giovanni savonuzzi

Techno Classica Essen 2022

April 11, 2022 By pete

When entered by the Automobilclub of Argentina between 1949 and 1954, this Maserati 4 CLT, chassis number 1600, was piloted by the best Argentinian drivers of the time: Fangio, Gonzalez, Campos, Marimon or Menditeguy.

Story and Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Three years have passed since the last edition of the Techno Classica motor show in Essen, one of the main cities of the Ruhr area. Of course, the effects of the pandemic were felt during this year’s fair.

Not attending were the imposing stands of the German manufacturers, for the most part only represented by their owners’ clubs.
Some German car dealers were also missing as this pandemic period has shown that it was possible to sell cars without having to display them on an expensive stand.

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Giovanni Savonuzzi’s Detroit Odyssey Part 3

June 13, 2012 By pete

Inset of Savonuzzi courtesy Alberta Savonuzzi.

Part 1 describes meeting Savonuzzi at Chrysler and the circumstances surrounding Savonuzzi’s position and his idea for a gas turbine-powered Indy car.
In
Part 2, Savonuzzi designs the Chrysler Indy car and talks about naming “Gilda”.

In the final episode below Savonuzzi engineers a safety car for Chrysler before returning to Italy and Fiat.

Savonuzzi Safety Car

Around 1963 or thereabouts the work load began to taper off at the Greenfield plant. All fifty of the Ghia cars had been assembled in that plant and were being prepared for the evaluation program and the short production line pit had been covered over. Many of the people who had been involved with that phase of the program had been transferred back to Highland Park and there was not much design work required except for some occasional changes.

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Giovanni Savonuzzi’s Detroit Odyssey Part 2

June 6, 2012 By pete

By Robert Pauley

For 25 years Robert Pauley worked as a design engineer for Chrysler’s Research Department and spent many years on the gas turbine program. What follows are some remembrances of the time he spent on the Chrysler turbine program with the Italian engineer and designer Giovanni Savonuzzi. Part 1 describes meeting Savonuzzi at Chrysler and the circumstances surrounding Savonuzzi’s position and his idea for a gas turbine-powered Indy car. In the lead image above, Savonuzzi poses with George Huebner along with the Chrysler Turbine Car.

Designing the Chrysler Turbine Powered Indy Car

Savonuzzi had collected some Indy car drawings and an Indianapolis 500 rule book and I began making a large, roll-size layout drawing of the proposed race car. The drawing had no part number but was dated July 31, 1963. That concept drawing, now lost,* showed the car in three views, side, top and front, at one-quarter scale. The cockpit was located slightly forward of the midpoint with two Chrysler A-831 gas turbine engines behind the driver. Large air intake scoops were located on each side of the driver’s headrest feeding air into dual plenums, one for each engine. The internal engine components were to be production parts but the four regenerators were to be eliminated. That change required redesigned “regenerator covers” to separate the compressor air from the exhaust gasses. Four rectangular exhaust ducts passed upwards through the engines’ top cowling with the outlets facing aft. The two engines were mounted side-by-side and aligned fore-and-aft with the output flanges bolted to a transverse housing that incorporated a transmission and the final drive to the rear wheels. The car had a long, pointy nose somewhat similar to that of the Lotus 58 that raced at Indy in 1968. The nose of the Chrysler proposal, however, was broader, flatter and not as long. Savonuzzi said he wanted it shaped that way for aerodynamic reasons. In one corner of my layout I had included a perspective drawing of the proposed race car and as a final touch had drawn a large Chrysler Pentastar logo on the flat surface of the nose. Savonuzzi became quite excited as the design evolved on my drawing board over a period of several weeks. He exuded optimism and appeared confident that with the aid of my drawing he would be able to sell the proposal to Chrysler management.

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Giovanni Savonuzzi’s Detroit Odyssey

May 23, 2012 By pete

1964: Giovanni Savonuzzi with the only Chrysler Turbine Car not painted bronze. The car was prepared for use in the movie “The Lively Set” starring James Darren and Pamela Tiffin. The photo was taken at his home in Franklin, Michigan. Photo courtesy Alberta Savonuzzi.

A Memoir by Robert F. Pauley

For over 25 years I worked in Chrysler’s Research Design Department and spent many years on the gas turbine program. I started at Chrysler in June 1953 as a chassis-engine designer and later was promoted to Design Supervisor for powerplant research. What follows are some remembrances of the time I spent on the Chrysler turbine program with the Italian engineer and designer Giovanni Savonuzzi. Initially we worked on the third floor of the Engineering Building in Chrysler’s Headquarters in Highland Park, a suburb of Detroit In June 1956 the entire turbine engineering group was transferred to a leased building on Greenfield Road in Detroit about eight miles from Highland Park. The building was devoted to the gas turbine program. It was there that my short but memorable relationship with Savonuzzi took place.

Author Robert F. Pauley and the Chryler Turbine Car at the Greenfield Road Plant, circa 1964.

Meeting Savonuzzi

I first met Savonuzzi under rather unusual circumstances. It was in the summer of 1958 and at the time I was working in the Greenfield Road Plant. One day my boss called me into his office and said that he had an assignment for me but that I was not to tell anyone about it. He said that there was an Italian engineer named Savonuzzi in Highland Park who needed some drafting/design work done and that I should go there and see what he wanted. “Wow,” I said, “…you mean THE Giovanni Savonuzzi?” John was taken aback and asked “How do you know about him – they told me it was a secret?” John was not a “car guy” so I had to explain to him that I had read all about Mr. Savonuzzi’s car designs and accomplishments in Road & Track magazine and other car publications. John said “I never heard of him.” And that ended the conversation.

Savonuzzi in the D46 Cisitalia circa 1946.

I drove to Highland Park with great anticipation and went up to the sixth floor of the Engineering Building as instructed. At that time the sixth floor was not being used and the corridors were empty. I found the unmarked door and entered into what appeared to have been the waiting room for some big-shot executive many years ago before World War II. The receptionist appeared to have no other job except to guard the door behind her, but when I told her who I was she stepped aside and announced that “Mr. Pauley is here.” The inner room was quite large with dark mahogany walls. There was a small desk, a couple of chairs and a drawing board covered with drawings and styling sketches but not much else. In the middle of the room was a work platform with a large clay model of an exciting-looking car on top of the pedestal.

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