall the ones of a sport two seater of the Thirties, in particular inspired by the famous Balilla Coppa d’Oro. Among his latest proposals of 1967 appeared the controversial station wagon on Ferrari 330 GT 2 + 2 mechanics and the prototype of the impressive Tatra 613 representative sedan with rear V8 engine. Alfredo Vignale disappeared at the age of fifty-six in an obscure road accident on the morning of November 16, 1969. One of the greatest architects of the Italian bodywork, an outstanding sculptor of the contemporary age, left this world. As an independent entrepreneur, in just over twenty years he experienced the irresistible euphoria of the artist of exceptional talent, who found complete recognition when, at the end of 1966, he was awarded the Commander of Merit Cross of the Italian Republic. The last production model was in 1970 the Fiat 850 Coupé, when the company’s decline was almost upon us, sanctioned by a drastic cut in daily production (only six speciments of the Fiat 124 Eveline, a dozen Gamines and a Maserati model a day). The factory soon had to face, like others in the sector, serious financial difficulties and De Tomaso, which at the time had already bought Ghia with the support of the Ford Motor Company, concluded the negotiations for the purchase of the Grugliasco plant. At the Turin Motor Show in November 1970, Vignale’s last public appearance, the proposal for a city car was presented, a topic that had already become important at the time. In the meantime, De Tomaso formalized the sale of Ghia and Vignale to the Ford Motor Company. With all its assets, the company was liquidated and the Vignale brand nevertheless continued to qualify the image of the prototypes presented by Ford at the various international car shows. Since 2010, the name Ghia has lapsed from the Ford range, while that of Vignale reappeared at the 2013 Paris Motor Show to boast an exclusive set-up of the new Mondeo (launched in Europe in 2014), which went into production in 2015, and, at the Paris 2016 the complete Vignale range appeared: Mondeo, S-Max, Edge and the Kuga concept.
Looks like Alfredos aim was pretty good.......hit that tree squarely in the grille........ I didn't realize that Vignale went into the 'Ford-obscura' machine along with Ghia.......saweet design on the mondeo.....
A CLOSER LOOK12 APRIL 2022 BY ANDREAS THE ALFA ROMEO 33 STRADALE BASED DREAM CARS Home/A closer look/The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale based dream cars The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, the street legal version of the Type 33, is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful cars of all time because of its timelss design which inspired many modern supercars such as the 8C Competizione and the 4C. The 33 Stradale is still used today as an example to describe the perfect balance between refined mechanics and the styling, in a balance that can be summarized in a phrase dear to the brand: “La bellezza necessaria” (The necessary beauty). The body, designed by Franco Scaglione and built by Carrozzeria Marazzi, was the first road car to feature “butterfly” doors . The chassis complete with engine and gearbox was built by Autodelta, the racing department of Alfa Romeo, alongside the Type 33 racing cars. If you want to know more about the the 33 Stradale, we have covered a special which can be read here. 18 chassis were built of which only 12 were actually finished and only 11 sold to customers while 5, were given to the best Italian coachbuilders which created a series of extraordinary concept cars. 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo Image Unavailable, Please Login The Alfa Romeo Carabo built by Bertone was the first of the 6 dream cars based on the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale chassis. The name Carabo derives from the beetle Carabus auratus, of the Carabidae family, characterized by metallic and bright colors, and with its color (luminescent green with orange details and golden glass) and the vertical doors, recalls the elytra of this insect. It was exhibited at the Paris Motor Show in October 1968. We have already covered a special on the Carabo which can be read here. 1968 Alfa Romeo 33 Roadster GS Image Unavailable, Please Login Designed by Paolo Martin and unveiled at the 1968 Turin Motor Show, the Alfa Romeo 33 Roadster G.S.is the progenitor of Cuneo, which “inherited the chassis in 1970, and was the first of the 3 dream cars built by Pininfarina based on the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. The white painted car was very low and combined soft lines with more sharper ones. The front featured a full-width black rubber bumper, two black horizontal canard fins on the front fenders and a strip of 6 aligned headlights placed on the hood which were later reused on the Cuneo. The main feature was a huge orange spoiler installed in the center of the car, directly above the engine which served also as roll-bar. It had a small windshield, vertically opening doors, and a truncated tail with double overlapping square taillights. The interior, with an unprecedented four-spoke steering wheel, was simple, all black except with orange seats matching the spoiler color. 1969 Alfa Romeo 33.2 Speciale The Alfa Romeo 33.2 was exhibited at the Paris Motor Show in October 1969 and was Pininfarina’sattempt to propose again Leonardo Fioravanti’s project that gave life to the Ferrari P5 which was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show the previous year and then abandoned due to its unsuccess. Compared to the P5, the 33.2 which, as mentioned, has the same body but adapted to the chassis of the 33 Stradale, features small differences mainly in the tail. Some construction details were designed for the a small production series, such as the retractable headlights and the front hood which can be opened in the cockpit. It was one of the last dream cars with curvilinear design before the boxy lines of the 1970s took hold. The Alfa Romeo 33.2 is now part of the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum collection in Arese (MI). 1969 Alfa Romeo Iguana Image Unavailable, Please Login The Iguana was the first Alfa Romeo designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro for Italdesign, his newly founded independent design company. The name Iguana was chosen because of the similarity between the exotic animal and the appearance of the bodywork with numerous openings and iridescent finishing. The car was unveiled at the 1969 Turin Motor Show and, although it did not have a productive outcome, it laid the aesthetic foundations of the Maserati Bora / Merak and, as regards the bodywork, of the more famous DeLorean DMC-12. The body was made of fiberglass, except for the glass roof pillars which were made in brushed steel and therefore not painted. It is painted in metallic gray with the “metal-flake” technique, which consists in mixing large metallic flakes with the paint giving it a final sparkling and luminous effect. In general, the design was characterized by sharper lines than those of the 1960s, although still quite curved. The prototype is equipped with a sloping nose with a full-width air intake for ventilation of the radiator, divided in two by a pair of chrome “mustaches” with the Alfa Romeo “scudetto” in the center, similar to what will later appear on the Alfasud, designed two years later by Giugiaro himself. The front and rear bonnets integrate the mudguards and open by folding completely forward and backward, just like on the Lamborghini Miura and numerous racing cars of that period, to facilitate access to the mechanical parts. The Italdesign Alfa Romeo 33 Iguana did not have a follow-up and, like the other dream cars based on the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale chassis proposed by the best Italian coachbuilders, it can be admired at the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum in Arese. 1971 Alfa Romeo Cuneo The Alfa Romeo Cuneo, was unveiled at the 1971 Brussels Motor Show and was build on the chassis of the 33 Roadster G.S. which was dismantled, The car, with very square lines, in conflict with the more rounded ones prevailing in the sixties, strongly impressed the public for the low wedge-shaped profile from which only the windshield and the arched roll-bar rise. The name derived from the shape of its lateral silhouette, an almost perfect wedge (cuneo). As for the other Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale Dream Cars, the Cuneo was not produced in a small series and is today kept at the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum in Arese. 1976 Alfa Romeo Navajo Image Unavailable, Please Login The Alfa Romeo Navajo, unveiled by Bertone at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1976, was the last dream car built on the basis of the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale and owes its name to the Navajo tribe of Native Americans. The chassis of the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale was lengthened in the center up to 2430 mm in order to be able to mount a lightweight fiberglass body with a strongly “wedge-shaped” profile typical of the 1970s. The very tapered front is balanced by the massive tail surmounted by a huge trapezoidal rear wing that could vary its incidence according to speed. The Navajo’s aerodynamics are also very accurate in the rest of the car since also the front spoiler, like the rear one, could have changed the incidence according to the speed, a characteristic taken up almost ten years later by Bertone itself on the Alfa 90. The retractable front lights had an almost unique configuration: in fact they did not rise from the bonnet but appeared laterally from the fenders. On the front hood there are gills for venting hot air from the radiator and a sticker with the stylized Alfa Romeo logo. After having participated in the various shows, as for the other Alfa Romeo 33 dream cars, it became part of the collection of the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum.
And none as attractive as the original 33........... And was that the "wedge-design" era or the "doorstop-design" era?
Someone say doorstop? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Or was that 'wedge'?
