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Pininfarina vs Cadillac Part 4

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The GM Tech Center

In this article we will make a strategic and technical comparison of the design efforts of Pininfarina and the Cadillac Studio. I will try my best to be completely impartial in my assessment of their actions.

By Dick Ruzzin
Photos courtesy GM Design Archives

The Cadillac Allante as designed by Pininfarina should have been considered as a design influence for their 1992 Eldorado design proposal. However, the Eldorado presented to Cadillac Division looked nothing like the Allante. The Allante was the most expensive Cadillac at that time but it was quickly determined that the hoped for “Italian Design” cachet was not important to the American luxury car customer. [Read more…] about Pininfarina vs Cadillac Part 4

Pininfarina vs Cadillac Part 3

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Cadillac Studio made an early presentation to Cadillac management showing that the added length by Cadillac Engineering was still not enough to arrive at a proportion that would result in a good design for the Seville and Eldorado. The proposed extensions added rear seating space and luggage capacity that also resulted in lower aerodynamic drag that improved fuel economy, higher than the shorter 1986 Seville. A more design enhancing and functional package was the result of the additional length. The proposed extensions, shown on the left side front and rear, added more rear seating space and luggage capacity. The longer car also resulted in significantly lower aerodynamic drag resulting in improved fuel economy, helping to make the 1992 Seville higher in fuel economy than the shorter 1986 Seville. The new more design enhancing and functional package was the result of the additional length to be added front and rear as seen on the left side of the clay model.

By Dick Ruzzin
Photos courtesy GM Design Archives

Cadillac Studio had won the battle with Pininfarina for the Eldorado design, but earlier, when the production release dates came for both the Eldorado and the Seville, we had missed them, which was a financial disaster for the Corporation. There is an enormous stream of work to design and engineer the full line of GM products so when one program gets out of phase from a timing standpoint the pre-production development process suffers delays that are very costly. [Read more…] about Pininfarina vs Cadillac Part 3

Pininfarina vs Cadillac Part 2

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The Allante design model is presented to Vice President of GM Design Chuck Jordan by Sergio Pininfarina and his son in the Design Patio. On the right is Stan Wilen, Design Director for Cadillac at the time.

By Dick Ruzzin
Photos courtesy GM Design Archives

As stated in Part 1, Cadillac had contracted the world-class Italian design company of Pininfarina to submit an Eldorado design proposal in competition with us in the Cadillac Design Studio. This proposal did not include the Seville, only the design of the Eldorado.

Many of the key Cadillac executives wanted Pininfarina to win the contest, as they had formed a good working relationship with the company during the development of the Allante. Furthermore, Cadillac’s relationship with the Cadillac Studio was not the best. In the end they made the right decision and strongly supported our design of the final car, the Cadillac Studio Eldorado. [Read more…] about Pininfarina vs Cadillac Part 2

Pininfarina vs Cadillac Part 1

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This small sketch was created for the introduction of the 1992 Seville one year early at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January of 1991. It represents the spirit of the design that was created by the Cadillac Studio team at General Motors Design Staff.

By Dick Ruzzin
Photos courtesy GM Design Archives

The 1992 Cadillac Eldorado and Seville were a turning point for the American automobile industry. The new Cadillacs clearly showed for the first time that their light weight and fuel-efficient luxury cars could match those of the European manufacturers. The Seville won the 1992 Car of The Year Awards from the four major American automotive magazines as well as the 1992 Industrial Design Excellence Award from the Industrial Design Society of America. The aerodynamic, sporty and elegant designs with internationally recognized performance and appearance represented a new Cadillac culture that inspired them again to seek to become the Standard of the World. No automobile had ever won every leading magazine award until Cadillac did in 1992. But getting to that point meant an intense competition with the most prestigious design offices in the world, Pininfarina. This is the story as told by the leader of the design team at Cadillac, a contributor to VeloceToday we all know, Dick Ruzzin.

My father had long promised to give a new Cadillac to my mother, and in 1986 he bought her one of the new small Sevilles. They lived in a country town outside of Detroit where Cadillac was a highly respected brand. [Read more…] about Pininfarina vs Cadillac Part 1

Why Are Italian Cars Beautiful?

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Marque et modele: Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Touring “Flying Star.” Chassis number 10814341

Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

About thirty years ago, someone gave me a copy of a book titled Touring Superleggera, by Carlo Felice Anderloni. It was published in 1983. I started to go through it and was overwhelmed by the staggering beauty of Mr. Anderloni’s creations. Even though I had been observing automobile design for many years previously, I had never seen anything like this before. At some point, I had to physically put the book down and take a deep breath. I had to revise my conceptions of automotive design.

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Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, 2016

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Lancia Astura series II berlinetta Castagna 1933 prize winner as best in show.

Story and photos by Alessandro Gerelli

The Concorso Villa d’Este was held on May 20-22. Saturday’s competitive event is held at the Villa d’Este, and on Sunday, all the cars are shown in the nearby Villa Erba; this day is open to the public.

While often confusing, the official definition is Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, while Villa Erba is a location within the show.

The Concorso Villa d’Este has a very long history since 1929, but only recently a new class “Concept Cars and Prototypes” was included in the show.

This year I looked at the new creations of a make or of a coachbuilder, and compared them with their original or older cars in the same show.

Of course there are the pictures of the many other jewels shown in the crowded court of Villa Erba, where I took the following images on Sunday. [Read more…] about Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, 2016

Michael T. Lynch on the Ferrari Tre Posti

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Gooding & Company announced this week that the Chinetti 365 P Tre Posti had been consigned for their Pebble Beach sale. This is an incredible confluence of design, performance and provenance. It will certainly be near the top of the charts during the Monterey auctions in August. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.


By Michael T. Lynch

In our last piece (Is the End Nigh?) we mentioned a yet-to-be-announced Ferrari that would be one of the highlights of the auctions during the Monterey Bay auto week. Last week, Gooding and Company confirmed that they will have the Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale “Tre Posti” in their Pebble Beach sale.

The Tre Posti s/n 8971 is an outstanding example of not just Italian coach-building and engineering excellence, but represents an era when Italy was a style leader in many design disciplines. The Tre Posti is an artifact that takes its place as a symbol of mid-century Italian design on a par with Olivetti’s Lettera 22 and Pier Luigi Nervi’s Exhibition Hall in Turin. The nickname comes from the car’s three abreast seating with the steering wheel in the middle, a feature that preceded the McLaren F1 by a quarter century. [Read more…] about Michael T. Lynch on the Ferrari Tre Posti

Pininfarina in the 1970s by Mark Stehrenberger

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The third and final installment of our Pininfarina series deals with the 1970s. With hindsight, we can see that today’s Ferraris….still exhibiting the very essence of Pininfarina…have features that were inherited both from the curvaceous sixties and the razor edge seventies. But we’d like your opinion…of the three decades of Pininfarina, what is your favorite and why? Comment below…

PININFARINA_Modulo

Wyss: Into the 1970s Pininfarina continued to wow the design world with unique solutions to new packaging problems. Sometimes, and very boldly so, they went way beyond what was practical, such as the incomparable Modulo, built out of Ferrari race car bits.

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Pinin Farina in the 1950s by Mark Stehrenberger

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Want a print of this poster? Click on the photo.

Artist Mark Stehrenberger is now offering prints of his famous series of Pininfarina posters. Pininfarina in 1950s, the 1960s and the 1970s are all represented by different posters. Below, Wallace Wyss and the Editor dissect the 1950s poster car by car, and comment accordingly.

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Italians at Retro

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barnyard ferrari find

Retro at its best shows off the latest discoveries like this 1954 Ferrari 250 Monza spyder Pinin Farina.

Hugues Vanhoolandt on some of the Italian cars that appeared at Retromobile this year.

By Hugues Vanhoolandt

Cisitalia 33DF

Despite the success of the 202 coupe, Cisitalia was still struggling. In 1953 the company decided to create a line of cars based on both the 1900 and 1100 Fiat chassis. The line was called the ‘DF’ for ‘Deriving from Fiat‘. Notably, the Cisitalia tubular frame was now gone and the chassis was Fiat. The 1100 cars were designated 33DF and the first was a spyder with cut down doors shown at the 1953 Turin Auto Show. But the production models were almost all coupes, as shown here and given the name ‘Voloradente’ or ’low flying’. The engine was modified to produce around 70 hp. Less than 20 were produced.

Siata 208

The Siata 208S, equipped with the Fiat 8V engine, was the perfect car for the West Coast. Ernie McAfee imported nearly all of them to California.

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Bitsa Number One

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wyss

The Author.

We at VeloceToday.com attempt to keep up with current world news concerning French and Italian cars but let’s face it, it’s a big job. So it is that we welcome occasional columnist Wallace Wyss in a new column called “Bitsa” where he mentions news stories and his take on their significance, or insignificance.

FORZA ITALIAN STYLE

File this under “It had to happen eventually.” In Japan on Dec. 4th there was a convoy of Japanese Ferrari enthusiasts proceeding at an average of 90 mph toward a car event. The track, er, highway, was the Chugoku highway in western Japan. Some ace driver changed lanes and there was a dispute over whose lane it was. The driver spun out and the result was a 14-vehicle pile-up. When the smoke cleared, there were eight Ferraris, two Mercedes and a Lamborghini and a couple lowly Toyotas severely wrinkled. The miracle was that 10 people were taken to hospitals but none were seriously injured.
[Read more…] about Bitsa Number One

The Allante: Ultimate Italian Cadillac

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Jet black is one of the colors that make an old Allante look new.

By Wallace A. Wyss
Captions by Wyss
All photos courtesy of
Norman Penfield, President Allante Atlanta Car Club

Like a lot of other trends in the auto industry, it started with all good intentions—the creation of an American car with the added glitz of Italian styling and coachwork.

I speak of the Cadillac Allante. The Allante has a name which Cadillac picked out of the air. It is not an Italian word like Avanti was for the Studebaker Avanti (which means “forward” in Italian.) I always thought it sort of hinted at the mythical undersea town of Atlantis. But the car, like the fabled city , sunk beneath the waves….

The two-seater was in production from 1987 through 1993.

Cadillac had seen the success of the Mercedes 450SL (introduced as the 350SL in 1971) and the Jaguar XJS and hungered for their own two seater sporty car. I say “sporty” not “sports.” There’s a difference.
[Read more…] about The Allante: Ultimate Italian Cadillac

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