franco Scaglione

Interview with Giovanna Scaglione Part 7

March 6, 2018 By pete

Franco Scaglione, “My Father” His Life in the Words of His Daughter Giovanna

As told to Robert Little, Renzo Carbonaro, Vladimir Pajevic and Ulrich Zensen
Copyright: 8 November 2017 All World Rights Reserved
Republished with permissions with changes to suit the format of VeloceToday.com

Part VII: Wool Threads and Scotch Tape…
“Aerodynamic Fluidity”

An internationally acclaimed graphic artist was once quoted as saying:
“I am going for a level of perfection that is only mine… Most of the pleasure is in getting the last little piece perfect.”

Such a quotation could easily have been applied to Franco Scaglione’s professional standards.
While not everyone will enjoy and appreciate all of his individual design accomplishments, his achievement in the reduction of coefficient of drag, the elimination of air friction or ‘slipperiness’ rates him in the pantheon of greatness…well beyond the achievements his contemporaries. [Read more…] about Interview with Giovanna Scaglione Part 7

Interview with Giovanna Scaglietti Part 6

February 27, 2018 By pete

Franco Scaglione, “My Father” His Life in the Words of His Daughter Giovanna

Part VI: The Zenith of his Career –
Scaglione’s Independent Sixties

While the American titans of automobile design continued from the early 1950s to travel long distances to such places as Torino and Geneva, London and Paris to learn and observe the holy grail of styling trends being introduced by Franco Scaglione, the Japanese did more than just observe his design language. They learned on site! [Read more…] about Interview with Giovanna Scaglietti Part 6

Scaglione Part 5

February 20, 2018 By pete

Franco Scaglione, “My Father” His Life in the Words of His Daughter Giovanna

Part V: Franco Scaglione and the B.A.T.

Courtesy Centro Documentazione Storica Alfa Romeo

Instead of presenting a narrative based upon the writing of others who probably had no first or second hand knowledge of the true facts surrounding the creation of the Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica series, we have chosen to simply reproduce the facsimile below which should serve to illuminate the B.A.T. process from the standpoint of Bertone. [Read more…] about Scaglione Part 5

Interview with Giovanna Scaglione Part 4

February 13, 2018 By pete

Franco Scaglione, “My Father” His Life in the Words of His Daughter Giovanna

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Part IV: Scaglione Achieves His Dreams with Bertone

Nuccio Bertone, who truly appreciated Scaglione’s work, was generally inclined to leave Scaglione completely alone to work through the young master’s ideas and fantasies, but Bertone always bore in mind the necessity to achieve economic success through the mass production of his line of cars. He impressed upon the young designer the need to convert his design ideals to big production numbers.

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Barn Find: Abarth 1500 Bertone by Scaglione

February 6, 2018 By pete

Story and photos by Rick Carey

This article originally appeared in VeloceToday in 2003.

I’ve always admired the work of Franco Scaglione. Anyone who could create the B.A.T.s on the tall-engined Alfa 1900 chassis, who displayed such sympathy for airflow and was willing to challenge convention with shape and curve rather than embellishment and accoutrement, was an exceptional talent. And full credit also to Nuccio Bertone who gave Scaglione free rein to reinvent extravagantly.

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Interview with Giovanna Scaglione, Part 3

February 6, 2018 By pete

Franco Scaglione, “My Father” His Life in the Words of His Daughter Giovanna

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To solicit employment in the early 1950s, Scaglione turned to calling design executives to initiate an appointment, as he learned it was better to speak personally, display his sketches and provide commentary about each one.

Scaglione would meet people such Balbo, Stanguellini, Pinin Farina, Bertone, Ferrari and others at various auto shows or at other venues, and then arrange to have a private meeting to present his skills and wide-ranging knowledge. Unfortunately, there were no letters from his job seeking years in Giovanna’s archives to examine.

In 1951 Scaglione moved to Torino and sought employment once again in the automobile design trade…far closer to the center of gravity of the automobile design trade. At first he and Luisa moved to Corso Matteotti, 29 and later to Via Osasco, 2.

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Interview with Giovanna Scaglione Part 2

January 30, 2018 By pete

Franco Scaglione, “My Father” His Life in the Words of His Daughter Giovanna

Franco Scaglione’s daughter Giovanna has chosen to share with you, the interested reader, her personal love and deep affection for her father and hopes you will become more familiar with him as she begins her narration of her personal glimpses of her father.

Aerodynamics Studies

Scaglione’s reserved and minimalistic personality compelled him to draw heavenly automotive shapes according to his own innate sense of form and creativity.

His dream was of an automobile that, like a falling drop of rainwater in the air, could glide along with only the slightest turbulence and with the least friction possible…a car that could travel quickly without disturbing the outside air or creating whistling noises inside the cockpit. [Read more…] about Interview with Giovanna Scaglione Part 2

An Interview with Giovanna Scaglione

January 23, 2018 By pete

Franco Scaglione, “My Father” His Life in the Words of His Daughter Giovanna

Introduction

Our following story has been pieced together through a series of private interviews conducted over a period of five months with Giovanna Scaglione, and reveals her personal story of her dearly beloved father Franco Scaglione, the world famous Italian automobile designer of the 1950s through the 1970s.

Since the passing of Mr. Scaglione on June 19th, 1993, Giovanna, the only child of Franco Scaglione and Maria Luisa Benvenuti, had politely declined most interview requests, preferring to remain quiet and private in much the same manner as her father preferred to live his life. [Read more…] about An Interview with Giovanna Scaglione