On the death of Marcello Gandini: These cars made him a design star

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Sad day for car enthusiasts: On March 13, Italian car designer Marcello Gandini (1938 – 2024) died at the age of 85. He was one of the greatest Italian designers of the 1970s and designed many classics as chief designer at Bertone and later at his own design studio “Marcello Gandini Design”.

Along with Giorgetto Giugiaro and Leonardo Fioraventi, he founded the Trio Infernale of Italian automobile design in the 1970s. Gandini started working as chief designer at Bertone in 1966 and was allowed to try out the Lamborghini Miura as his first car. When it turned out to be successful, all doors were open to Gandini: Maserati, but also Fiat and even BMW secured his services. Gandini also focused on the architecture and interiors of nightclubs with his own design studio.

Here are five of his designs, and one of them is a surprise.

Bedroom-looking wedge: The Alfa Romeo Montreal looks seductive even when stationary, as the deep rim of the front bonnet makes the headlights appear dim. Its 2.6-liter V8 engine, produced from 1970 to 1977, produces 200 hp (147 kW) and weighs only 1.3 tons. In total Alfa Romeo could only sell just over 3,900 units; today you should expect almost 80,000 francs as a prime example.

The star was the team: Gandini delivered the first drafts of the exterior shell, Lamborghini’s later head of development Maurizio Reggiani helped fine-tune the ride, and Renault’s current head of design Laurens van den Acker drew the interior – he was hired as a working student. Permission to make coffee. The EB110 model of the newly founded Bugatti Automobili SpA in 1989 became a legend, but it did not achieve success. Only 128 examples of the super sports car were produced from 1991 to 1995; The company went bankrupt due to mismanagement and family disputes. A V12 with 560 or 611 hp (411 or 450 kW) provided drive through all four wheels.

Miura was the name of Lamborghini’s third model of 1966 and is considered by fans to be one of the most beautiful Lambos of all time, if not one of the most beautiful cars ever made. The aerodynamic sports car was the first Lamborghini named after a bull; This tradition continues today. Its transversely mounted 3.9-liter V12 mid-engine produced between 350 hp and 415 hp, depending on the model; This meant that the Miura, which weighed only 1,200 kilograms, reached a speed of 296 km/h.

Lancia Stratos was the first vehicle in history designed solely for rally racing. Gandini first designed the Stratos Zero, which became the concept for the Stratos HF. The concept became the Stratos HF rally car, which Gandini was involved with. In the Stradale road version, the Stratos’ V6 engine produces 195 hp (143 kW) and accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 6.8 seconds. It was built just so the Stratos rally could be registered. If you want to own one of the approximately 500 examples built today, you should expect to spend almost half a million francs. Lancia has announced that it will use the HF label again in the future for sports versions of its models (electric ones, of course).

Yes, he is a real Gandini too! From 1974 to 1978 Audi (later Audi NSU Auto Union AG) produced the Audi 50. Especially in this small car: From design to the first production vehicle it took only 21 months. Audi’s smallest was powered by a four-cylinder engine producing 50 or 60 hp (37 or 44 kW). Because it was successful and Audi wanted to concentrate on larger models, VW took control of the car in 1975 and continued to produce it in an economical version under the name Polo. Only a few survived – the body sheet metal, which contained a lot of copper, had already rusted in the garage.

Source: Blick