The Cortile
  • Home
    • Media Registration
    • About
    • History >
      • Proiettore 2022
      • Proiettore 2021
      • Proiettore 2019
      • Proiettore 2018
      • Proiettore 2017
      • Proiettore 2016 >
        • Friday 2016
      • Proiettore 2015 >
        • Wednesday 2015
        • Thursday 2015
        • Friday 2015
      • Proiettore 2014
    • Contact
    • Event Rules
    • Trailer Parking
    • Staff info >
      • Volunteer Form
      • Set up & Staging
      • To Do
      • Receiving Tent
      • Reception Tent
      • Parking
      • Clubhouse
      • Westinghouse
      • Emergency
  • News
  • Cortile Cup
    • Judging
    • Definitions
    • Cortile Cup 2021
    • Cortile Cup 2017
    • Cortile Cup 2016
    • Cortile Cup 2015
    • Cortile Cup 2014
    • Cortile Cup 2013
    • Cortile Cup 2012
    • Cortile Cup 2011
    • Inception
  • Marques
    • Carrozzeria >
      • Bertone
      • Ghia
      • Pininfarina
      • Scaglietti
      • Vignale
      • Zagato
    • Abarth
    • Alfa Romeo
    • Bandini
    • Bizzarrini
    • Cisitalia
    • De Tomaso
    • Ferrari
    • Fiat
    • Innocenti
    • Iso Rivolta
    • Lamborghini
    • Lancia
    • Maserati
    • Moretti
    • Siata
    • Stanguellini
    • Taraschi
  • Sponsors
    • Ferrari of Philadelphia
    • Maserati of Pittsburgh
    • Pitt SAE Race Team
    • State Farm
    • Become a Sponsor
  • Events
    • Proiettore 2023
    • Saturday
    • Sunday

Sergio Pininfarina, Designer of Sports Cars, Dies at 85

7/3/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
By PAUL VITELLO, New York Times
Published: July 3, 2012

Sergio Pininfarina, whose design firm created the rakish and elegant auto bodies of some of the most popular, and fastest, cars ever made by Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Fiat, died on Tuesday, [July 3, 2012] at his home in Turin, Italy. He was 85.

His death was confirmed by a spokesman for Ferrari, where Mr. Pininfarina was a board member for many years.

Mr. Pininfarina took the reins of the company in 1961 from his father, Battista, who founded it under the name Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930 and then rebuilt it virtually from scratch after Allied bombers destroyed its plant along with the rest of Italy’s industrial base in World War II.

The younger Mr. Pininfarina, who brought a flair for marketing as well as design to the family business, scored his first successes in collaboration with Ferrari, the racecar maker known for its lucrative business in rich men’s toys.

Convinced that a new consumer market was emerging, Mr. Pininfarina urged Ferrari to let him design two auto-body prototypes for a new 12-cylinder racecar-quality vehicle under production in the early 1960s.
The first, known as the 250 GTO, was an extremely expensive racecar built mainly for sheiks and movie stars. (Of the 39 cars built in 1960, one sold recently for $35 million.) The second was a production model, known as the 250 GTE. A slightly powered-down version of the original, it sold for $15,000. And though it cost a small fortune, it became one of Ferrari’s first big sellers.

The success led to one of Mr. Pininfarina’s best known Ferrari designs, the Dino series of midengine cars produced from 1968 to 1976. The Dino’s bug-eyed front, grading gently to a curvaceous rear end, became a signature of the Italian look in sports cars. Designed to compete with the stark line of the new Porsche 911, the Dino series propelled Ferrari and Mr. Pininfarina into the mass-market car business.
Picture
1965 Ferrari 250 GTO at the Cortile
“Ferrari would not be Ferrari without Pininfarina,” said Michael Sheehan, founder of the online Ferraris’ collectors newsletter, Ferraris-online.com. “Ferrari built the machines, and basically Pininfarina clothed them.”

Mr. Pininfarina’s firm worked with many other carmakers over the last 50 years, including some in the United States. The Pininfarina stamp — an “f” surmounted by a crown — has appeared in millions of cars by Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Bentley, Volvo and Peugeot. But for most of that time Mr. Pininfarina was, in effect, the design department of Ferrari. Only a handful of car models made by Ferrari were designed by other companies.

For a while, Mr. Pininfarina stood as the chief custodian of Italian styling in cars. His firm designed prototypes for models that sold about 50,000 units a year by the mid-1980s, compared with about 500 in the early 1960s, and the success gave him freedom to design not only “affordable” cars but high-end and even one-of-a-kind vehicles for the very wealthy.
“I am a lucky man, because I design cars for a few people,” he said in a 1981 interview with The New York Times. “So in my life, I always design what I like. I sell cars to people who like that kind of car.”

But by 2000, the landscape of car making had changed considerably. A shift in the market toward economy and fuel efficiency reduced the base of Mr. Pininfarina’s carmaker customers, and shifted his firm’s work toward Asia and the market for subcompacts.

In a 2000 interview with The Times, Mr. Pininfarina described the trajectory: “We have gone from being tailors to selling to consumers,” he said.
Picture
1973 Ferrari Dini at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix
By 2008, the family had lost control of all but a small share of stock to creditors, though family members continue to operate the firm.

Mr. Pininfarina was born in Turin on Sept. 8, 1926. He earned a mechanical engineering degree from the Polytechnic University of Turin in 1950, and became the firm’s managing director in 1961. His father died in 1966. He turned over control of the company to his son Andrea in 2001. After Andrea’s death in a motor scooter accident in 2008, Mr. Pininfarina’s younger son, Paolo, became head of the company.

Besides his son, he is survived by his wife, Giorgia, and daughter, Lorenza.

A courtly and stylish man of wit and charm, Mr. Pininfarina taught car body design at his alma mater for several years, and was often invited to speak to engineering and design groups in the United States. On one visit in 1981, an interlocutor asked, “What makes a good design?”

He replied with a long list of criteria, including “good harmony, classic style, proportion, grace — and honesty,” adding with a small smile, “Then, if you have good taste, the battle is won.”
Picture

Sources

Article from New York Times
Header Image from Road & Track

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Atribution

    This is a compilation of articles from a variety of sources and contributors.  Attrition and sources are always provided at the top and/or the bottom of the posting.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    August 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    June 2019
    January 2019
    May 2018
    April 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    July 2013
    June 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    August 2011

    Categories

    All
    250-gt-lusso
    50-anni-di-passione-tour
    Alex Wakefield
    Alfa Romeo
    Alfa Romeo Giulia
    Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce
    Alpine
    Amelia Island
    American Lancia Club
    Amy Burns
    Artist
    Auriana
    Baierl Fiat
    Bandini
    Bernard Martin
    Bertone
    Bizzarrini
    Bobby Rahal
    Bugatti
    Cavallino Rampante
    Citroën
    Concorso Italiano
    Convention
    Cortile
    Cortile Cup
    Cortile Della Corsa
    David Adams
    Derham-custom-body
    De Tomaso
    Dwight Knowlton
    Ferrari
    Ferrari-308-gtb
    Ferrari-328-gts
    Ferrari Club America
    Ferrari-market-letter
    Ferrari Of Philadelphia
    Fiat
    Fiat-club-america
    Fiat-freakout
    Formula One
    Ghia
    Giorgetto Giugiaro
    Greenbrier Concours
    Hahn-and-vorbach
    Huracana110f686eb
    IndyCar
    Innocenti
    Innocenti Mini
    Insurance
    Iso Autoveicoli
    Iso Rivolta
    Ivan Ruiz
    Jason Moka
    Jeff Mahl
    John Campion
    John Walko
    Juan Manual Fangio
    Kate Gundlach
    Lamborghini
    Lancia
    Lancia 037 Rally Evo
    Lancia 037 Rally Evo Group B
    Lancia Beta Montecarlo
    Lancia Delta HF Integrale 8V
    Lancia Delta S4
    Lancia Flaminia Gtl
    Lancia LC1
    Lancia LC1 Group VI
    Lancia LC2
    Lancia LC2 Group C
    Lancia Stratos HF Works
    Lanica Fulvia 1600 HF
    Little Red Racing Car
    Luigi Chinetti
    Marque Of The Year
    Maserati
    Maserati-300o-gt-tc
    Maserati-century
    Maserati-of-pittsburgh
    Mazza Winery
    Miura
    Monterey Historic
    Monterey-motorsports
    Muira
    NART
    N.A.R.T. - North American Racing Team
    New York To Paris
    Peugeot
    Pitt FSAE
    Pitt Race
    PoloStorico
    Proiettore Macchina
    PVGP
    Pvgp Racing
    Ralph Gilles
    Renault
    Renzo Rivolta
    Restoration
    Rob Straw R7 Photography
    Ron Lewis Alfa Romeo
    Sergio Marchionne
    Sergio-pininfarina
    Sergio-scaglietti
    Siata
    Sponsor
    Stanguellini
    State Farm
    Stephan-winkelmann
    Test Drive
    Through The Gears
    Tom Bungay
    Tom Frasca
    Tom Tjaarda
    Vintage Racing
    Walt Spak
    Wayne Long
    Westinghouse Memorial
    Wine On Nine

    RSS Feed

Picture
The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Association is a federally registered 501c (3) non-profit organization with a mission to hold a world-class vintage automotive race event for charity. 

Since 1983 this volunteer-driven event has raised over $6 million to benefit autistic and developmentally disabled individuals through the Autism Society of Pittsburgh and Allegheny Valley School. The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix remains North America's largest vintage race event, the only one run on city streets, and the 8th largest car show in the World.

© 2023 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. 
All Rights Reserved.

Created by Rapid Production Marketing
  • Home
    • Media Registration
    • About
    • History >
      • Proiettore 2022
      • Proiettore 2021
      • Proiettore 2019
      • Proiettore 2018
      • Proiettore 2017
      • Proiettore 2016 >
        • Friday 2016
      • Proiettore 2015 >
        • Wednesday 2015
        • Thursday 2015
        • Friday 2015
      • Proiettore 2014
    • Contact
    • Event Rules
    • Trailer Parking
    • Staff info >
      • Volunteer Form
      • Set up & Staging
      • To Do
      • Receiving Tent
      • Reception Tent
      • Parking
      • Clubhouse
      • Westinghouse
      • Emergency
  • News
  • Cortile Cup
    • Judging
    • Definitions
    • Cortile Cup 2021
    • Cortile Cup 2017
    • Cortile Cup 2016
    • Cortile Cup 2015
    • Cortile Cup 2014
    • Cortile Cup 2013
    • Cortile Cup 2012
    • Cortile Cup 2011
    • Inception
  • Marques
    • Carrozzeria >
      • Bertone
      • Ghia
      • Pininfarina
      • Scaglietti
      • Vignale
      • Zagato
    • Abarth
    • Alfa Romeo
    • Bandini
    • Bizzarrini
    • Cisitalia
    • De Tomaso
    • Ferrari
    • Fiat
    • Innocenti
    • Iso Rivolta
    • Lamborghini
    • Lancia
    • Maserati
    • Moretti
    • Siata
    • Stanguellini
    • Taraschi
  • Sponsors
    • Ferrari of Philadelphia
    • Maserati of Pittsburgh
    • Pitt SAE Race Team
    • State Farm
    • Become a Sponsor
  • Events
    • Proiettore 2023
    • Saturday
    • Sunday