Vintage Archives

Mazda Restores 1981 Bertone MX-81 Concept, Recounts Story in Film

Eric Gallina — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 09:00:07 +0000

Mazda’s head of design, Ikuo Maeda, still remembers the time he met Nuccio Bertone and Giorgetto Giugiaro in the 1960s. They’d come to see the development of the ‘Luce’ model, which Mazda had commissioned Bertone to build. This encounter – and an Italian paperknife his father kept on his desk – would form a lifelong fascination with Italian design for Maeda. Clockwise from left – Giorgetto Giugiaro (left), together with Nuccio and Lily Bertone (center and right) meet with Mazda […]

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Remembering Syd Mead, In His Own Words

Eric Gallina — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the death of visionary artist, futurist, illustrator and conceptual designer Syd Mead. Known for his incredible depictions of the future, Mead’s illustration work attracted a diverse range of companies, from automakers and steel merchants to architecture firms and technology giants. It also garnered the attention of Hollywood directors, who tapped him to work on science fiction films like Blade Runner, Tron and Aliens. It’s hard to overestimate the impact Mead’s work had on the […]

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BMW Recreates Marcello Gandini’s 2002 tii Garmisch

Eric Gallina — Mon, 27 May 2019 08:50:25 +0000

At this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, BMW Group revealed a recreation of the BMW Garmisch, a concept car designed by Marcello Gandini while at Bertone that vanished after its debut at the 1970 Geneva motor show.

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Volvo Celebrates 40th Anniversary of the Bertone-Built 262C

Eric Gallina — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 11:35:26 +0000

Forty years ago, Volvo turned perceptions of what its brand stood for upside down. The Volvo 262C (Coupé) stirred emotions and sold significantly better than expected, despite costing more than twice as much as the basic 200 series model. The precursor was the Volvo 264, presented in the autumn of 1974. Two years later it was time for Volvo’s first six-cylinder wagon: the 265. But plans for the lineup didn’t end there. At the 1977 Geneva motor show, the most […]

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Revisting the BMW Isetta

Eric Gallina — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 07:55:14 +0000

The BMW Isetta sits proudly amongst the 1936 328, legendary 1955 507 roadster and visionary 2008 ‘Gina’ in the Munich based-firm’s museum. That the diminutive Isetta is included among the exhibits is warranted, but it doesn’t quite have the same lineage. Initially conceived by Iso, a small Italian refrigerator and motorcycle manufacturer with a reputation for quality, the Isetta was a response to increasing competition from scooter manufacturers Vespa and Lambretta as well as the popularity of the Fiat 500C. […]

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Paolo Martin on his Life and Career as a Designer

Eric Gallina — Fri, 06 May 2016 14:04:36 +0000

Paolo Martin is not a man in need of an introduction. His name is etched into the minds of the automotive design cognoscenti besides other legendary designers from the prolific era of the Italian carrozzeria. Pencil sketches of a few of Paolo Martin’s ‘achievement cars’ Over the span of his career, he’s worked for Michelotti, Bertone, Pininfarina, and De Tomaso while at Ghia. He’s designed concept cars for Ferrari, Fiat, NSU, Nissan and Ford as well as production vehicles […]

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Vintage Ford Design Film Draws Future Parallels

Eric Gallina — Thu, 05 May 2016 21:05:34 +0000

Every once in awhile it pays to take a stroll down memory lane, or maybe see what was going on before you were even born. It allows you to look back, perhaps romantically, at a simpler time when life was more carefree. But was it? The video above takes us inside Ford’s advanced design studio in the early 1970s. We get to hear why — even then — designers hated being referred to as mere ‘stylists’, we get a look […]

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Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Bertone Mustang Concept

Eric Gallina — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 09:05:13 +0000

Many of you undoubtedly know of the many cars included in Giorgetto Giugiaro’s portfolio. There are numerous concept and production designs for nearly every automaker in the world — from Alfa Romeo, Bugatti and Fiat to Hyundai, Lotus and Volkswagen. Before starting his own consultancy, he worked in-house for Fiat, Bertone and, later, Ghia. Besides his creations at Italdesign, aficionados will also remember his time at Bertone, where he created the Alfa Romeo 2600, BMW 3200CS, Fiat 850 Spider and, […]

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Is There Still a Place for the Small Car?

Peter Stevens — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 03:07:00 +0000

In the early days of the 20th Century, when the motorcar was a comparatively new invention, cars were bought by wealthy people who liked the idea of ‘modernity’ that the car embodied. The very first automobiles were small, noisy and smelly and they frightened horses, but development was so rapid that, with large engines and luxurious bodywork, they became a refined and comfortable means of transport. People with less money still had to use slow and crowded public transport, the […]

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A Look Back at the Porsche Panamericana Concept

Ronan Glon — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 18:29:29 +0000

Porsche filed an application to trademark the Pan Americana name on July 28, 2015. According to Auto Guide the application was filed with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market for “automobiles and structural parts therefor.” The name references the Carrera Panamericana endurance race car that ran in the 1950s, but while we’re not entirely sure what to make of the trademark application we remain hopeful that the Stuttgart brand will show a new concept at the Frankfurt motor […]

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Designers Reflect on 30 Years of the SEAT Ibiza

Eric Gallina — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 00:23:37 +0000

Hard to believe the SEAT Ibiza is more than 30 years old already. The simple, wonderfully proportioned first generation celebrated its 30th anniversary last year, and the fifth generation recently made its UK debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Initially designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the car has undergone five redesigns since it was first launched in 1984, with subsequent generations of the model overseen by current VW Group head of design Walter de’Silva, previous head of SEAT Design Luc […]

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Revisiting the Mercedes-Benz Auto 2000 Concept (1981)

Ronan Glon — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 08:00:55 +0000

Mercedes-Benz traveled to the 1981 edition of the Frankfurt motor show to introduce a concept car called Auto 2000. As its name implied, the Auto 2000 was designed to show what a full-size luxury car could look like at the turn of the 21st century. The Auto 2000 project started in 1980 when West Germany’s Federal Ministry for Research and Technology challenged local automakers to design a fully-functional prototype that was considerably more fuel-efficient than what was on the market […]

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