The Bordinat Mangusta had a rubber tipped nose, probably a hint at a bumper that would keep the body lines and still absorb energy, since laws about energy absorbing bumpers were coming up. Ironically Pininfarina’s GTC/4 used the same idea in the production car, introduced in 1971.
By Wallace Wyss
Detroit auto executives are sometimes enthusiasts, though usually they are quite happy to merely be given a new car, or leased one on a super deal, every few months. They like to spend their big bonuses on hunting lodges, cruisers and the like. The ones who own their own special cars are fondly remembered by car enthusiasts as being real car guys. That would include William L. Mitchell, former VP of Design at GM, who went so far as to have cars custom built for him by Design. A less well known enthusiast who was active in creating special cars for himself at the same time is the late Eugene Bordinat of Ford, who was born in 1920, worked for GM before moving to Ford in 1947. He was styling director during the go-go Sixties when Ford turned on the cash funnel to fund racing in every type of motorsport, from Indy racing to drag racing and ended up spending $10 million to win Le Mans, which they did for four years running in 1966 through 1969. [Read more…] about A Designer’s Mangusta