Villa d'Est

Thanks for turning the God-awful ugly Enzo into a beautiful car!

 

Congrats, Mr. G.!

The new Audi concept car was on display here at a Houston Grand Prix event, and was equipped with those special lighting blocks.......

Ahem, there was a guy there in a red Horsie shirt, explaining to them what they were for..

 

Yeah so unfortunate

And yes Jim, I totally agree with dretceterini, your P4/5' is miles better looking than the Enzo Ferrari produced.

Pete

 

Yes Indeedy! Arate, There is no comparison, the P4/5 is a beautiful young woman, the ENZO, is an actress from Star Trek. This is only my opinion, of course.

Ciao...Paolo

 

Napolis,

I am curious and it may have mentioned before, but have you ever taken Piero Ferrari, for a ride in P4/5, or have a talk with him about it? It would be interesting to read of his impressions of the car, like Mr. Andrea Pininfarina, has in the interviews of his thoughts of it.

Ciao...Paolo

 

Ah Yes! I see both of you behind the men in the foreground. Any idea who they are, they both look distinguished and prominent. Grazie.

Ciao...Paolo

 

Paolo - I spoke with several people who have owned, researched and worked with Gullwings for many years this past weekend. Interestingly, they were unable to shed any light on the Gullwing's design. Karl Wilfert was the chief of 'design' in the 50's. I have found little about him related to design. It was suggested that I check out Bruno Sacco's influence.

Secco studied mech. engineering at the Technical University of Turin. He then joined Mercedes in 1958 after being turned down at Ghia and Pininfarina. In a web piece on Sacco I find the following comment:

'The Mercedes-Benz racing program supplied the Mercedes-Benz passenger-car program with numerous advanced engineering solutions. Its vital emphasis on pure function has colored the personality of every Mercedes-Benz introduced in a major portion of the past century. Yet, in the early 1950s, the functional goals that had once dictated every element of Mercedes-Benz design began to merge with other more aesthetic concerns. This was not, however, a complete departure....

.....some of the most beautiful and most successful racing cars of all time--the Mercedes-Benz grand prix machines of the late 1920s to the mid-1950s--were not "styled" or even "designed," but were developed by the racing department to a few straightforward criteria of pure function: minimal weight with maximum engine output, aerodynamic efficiency, and psychological impact. '

In other words, the SLR was not 'designed' in the modern sense but rather engineered with some thought for aesthetics.

See: http://www.brophy.com/eodweb/htmls/designers/hd97_1.htm

Jon
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Jon,

Thank You very much, for your reply to my observations of the Ferrari and MB 300SLR, and their design relationship, as I see it.

So it seems that not only did Karl Wilfert have a primary design influence, but Rudi Ulenhaut, may have had a greater influence(s), with the 300SL Sports Cars. So in saying, It looks like that, because it is, what it is, or form following function, reflecting it's engineering and cost(s), would that be an accurate statement for our comparison and discussion of these beautiful machines? They both reached the same destination. using different paths and philosophies? As do many others, that's what makes these discussions so interesting, to me. I'll PM you in a few days, not to make this run-on too long. I have met afew of these fine gentlemen on the Honored Designers, on the brophy site.

Ciao...Paolo

 

Napolis,

Talk about "The Big Guns", there are the Big-Shooters, rubbing elbows, next to each other!

Ciao...Paolo

 

One of the most complete reportage of Villa d'Este (sorry, only in italian language...) is visible here:

http://www.virtualcar.it/?cat=36

There I met Sergio, webmaster of the website, and I must say that is really an awesome person. We talked for about an hour about the p4/5 and mostly the historical cars.

 

Yes, that is Sergio. He is aging well. Probably in his 70's now. Hopefully he will make it to the US one more time.

In that picture, Piero is behind him.

-F

 

Ya, haha, +1