Designer of famed car from the opening scene of The Italian Job dies

MARCELLO GANDINI: 1938 – 2024

Marcello Gandini, who has died aged 85, was revered as the designer of numerous supercars, notably the Lamborghinis Miura and Countach, and the Lancia Stratos.

But he was a design influence far beyond such exotic cars; through his work for mainstream motor manufacturers in the heyday of classic car design, Gandini shaped an era.

His cars were innovative, creating brave new themes and forms, and were never derivative. His catalogue of designs included the bestselling Citroen BX, the Volkswagen Polo Mk 1, the Renault 5 Mk 2 (the 1990s “Supercinq”), and cars from Nissan, Toyota, Suzuki, Mitsubishi and Subaru.

Gandini’s design concept proposals for BMW, made via the Bertone design studio, resulted in the original and defining 5-series executive saloon of the 1970s, which still influences current BMW design hallmarks.

Gandini was a true industrial designer, never a car “stylist”. He was always focused on engineering, aerodynamics, and form working with function, not fashion. Through his 1990s Renault Magnum heavy-goods vehicle, Gandini created the face of the modern HGV.

The Lamborghini LP500, the first prototype of the Countach sports car, designed by by Marcello Gandini in 1972.

Like the visionary Ettore Bugatti, Gandini was not constrained by perceived wisdom. Many car designers regarded him as a true renaissance man; Gandini often cited Leonardo da Vinci as an influence.

His rare abilities extended into architecture, furniture and two patented inventions for the production of composite carbon-fibre technology.

Reserved, precise, yet warm and humorous in private, the always exquisitely dressed Gandini was an enigmatic character, rarely seen at motor shows. He never sought attention and lacked the superstar ego of some of his famous peers. Yet he was without doubt one of the greatest designers in the history of the motor car.

Marcello Gandini was born in Turin on 26 August 1938, into a well-to-do and long-established Piedmontese family. He spent the Second World War at his parents’ summer residence at Valli di Lanzo, only later returning to Turin to attend school.

The Lamborghini Countach was styled by Marcello Gandini of the Bertone design studio.

His French grandmother had been a supporter of Claude Debussy and had introduced the composer to Italian society. Gandini’s father Marco became an orchestra conductor and urged his son to study the piano.

Instead, the teenage Gandini spent many hours with a Meccano set. He rebelled, refused to attend musical college and had little time for the constraints of a university education. He took part-time jobs, tuned up cars and began accepting interior design commissions, not least for a nightclub.

By the late 1950s, he had a portfolio of his own car design drawings. A keen amateur car and motorcycle competitor, in 1957 he had modified a friend’s car for hill-climbing and in 1959 he re-shaped the bodywork of another car to improve its aerodynamics.

An intuitive designer who could think in 3D, he saw cars as sculptures, but also considered the hidden, under-the-skin engineering details.

Gandini secured his first job as junior design apprentice with Carrozzeria Marazzi in Milan, a small car design and construction company in the long-established “carrozzeria” or coachbuilder tradition.

In 1963, aged 25, the newly married young designer then submitted his portfolio to the famous Bertone design house, but despite impressing the industrialist Nuccio Bertone, he was not offered employment.

It later emerged that he was turned down in favour of the emerging car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was already employed by Bertone, and had designed models for Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. Upon Giugiaro’s departure in 1965, however, Bertone sought out Gandini and offered him the position of lead designer.

Gandini never looked back, not only creating dozens of car designs for Bertone’s clients, but also framing a style department at Bertone of international repute.

Lancia Stratos HF Zero Prototype in 1970.

Many famous car manufacturers commissioned Gandini’s ideas, but it was for Ferrucio Lamborghini, the millionaire tractor manufacturer, that Gandini created true supercars (and the occasional tractor).

The cars included the perfectly proportioned Miura (the car portrayed in the memorable opening scenes of the original The Italian Job film), the Espada, the Urraco, the Marzal, and the angular and the sharp-edged wedge form of the famous Countach, with its upward-opening doors. The 1990 Diablo was his last Lamborghini.

The Autobianchi Runabout concept car, a prototype designed by Gandini while at Bertone, which became the basis for the Fiat X1/9, unveiled at the Turin Motor Show in 1969

Gandini’s other designs included the Alfa Romeo Carabo, and Montreal; the Bugatti EB110 prototype; the Ferrari GT4; the Fiat Dino Coupé; the Fiat X1/9; the Lancia Stratos; and the Maserati Khamsin, and Quattroporte. Gandini also created the Reliant/Otosan Anadol FW11 for the Turkish car market.

The Autobianchi Runabout concept car, a prototype that became the basis for the Fiat X1/9.

Leaving Bertone in 1980, Gandini went freelance and would work exclusively for Renault for five years. During that time, he designed a car for India’s Tata Motors, drew another Maserati, and penned the Cizeta V16.

Gandini had adored the technicality and shape of the original 1950s Citroën DS, and seized upon the chance to design the BX for the French Marque, and then the XM, which the critic Jonathan Meades described as the “last Gothic Citroën”.

A private pilot and glider pilot, Gandini designed the Heli-Sport CH-7 helicopter. He also designed motorcycles, including the 1968 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport and the 1983 Fantic Sprinter moped.

His last car designs were the Stola S81 and S86.

Marcello Gardini in 2019.

Despite his global fame, Gandini refused many interview requests from the media. But Gandini collaborated with author Gautam Sen on an authorised biography entitled Marcello Gandini: Maestro of Design, published in 2016.

In 2015, Gandini was awarded a lifetime achievement award by Car Design News and in 2019 Italy’s Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile celebrated his career with an exhibition entitled Marcello Gandini: Genio Nascosto (“hidden genius”).

Gandini restored a 17th-century colonnaded hillside villa at Almese near Turin where he ran his studio with his wife and enjoyed rural life, walking his four German Shepherd dogs and riding horses.

He is survived by his wife Claudia, and their son and daughter.

The Telegraph, London

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