Auto Design

LILLI BERTONE HAS FULL CONTROL OF “STILE BERTONE”.

Lilli Bertone, the strongly minded widow of the late Nuccio Bertone, is reportedly the only owner of the Stile Bertone design think tank as of July 28^th. After the Turin Court ruled that Mrs. Bertone has the right to a minimal majority stake in the company, with the remaining 49.9periodical in the hands of her two sisters, the Bertone matriarch has succeeded in buying them out and ensure herself 100% of the stakes into Stile Bertone. Read the rest of this entry »

Within the frame of the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este, the organisers arranged a very special exhibition at nearby Villa Erba dedicate to a special category of car design (and engineering).

With the simple title of “Streamlining” the exhibition presented by the Prototype Museum in Hamburg shows the development of car with extreme streamlined bodywork designed to minimize air resistance and maximize performance (and fuel consumption in relation to performance). Read the rest of this entry »

The Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este this years has been as good as the weather. That is to say that half of it was very good, with peaks of excellence, and the remaining half was bad, raining and boring, with touches of ugliness.

 By the end of the elegant week-end on the Lake of Como, one would say it was not one the best edition ever but still offered enough interesting cars to look at, people to greet and talk to, and subjects to discuss.

As such it was one not to be missed. Those who did not attend it missed the extremely rare chance of hearing the sibilo and smelling the pollution of its turbine engine, not to mention seeing this extraordinary visualisation of the dreams about the cars of the future they were dreaming in the fifties and sixties.

  Read the rest of this entry »

One of you has asked me which was your favourite car at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2009?

Now I am in a hurry to catch a flight out of town but I can try to post a quick reply. Difficult question. Here the first answers. Considering this is a Concorso D’Eleganza and not a competition about the most attractive (for overall qualities such as rarety, power, brand, performance, style, etc.) among the classics my first choice would probably be the 1954 Aston Martin DB 2/4 built by Bertone.

Second choice would be the 1952 Lancia Aurelia B52 built by Vignale.

Among the “concept” I would say that none win my points for elegance but if I have to choose one among them as the most interesting I would say the Mindset (with its very elegant interior)

and the Stile Bertone Mantide for its dynamic proportions and style.

I shall come back to this in a week time, though.

 Eventually, the big day for Jason Castiota with Stile Bertone came yesterday. Its Stile Bertone Corvette ZR1 Mantide was presented to a small number of friends, colleagues, suppliers and friends, at the superlative Fiat Group Automobiles proving ground in Balocco just a couple of hours after the latest details were fixed in Caprie. Faithful to the coachbuilder tradition the one-off came late to the meeting, as if that had been orchestrated to further tease those eager to see it and get a first hand impression. Well, my first impression is that the Mantide look fine in pictures and a lot better in reality. Some fussy detail in the back are much less obvious, the roof profile looks very dynamic and express a clear message of high speed, the design is structured and occasionally complex but the main surfaces are perfectly mastered. It is at the front that Castriota’s team has left room for improvement. Obviously organising in a harmonius composition the never-ending surface of the front bonnet is not easy, especially when you want to make a strong impression. The many facets of the front seem to be inspired to a diamond but the outcome is not so brillant. In action, at very reasonable speeds (no problem was the imperative), the silhouette look very exciting and by the end of the day I might end up liking this design better than that of the Pininfarina P4/5 Ferrari Enzo. According to Jason Castriota, the Mantide might be sold to a Chinese enthusiast. The price is now at 1.5 million Euros, but those who are ready to pay some 650,000 euros for one the five units (one per continent?) might get one to their own specifications. Bertone  would love to build if as many orders are placed after the car is presented, tomorrow, at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este.   

Interiors, details, people and more in the photo gallery:  

Here eventually an image that reflects a bit of the latest Supercar designed by Jason Castriota for Stile Bertone. The ultimate fuoriserie from the famous Italian coachbuilder is called Mantide and will make its first public appearance at the famous “Balocco” Fiat Group Automobile’ proving ground. I think the car is going to look gorgeous, its sound will be intimidating and the speed really high, if the goads of cutting 250 pounds (some 115 kg) off the original weight and the low aerodynamics Cx have actually been achieved.

Having reached a certain age I recently suspected I am getting old, without realising it or, even worst, with no intimate will to concede it. Now I know I am old.

This morning I received from Bradley R. Farell an e-mail message saying “Hi, Jason wanted me to send you a exclusive photo. Photo credit to: www.pdj-photo.com“. The photo is this one that I am glad to offer you, as a unique exclusive preview, teaser, or what else you like to call it, of the Project M.

Coming from New York, this must clearly be the latest and most advanced “communication technique” and if you do not understand why this gentleman Farrell is approaching me in such a sharp and to-the-point style even though I have not had the privilege of having been introduced to him, it must certainly be because I am getting old, out of touch and far from the new trend.

I hope that you, my readers, will concede me that at least I am making an effort to reduce the lag and remain in touch with the modern reality and the futuristic trends. Whereas most of my colleague journalist would consider the “exclusive” image an April’s Fool joke sent 12 days to late and forget about it in an instant, I choose to offer you every bit of information you may like to see.

Just do me a favour, if you will: tell me that I was right in bringing this to you, rather than just ignore it, as my old-style school of journalism and communication had suggested as an instinctive reaction.

P.S. – Just between you and me: I would have much preferred to bring to you a colour rendering in the old times style.

1970 Bertone Stratos – Just one of many benchmarks for J. Castriota.

According to absolutely unreliable sources, the bespoke supercar being completed at Stile Bertone facilities in Caprie under the direction of Jason Castriota might be called CAT 1. Speculative sources in Torino like to think this might eventually be the name to be given to the first public work of the Italo-American design for Stile Bertone. The bespoke “fuoriserie” into which Stile Bertone and Castriota have invested some six months of intensive design, engineering, manufacturing and video-taping work will be making its first public appearance at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este, in parallel with the disply of its full scale model at the Shanghai Motor Show. According to some, the name is the acronym of Coupé Aerodinamico Tecnologico 1, to stress the company tradition for futuristic design works. Other sources are ready to bet that the actual meaning of the acronym is Castriota Automobili Torino. It seems to be a joke but….why not.

According to one reader, the tail of Stile Bertone supercar has a strikingresemblance to the Stola 1998 Abarth Monotipo

At this time it is interesting to take a good look to the design and the making of the SVS Codatronca by Ercole and Paolo Spada. This spectacular supercar – built on the chassis – and with the powertrain – of one of the most powerful Chevrolet Corvette might well serve as a benchmark for the evalutation of the Supercar soon to be unveiled in mock-up form at the Shanghai Motor Show and as a running prototype at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa D’Este, later this month.

The two cars share a lot in addition to their mission and ambitions: attract car collectors with a passion for high performance speed and clear cut, very distinctive design.

The SVS Codatronca TS comes with a Chevrolet Corvette ZR 1 V8 engine tuned up to deliver 630 HP at 7000 rpm and 668 Nm of torque at 4800 rpm. This is said to be good enough for acceleration time of just 3.4 second from 0 to 100 kph and a top speed of 340 kph in 6^th gear, at 7000 rpm.

Unlike the Stile Bertone supercar, which aims at setting a new record at the Nuerburgring, the SVS Codatronca has been designed and tuned to enhance “the pleasure of driving instead of speed record, in the perfect style of the gentleman driver.”

The other remarkable difference between the two is that whereas Stile Bertone and Jason Castriota made extensive use of carbon fibre for their bodywork, the Spada (Father & Son) elected the traditional aluminium body panels technique for the construction of their Codatronca. Here, a review of the making of the SVS Codatronca TS and few images of the actual car.

Click on image for complete photo gallery:    

After the recent experience with my poston the MOMO Mirage that proved how little I know about historic car I shall venture again into territories I am not familiar with and will simply trust whatthe organisers of the 2009 Concorso d’Elganza di Villa d’Este have said to this wonderful car to be seen also at Villa d’Este and Villa Erba, courtesy of Mr. Ralph Lauren. The car from the Bugatti fold that claimed the highest production run and the greatest economic success was the T 57. This model was the only Bugatti to go into series production before the war. One of the most spectacular designs to be based on the T 57 was the Atlantic, of which just three units were produced. Its crouched stance, the vertical, riveted ribs that ran horizontally along the bodywork and its teardrop-shaped side windows gave this model a unique appearance that raised it to one of the icons of motoring history. With the Bugatti Atlantic 57SC, the Concorso presents one of the true legends of the automotive past. The design hails from Jean Bugatti, the son of Ettore Bugatti. Gracing the Concorso will be the last of the three units built. The original owner kept the car until 1967. After changing hands several times, the Atlantic was bought in 1988 by Ralph Lauren, who commissioned Paul Russel with its complete restoration. The car will be making its first European appearance in 18 years at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2009.

For a comprehesive report on this Bugatti, I recommend