Marcello Gandini was one of the most spectacular automotive designers of our time. The man responsible for the beautiful Lamborghini Miura, the Countach and the Diablo, his designs were not defined by anyone style. The Miura was curvaceous and seductive; the Countach was angular. He also designed the Ferrari 308 but he was most famously known for his Lamborghini designs. Besides the ones mentioned above, think Espada, Jarama, Urraco – the lesser known ones. He was also famous for his design of the Lancia Stratos and the Renault 5, both rally championship winning cars. His other famous design was the BMW E12 5-series – a very muscular car and a large number of Maseratis. The Alfa Romeo 33 Carabo show car is surely one of his masterpieces.
Initially Gandini wanted to work for Bertone, but Giorgetto Giugiaro, the famous designer opposed his entry. In 1965, Gandini joined Bertone, where he spent the next 14 years. He left Bertone in 1980 and started doing freelance automotive and industrial design. Post his design for the Urraco, Ferrari hired him to design the next generation Dino 308/GT4 – Ferrari’s first V8-engined car and the only one Bertone ever designed. His concept of scissor doors was taken up on all Lamborghini V12 flagship cars.
Gandini designed a number of mass production cars too, like the BMW 5 series, Innocenti Mini, Volkswagen Polo, the Citroen BX and the Renault 5. I had the good fortune to meet him at Retromobile in Paris many years ago wherein with typical Italian flare he spoke so passionately about automotive design, it was simply too infectious! With him gone, the world has lost one of the world’s great designers of cars.
