Jason heads to Bertone

Jim,

Was he involved in the design of the P4/5?

Mike in Kuwait

 

Interesting. It would be nice to see Bertone come out with some new modern masterpieces, it has been a while for them.

 

Could this be more than a good opportunity. Pininfarina is having, well, issues....wish Ferrari would buy them.

 

I honestly can not believe this. With Bertone's financial matters the way they have been now for some time, how is it a wise move for Castriota to do this? I'm really curious about his motives behind the move. Giving up Pininfarina for Bertone sounds absolutly crazy to me. But that's only to me. I just don't get it.

There is no doubt he will come out with some amazing designs but where will the company go? They'll throw out a few prototype's for various companys and the sketches will be put on the shelf. With Ferrari and Pininfarina your designs become a company's legacy. Going from the P4/5 to Bertone`. It's very close to sounding arrogant.

I wish him the best of luck in any event... ...


_J

 

See the interview in topgear.com. I think his reasoning is quite to the point.

 

http://www.topgear.com/us/features/more/bertones-savior/

 

great interview...great designer.

Did he do the California ?

 

Thankfully, NO!

 

Bertone... Castriota... Very interesting!

Best of luck, Jason!

 

I see him as a very educated man, as far as his decisions are concerned. I do respect them, it may just be difficult for me to get my head around them now. Time will change my mind I am sure, as I have gained great respect for Castriota over the past few years now.

Looking forward to the spring, that's for sure!



_J

 

I saw the special on TV regarding the design process of the Birdcage 75th, Jason is an amazing forward thinking visionary designer, my favorite by far. He will bring great things to Bertone.

 

I understand your point. However, as someone who has known Jason for a very long time, I can tell you that his design ethos is much closer to that of Nuccio Bertone than Pinin Farina. He loves and needs to push the design envelope, while Pininfarina draws back to classicism. Remember that when Bertone designed the Miura, Pininfarina introduced the 275GTB. The Countach came out well befor the Boxer. Don't get me wrong, I love the 275 as it is the epitome of 60's Ferraris, but it did not break any design ground whatsoever and in comparison to the MIura at the time looked old by comparison. At the end of the day, he was tired of fighting the committee mentality at Pininfarina, and his desire to chart his own course and put his stamp on designs for the future and the re-emergence of Bertone.

 

A couple of corrections to your post. The 275 was already in production when the Miura was introduced. It was the 365GTB/4 that was the Ferrari/Pinifarina answer to the Lamborghini/Bertone Miura. Also The LP500 (Countach) was introduced at Geneva in 1971 along with the Maserati/Italdesign Bora. Ferrari introduced the Boxer at the 1971 Torino Autoshow later in the season.

Joe

 

Thanks, you are correct. I was trying to draw a comparison as to design philosophy and that Bertone simply pushed the envelope further and in new directions.

 

I'm envisioning a Countach-infused Birdcage. Or a P4/5 with some X1/9 accents. I expect we'll see some very interesting and innovative things come out of Bertone in the near future. Congratulations, Jason.